"Forever Young" is a song by British singer-songwriter

Rod Stewart Sir Roderick David Stewart (born 10 January 1945) is a British rock and pop singer and songwriter. Born and raised in London, he is of Scottish and English ancestry. With his distinctive raspy singing voice, Stewart is among the best-selling ...

, first released on his 1988 album '' Out of Order''. The song was a Top 20 hit on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, peaking at #12, and #9 on the Canadian

RPM Magazine ''RPM'' ( and later ) was a Canadian music-industry publication that featured song and album charts for Canada. The publication was founded by Walt Grealis in February 1964, supported through its existence by record label owner Stan Klees. ''R ...

charts.

Background

Stewart wrote the song with two of his band members: guitarist Jim Cregan and keyboardist Kevin Savigar. Stewart told ''Mojo'' magazine in 1995 that he considered "Forever Young" to be one of his favourite songs and the reason for writing it was, "I love 'Forever Young', because that was a real heartfelt song about my kids. I suddenly realized I'd missed a good five years of

Sean Sean, also spelled Seán or Séan in Irish English, is a male given name of Irish origin. It comes from the Irish versions of the Biblical Hebrew name ''Yohanan'' (), Seán (anglicized as ''Shaun/ Shawn/ Shon'') and Séan (Ulster variant; anglici ...

and

Kimberly Kimberly or Kimberley may refer to: Places and historical events Australia * Kimberley (Western Australia) ** Roman Catholic Diocese of Kimberley * Kimberley Warm Springs, Tasmania * Kimberley, Tasmania a small town * County of Kimberley, a c ...

's life because I was so busy touring all the time. With these kids now I don't make that mistake -- I take them on tour with me, so I can watch them grow up. So that's another favourite. Unfortunately, it wasn't a big hit in England, but it's like a national anthem here

merica ''Merica'' is a genus of sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Cancellariidae, the nutmeg snails. Species Species within the genus ''Merica'' include: * † '' Merica admirabilis'' Lozouet, 2019 * '' Merica aqualica'' (Petit & H ...

" The structure of the lyrics in this song was similar enough to a Bob Dylan song of the same title that, after its completion, the song was then sent to Dylan, asking whether he had a problem with it. The two men agreed to participate in the ownership of the song and share Stewart's royalties. In January 1989, immediately following the broadcast of

Super Bowl XXIII Super Bowl XXIII was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Cincinnati Bengals and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion San Francisco 49ers to decide the National Football League (NFL) champ ...

NBC Sports NBC Sports is an American programming division of the broadcast network NBC, owned and operated by NBC Sports Group division of NBCUniversal and subsidiary of Comcast. The division is responsible for sports broadcasts on the network, and its d ...

used "Forever Young" as the soundtrack for a year-in-review montage showcasing highlights from the

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and commonly known as Seoul 1988 ( ko, 서울 1988, Seoul Cheon gubaek palsip-pal), was an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October ...

, the

1988 World Series The 1988 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1988 season. The 85th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff played between the American League (AL) champion Oakland Athletics and the Na ...

, the

1989 Fiesta Bowl The 1989 Sunkist Fiesta Bowl, played on Monday, January 2, was the 18th edition of the Fiesta Bowl. It featured the top-ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the third-ranked West Virginia Mountaineers. With both teams undefeated, the Fiesta Bowl ...

, and Super Bowl XXIII. All four events had been broadcast by NBC. Stewart recorded a more mellow version of the song for his 1996

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one or several Performing arts#Performers, performers. If by one artist, then generally the tr ...

If We Fall in Love Tonight ''If We Fall in Love Tonight'' is an album released by Rod Stewart on 12 November 1996. It includes mostly previously released songs. The album was released in both the US and UK, though the versions differ slightly. It was released by Warne ...

'', and a version featuring just Stewart's voice with piano accompaniment can be found on the 2009 compilation album ''The Rod Stewart Sessions 1971-1998''. A live version was recorded during his ''

MTV Unplugged ''MTV Unplugged'' is an American television series on MTV showcasing musical artists usually playing acoustic instruments. The show aired regularly from 1989 to 1999 and less frequently from 2000 to 2009, when it was usually billed as ''MTV Un ...

'' session in 1993. Though not included on the original release of the live album '' Unplugged...and Seated'', this version was later released as a bonus track on the Collector's Edition of the album released by

Rhino Records A rhinoceros (; ; ), commonly abbreviated to rhino, is a member of any of the five extant species (or numerous extinct species) of odd-toed ungulates in the family Rhinocerotidae. (It can also refer to a member of any of the extinct species o ...

in 2009. Another live version of the song from his 2013 performance at

The Troubadour, West Hollywood The Troubadour is a nightclub located in West Hollywood, California, United States, at 9081 Santa Monica Boulevard just east of Doheny Drive and the border of Beverly Hills. Inspired by a visit to the newly opened Troubadour café in London, i ...

was included on the deluxe edition of the album ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

''.

Music video

The

video Video is an electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving visual media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, which were quickly replaced by cathode-ray tube (CRT) syste ...

for this song features Stewart singing to a child, played by Alex Zuckerman, while scenes of rural

America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

pass by. It was filmed on Potrero Road in

Hidden Valley, Ventura County, California Hidden Valley is a valley in the Santa Monica Mountains, in southeastern Ventura County, Southern California. The unincorporated community in the valley is an equestrian ranch community with single family houses on parcels of land. Residents re ...

Chart history

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Other versions

*An acoustic version was performed by

Matthew Morrison Matthew James Morrison (born October 30, 1978) is an American actor, dancer and singer-songwriter, best known for his role as Will Schuester on the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox television show ''Glee (TV series), Glee'' (2009–2015). He has s ...

in the ''Glee'' third-season finale episode "

Goodbye Goodbye, Good bye, or Good-bye is a parting phrase and may refer to: Film * ''Goodbye'' (1918 film), a British drama directed by Maurice Elvey * ''Goodbye'' (1995 film) (''Tot Ziens!''), a Dutch film directed by Heddy Honigmann * ''Goodbye'' ...

References

{{authority control Rod Stewart songs 1988 singles Songs written by Bob Dylan Songs written by Rod Stewart Songs involved in plagiarism controversies Songs written by Jim Cregan Songs written by Kevin Savigar 1988 songs Warner Records singles