Forever Young

On the surface, this is a hopeful song celebrating the virtues of youth, but a closer listen reveals a fear of aging and death. The song was written during the Cold War, where the singer is "hoping for the best, but expecting the worst; are you gonna drop the bomb or not?" Alphaville was a German Synthpop/Rock music group. The song was not a big hit when it was released, but has become well known as a result of its use in movies and TV shows. Among its uses: The TV show Passions, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (episode 103: "Underage Drinking: A National Concern") Queer As Folk (season 1, episode 18) One Tree Hill (season 4, episode 16). The movie Listen To Me Napoleon Dynamite in the school dance scene. commercials for Saturn ION automobiles. (thanks, Ben - Philadelphia, PA) A year after this was released, Laura Branigan covered it for her album Hold Me and began performing it as an encore at her concerts. The Canadian dance group Temperance recorded the song in 1996. In 2005 the Australian band Youth Group recorded this for an episode of the TV show The O.C.. Their release was a hit in Australia. (thanks, Donovan Berry - El Dorado, AR, for above 2) This song was covered in a Punk version by Croatian punk group Hladno pivo on the album Džinovski, under the name Für immer Punk. Was also remade by Jay-Z featuring Mr Hudson.

[Verse 1] Let's dance in style, let's dance for a while Heaven can wait, we're only watching the skies Hoping for the best but expecting the worst Are you gonna drop the bomb or not? Let us die young or let us live forever We don't have the power but we never say never Sitting in a sandpit, life is a short trip The music's for the sad men Can you imagine when this race is won Turn our golden faces into the sun Praising our leaders, we're getting in tune The music's played by the, the mad man [Chorus] Forever young, I want to be forever young Do you really want to live forever? Forever, and ever Forever young, I want to be forever young Do you really want to live forever? Forever young [Verse 2] Some are like water, some are like the heat Some are a melody and some are the beat Sooner or later, they all will be gone Why don't they stay young It's so hard to get old without a cause I don't want to perish like a fading horse Youth's like diamonds in the sun And diamonds are forever So many adventures couldn't happen today So many songs we forgot to play So many dreams swinging out of the blue We let them come true [Chorus] Forever young, I want to be forever young Do you really want to live forever? Forever, and ever Forever young, I want to be forever young Do you really want to live forever? Forever, and ever [Outro] Forever young, I wanna be forever young Do you really want to live forever? (Forever)