Forever Young (Rod Stewart song)


"Forever Young" is the second single released by Rod Stewart from his Out of Order album in 1988. The song was a Top 20 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at #12, and #9 on the Canadian RPM Magazine charts.
The structure of the lyrics in this song is very similar to a Bob Dylan song of the same title. 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.
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 and Kimberly'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 ."
Stewart recorded a more mellow version of the song for his 1996 compilation album If We Fall in Love Tonight, 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 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 in 2009. Another live version of the song from his 2013 performance at The Troubadour, West Hollywood was included on the deluxe edition of the album Time.

Music video

The video for this song features Stewart singing to a child, played by Alex Zuckerman, while scenes of rural America pass by.

Chart history

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Chart Rank
Canada65
U.S. 123

Other versions