Forever Young by Alphaville - In Depth
‘Forever Young’ is a song by German band Alphaville that was released in 1984 as part of an album of the same name. It is written as a protest to the Cold War and the fact that Nuclear Armageddon and an actual nuclear holocaust triggered by Ronald Reagan at the height of the Cold War was a real possibility by this time. It was written by Bernhard Lloyd, Frank Mertens and Marian Gold. It takes a very optimistic C-G-Am-F chord progression with optimistic sounding lyrics.
In the first verse we get an idea that the writers realise that things don’t look good at this moment. The first lines I’m going to talk about are the intro lines of the song. “Let's dance in style, let's dance for a while. Heaven can wait, we're only watching the skies” which shows that these people aren’t quite ready to die and that they are aware that this is a real possibility at this time. “Hoping for the best, but expecting the worst” shows that they really want it to be ok. However, they realise that there is every possibility that things don’t turn out the way they want them to. “Are you gonna drop the bomb or not?” Is directed at the world leaders at the time, asking the question of if they are going to cause this nuclear Armageddon that seems to be on the close horizons.
In the second verse, we see a slightly less positive turn on the song. This is shown in the first 2 lines: “Let us die young, or let us live forever. We don’t have the power, but we never say never.” This shows that the people who aren’t world leaders are powerless in this situation and that all they can do is sit back and hope for the best during this situation. The next line: “Sitting in a sandpit, life is a short trip” is the first aspect of the title that shows up in the song, as sandpits are linked to being enjoyed by young people. “The music’s for the sad men” shows that the song is to be listened to when someone is sad.
In Verse three, it starts with the lines: “Can you imagine when this race is won? Turn our golden faces into the sun” which implies that the people will win in this situation, thereby preventing the end of the world and that afterwards they can look up at the sun, victorious of this success that they have had. “Praising our leaders, We’re getting in tune” is the only really positive bit about the world leaders at the time that gets included in the song, it shows that the people still have much respect for these leaders.
The chorus of this song, on a more personal note has always moved me, and it starts with the statement: “Forever Young, I wanna be forever young” which shows that the writers have come to terms with the fact that things could go very wrong very quickly between the US and The USSR. They then ask you the question “Do you really wanna live forever, and ever?” This in my opinion is a very moving part of the song and really does make you think. The chorus then repeats the same 4 lines again.
In verse four, we start with the lines: “Some are like water, some are like the heat. Some are melody, some are the beat.” Which shows that different people contribute different things to society, this line doesn’t necessarily even make sense but has an important meaning. We then are greeted with the lines: “Sooner or later, they’ll all be gone. Why don’t they stay young?” Which shows that no one quite lives forever, and even to a degree asks, what is the point of living for a long time?
In the fifth verse, we hear: “It's so hard to get old without a cause. I don’t wanna perish like a fleeing horse.” Which shows that it’s difficult to get old without achieving anything, and that it’s bad to die in the way that’s being presented here. We then are presented with “Youth's like diamonds in the sun. And diamonds are forever.” Which shows that the youth are the most important thing to this world and that youth should last forever, another potential reference to the song title.
In the final verse of the song, we get presented with the lyrics: “So many adventures couldn't happen today, So many songs we forgot to play” which shows that there is so much left to do in the world and that a full scale nuclear war is not at all worth it. We then get presented with the last 2 proper lines within the song: “So many dreams swinging out of the blue We'll let 'em come true.” This shows that people still have dreams and yet again, shows that a full scale nuclear Armageddon is never worth it.
We then go back to the same chorus again. However, we then go into a trumpet part instead of another vocal part and then the song gradually fades out instead of ending on a note or ending abruptly.
To conclude, I believe that this is one of the best songs of the Cold War era and that it was such an influential synth-pop song as it kick-started the genre’s big hits and also cemented Alphaville as one of the biggest German bands in history.
(Sources used to help: Genius, Wikipedia.)
