"On Growing Older" is a song by English band

Strawbs The Strawbs are an English rock band founded in 1964 as the Strawberry Hill Boys. The band started out as a bluegrass group, but eventually moved on to other styles such as folk rock and progressive rock. They are best known for their hi ...

written by

Dave Cousins Dave Cousins (born David Joseph Hindson; 7 January 1945) is an English musician who has been the leader, singer and most-active songwriter of Strawbs, since 1967. Cousins is a founding member of Strawbs, which started out as the Strawberry H ...

. The track first appeared on the '' Grave New World'' album, although it was written and recorded a few years earlier. The original recording was later released on the '' Strawberry Sampler Number 1'' album.

Lyrical and musical content

As befits its place on the album, the song describes "a regret for the waste of my youth" of a middle-aged person who nonetheless realises that they still have time to accomplish some of their ambitions. The imagery is pastoral and natural, similar to "Another Day" from the ''

Dragonfly A dragonfly is a flying insect belonging to the infraorder Anisoptera below the order Odonata. About 3,000 extant species of dragonflies are known. Most are tropical, with fewer species in temperate regions. Loss of wetland habitat threat ...

'' album or perhaps "A Glimpse of Heaven" from '' From the Witchwood''. The instrumentation is simple, and the jangling guitar sounds are evocative of

The Byrds The Byrds () were an American Rock music, rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1964. The band underwent multiple lineup changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn (known as Jim McGuinn until mid-1967) being the so ...

, of whom Cousins is a fan.

Personnel

–

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of the ...

acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked, its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

Tony Hooper Anthony Hooper (14 September 1939 – 18 November 2020) was an English folk singer-songwriter and musician. He was best known as a founder-member of Strawbs together with Dave Cousins and double bassist Ron Chesterman. He left The Strawbs ...

–

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are us ...

12-string guitar A twelve-string guitar (or 12-string guitar) is a steel-string guitar with 12 strings in six courses, which produces a thicker, more ringing tone than a standard six-string guitar. Typically, the strings of the lower four courses are tuned in ...

John Ford John Martin Feeney (February 1, 1894 – August 31, 1973), better known as John Ford, was an American film director and producer. He is regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers during the Golden Age of Hollywood, and w ...

–

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

* Richard Hudson –

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

References

*Sleeve notes to album CD 540 934-2 ''Grave New World'' (A&M 1998 Remastered)
''Grave New World'' 30th anniversary article on Strawbsweb

External links

Lyrics to "On Growing Older" at Strawbsweb official site

Template

Strawbs songs 1972 songs Songs written by Dave Cousins {{1970s-song-stub