Welcome to Hearing Double, where I compare and contrast two unrelated songs of the same name and decide which one does the song’s title the most justice!
The 1980s music scene marked the transition from the old to the new. While classic rock was still enormously popular, new experimental music styles including new wave, goth rock and alt-rock began to emerge.
This new era of music certainly challenged the norms of mainstream rock, but the overall sentiments remained intact. As Billy Joel sang in 1980, “Everybody’s Talkin’ ‘bout the new sound / Funny, but it’s still rock and roll to me.”
The traditional and modern music styles were not mutually exclusive, which makes the ’80s a fascinating subject for the first installment of this column. In this decade, synthpop group Alphaville and pop-rock star Rod Stewart both released songs entitled “Forever Young,” each in their own style and with their own spin on the title.
Alphaville, a German-based synthpop group released their song “Forever Young” in their 1984 album of the same title. While many have misinterpreted it as a celebration of youth or as an expression of nostalgia based on its dreamy nature, Alphaville’s rendition is undeniably melancholic.
What a song reflects in history is an important indicator of its tone. “Forever Young” was produced in Germany during the Cold War, which saw the country divided between political and economic systems.
The anxieties surrounding the threat of nuclear war felt by those living in the heart of the conflict are immediately apparent in the first verse:
“We’re only watching the skies / Hoping for the best but expecting the worst / Are you gonna drop the bomb or not?”
There’s a distinct and consistent theme of helplessness. The average citizen has no control of their own destiny — they either die young or live in fear. It’s a lose-lose situation, which is best described by the chorus line:
“Do you really want to live forever?”
If anything, Alphaville’s “Forever Young” is a song of mourning. It is, of course, political, but it feels more like a surrender than a call to action. The narrator accepts the impossibility of their situation.
Despite strong historical ties, the song is still relatable beyond the scope of ’80s Germany. A more general interpretation could be that it merely represents a longing for youth, which slips so quickly through our fingers that before we can even truly appreciate it, it’s already over. In this interpretation, the song still maintains its mourning sentiment; the cause is just different.
The sound is really where the beauty of the song lies for a lot of people. The slow synth creates an almost eerie but a quintessential ‘80s sound. The solemn yet dreamy melody resonates with the modern generation as an ode to the sacredness of youth.
Since a recent resurgence in popularity, Alphaville’s “Forever Young” has become an anthem for living in the moment. Layered over a multitude of videos depicting youthful, unadulterated joy, it has come to encapsulate the “my life is a movie” aesthetic. It’s the anthem for dancing in the rain, laughing with your friends until your stomach hurts, gazing at the stars, taking stupid risks and driving with no destination.
Alphaville’s “Forever Young,” with over 900 million listens on Spotify, has been covered many times over since its release, but nothing comes close to the original. Laura Branigan’s rendition, for example, is largely overstated with excessively emotional vocals and a swell of instruments and backing vocals towards the end.
On the other hand, Youth Group completely abandoned the instrumentation that makes this song so unique, opting for a sound more reminiscent of the early 2000s indie pop scene. No cover has been able to accurately express the ruminative and dreamlike nature of the original.
In 1988, Rod Stewart released his album “Out of Order,” which included the track “Forever Young,” inspired by Bob Dylan’s 1974 song of the same name. Though the sound and lyrics are only loosely related, many of the ideas as well as the overall structure in the later hit are borrowed from the original.
Whereas Alphaville’s “Forever Young” aligns closer with new wave, this song fits into a more traditional music style.
Whenever I hear this song, I’m reminded of my last class session of AP Psych in my senior year of high school. My teacher had played it for us as a sendoff into the world, urging us to listen closely and absorb the message that the lyrics are expressing.
This purpose is certainly fitting, as the song reads as the parting of wisdom from an elder to a child. In fact, Stewart originally intended it as “a heartfelt song about my kids.”
Lyrically, Stewart’s “Forever Young” is full of hopes and advice he has for his children as they grow up. In the choruses, he explains that, while they will be making their own decisions and carving out their own paths, Stewart will always see his children as his babies:
“Be courageous and be brave / And in my heart you’ll always stay / Forever young”
It’s the perfect representation of a parent’s love. There comes a time when most parents need to let their children go out into the world and make it on their own. This doesn’t mean that their love is any less or that they have become obsolete in their children’s lives. It just means that they need to trust their children to make their own decisions.
All a parent can do at this point is hope that they’ve prepared their kids for what’s to come and instill the proper values to blossom into kind, self-sufficient adults. This is made evident in the lyrics:
“And when you finally fly away / I’ll be hoping that I served you well / For all the wisdom of a lifetime / No one can ever tell”
Though the idea of growing up can be depressing and scary, this song indicates something else entirely: hope. The melody alone is upbeat — a far cry from the melancholic Alphaville song. It’s bittersweet, but not sad, which is what growing up should be.
Halfway through my final semester at UConn, the longing to be forever young resonates deeply with me, so the subject matter of this first article feels very relevant. These two songs both beautifully capture the meaning of their title, each tackling the subject from different positions and with different outlooks. It’s amazing how different the two separate takes on the same idea can be.
While both songs are very close to my heart, Alphaville’s “Forever Young” stands out. It’s magical, both lyrically and sonically, and the historical complexity makes it all the more compelling.
Title winner: Alphaville