‘Forever Young’ is a song by German band Alphaville that was released in 1984 as part of an album of the same name. It is written as a protest to the Cold War and the fact that Nuclear Armageddon and an actual nuclear holocaust triggered by Ronald Reagan at the height of the Cold War was a real possibility by this time. It was written by Bernhard Lloyd, Frank Mertens and Marian Gold. It takes a very optimistic C-G-Am-F chord progression with optimistic sounding lyrics.
In the first verse we get an idea that the writers realise that things don’t look good at this moment. The first lines I’m going to talk about are the intro lines of the song. “Let's dance in style, let's dance for a while. Heaven can wait, we're only watching the skies” which shows that these people aren’t quite ready to die and that they are aware that this is a real possibility at this time. “Hoping for the best, but expecting the worst” shows that they really want it to be ok. However, they realise that there is every possibility that things don’t turn out the way they want them to. “Are you gonna drop the bomb or not?” Is directed at the world leaders at the time, asking the question of if they are going to cause this nuclear Armageddon that seems to be on the close horizons.
In the second verse, we see a slightly less positive turn on the song. This is shown in the first 2 lines: “Let us die young, or let us live forever. We don’t have the power, but we never say never.” This shows that the people who aren’t world leaders are powerless in this situation and that all they can do is sit back and hope for the best during this situation. The next line: “Sitting in a sandpit, life is a short trip” is the first aspect of the title that shows up in the song, as sandpits are linked to being enjoyed by young people. “The music’s for the sad men” shows that the song is to be listened to when someone is sad.
In Verse three, it starts with the lines: “Can you imagine when this race is won? Turn our golden faces into the sun” which implies that the people will win in this situation, thereby preventing the end of the world and that afterwards they can look up at the sun, victorious of this success that they have had. “Praising our leaders, We’re getting in tune” is the only really positive bit about the world leaders at the time that gets included in the song, it shows that the people still have much respect for these leaders.
The chorus of this song, on a more personal note has always moved me, and it starts with the statement: “Forever Young, I wanna be forever young” which shows that the writers have come to terms with the fact that things could go very wrong very quickly between the US and The USSR. They then ask you the question “Do you really wanna live forever, and ever?” This in my opinion is a very moving part of the song and really does make you think. The chorus then repeats the same 4 lines again.
In verse four, we start with the lines: “Some are like water, some are like the heat. Some are melody, some are the beat.” Which shows that different people contribute different things to society, this line doesn’t necessarily even make sense but has an important meaning. We then are greeted with the lines: “Sooner or later, they’ll all be gone. Why don’t they stay young?” Which shows that no one quite lives forever, and even to a degree asks, what is the point of living for a long time?
In the fifth verse, we hear: “It's so hard to get old without a cause. I don’t wanna perish like a fleeing horse.” Which shows that it’s difficult to get old without achieving anything, and that it’s bad to die in the way that’s being presented here. We then are presented with “Youth's like diamonds in the sun. And diamonds are forever.” Which shows that the youth are the most important thing to this world and that youth should last forever, another potential reference to the song title.
In the final verse of the song, we get presented with the lyrics: “So many adventures couldn't happen today, So many songs we forgot to play” which shows that there is so much left to do in the world and that a full scale nuclear war is not at all worth it. We then get presented with the last 2 proper lines within the song: “So many dreams swinging out of the blue We'll let 'em come true.” This shows that people still have dreams and yet again, shows that a full scale nuclear Armageddon is never worth it.
We then go back to the same chorus again. However, we then go into a trumpet part instead of another vocal part and then the song gradually fades out instead of ending on a note or ending abruptly.
To conclude, I believe that this is one of the best songs of the Cold War era and that it was such an influential synth-pop song as it kick-started the genre’s big hits and also cemented Alphaville as one of the biggest German bands in history.
(Sources used to help: Genius, Wikipedia.)
