Forever Young

Song written by Bernhard Lloyd, Marian Gold and Frank Mertens.

Alphaville version

‘Forever young’ is the title track from German rock/synthpop group Alphaville’s 1984 debut album of the same name. Though it was not the group’s highest-charting European hit and failed to reach the American Top 40 despite three separate U.S. single releases, ‘Forever young’ became something of a pop standard and has been covered by numerous artists since its 1984 debut.

Kim Wilde version

In August 2011 the song was released as a studio recording as a bonus track on the special limited edition version for German Saturn stores of Kim’s album Snapshots.

Live performances

Prior to the release of the studio recording, Kim Wilde performed this song during the Come Out and Play Tour in 2011. She also performed the song during the Snapshots & Greatest Hits Tour in 2012 and during the tour with Howard Jones in Australia in 2016.

Kim about ‘Forever young’

I played this song in February and March 2011 during the ‘Come out and play’ tour in Germany. The song was released in 1984 by the German rock/synthpop band Alphaville – in the same year that I released my album ‘Teases and dares’. I can’t claim it made a big impression on me. In fact I only understood what a great song it is when my niece Scarlett proposed it for the tour. It has a wistful and at the same time consistent quality and the audience seems to have a special connection to it. It doesn’t matter that we all get old, when we stay ‘Forever young’ in our hearts. (1)

Credits

Guitars: Heiko Fischer
Additional vocals by Ricky Wilde
Produced by Alex Rethwisch
Vocal production by Ricky Wilde

Interview source

(1) ‘Snapshots’ CD booklet


Lyrics

Let’s dance in style, lets dance for a while
Heaven can wait we’re only watching the skies
Hoping for the best but expecting the worst
Are you going to 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 madman

Forever young, i want to be forever young
Do you really want to live forever, forever forever
Forever young, i want to be forever young
Do you really want to live forever
Forever young

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 is 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 are swinging out of the blue
We let them come true

Forever young, I want to be forever young
Do you really want to live forever, forever forever
Forever young, I want to be forever young
Do you really want to live forever forever forever
Forever young, I want to be forever young
Do you really want to live forever, forever forever
Forever young, I want to be forever