"Sometimes I get the feelin'
I was back in the old days - long ago
When we were kids when we were young
Things seemed so perfect - you know
The days were endless we were crazy we were young
The sun was always shinin' - we just lived for fun
Sometimes it seems like lately - I just don't know
The rest of my life's been just a show"
You know I don't think there is any other song for me that sums up someone my age reflecting back to my childhood.
I'm just now trying to get to grips with aging as I'm nearing the half century mark, as has every generation before me. In my case I feel like I'm in mourning over the loss of my youth.
I think as humans we just don't think about time, and how precious it is until its its almost gone.
However I do thank God that I was a child of the 70's, back when Queen was young, and most of the music in general was pretty fantastic.
This is just speculation, but it would seem that the band Queen was close to that brink when they recorded that song reflecting on their own lives and fleeting youth.
Anyway, I think its a really beautiful song of reflection.
I always thought the lyrics to this song would be what I would be thinking like at an older age at a time of reflecting on the past this, song has such a reflective mood to it, quite beautiful
Life seems to be full of ups and downs,its just when you get older the knocks get harder to take.Life was so much simpler in the 70's buying the latest single to play on your record player,growing your hair,platform shoes getting a couple of LP's for christmas.When you get older join the navy go to the falklands,get married,get divorced,battle alcholisam and now battle with a brain tumor.Wish i could go back to watching Tiswas on a Saturday morning !!
That is exactly what I'm talking about.
The verse's in the song that sums up about how things were as a kid vs now/the present are,
"Those were the days of our lives
The BAD things in life were so few"
and,
"You can't turn back the clock you can't turn back the tide
Ain't that a shame
I'd like to go back one time on a roller coaster ride
When life was just a game"
Also, you start to notice how fast time seems to slip away from you when you start to reach midlife, as in midlife crisis.
I believe that this song is a looking back,to the members lives,and generally thoughts you do when you are reaching or passing your 40s,and you tend to look back,the good and bad moments of your life.Surely Fred when was singing this surely would like to go back in that days,unfortunately for him and for all of us,as he sung in another song...time waits for nobody
As mentioned time is relevant. I think the members of Queen hit this wall of youth and middle age sooner ,and perhaps harder, than most people. They knew they were about to face a totally different concept in their lives due to Freddie's up coming death.
Their youth really shined becouse of the group and the success , so they were fortunate to really live it.
I think Rock and roll lifestyle provides an unparalleled medium to re-live not only youth but even the beautiful naiveness of childhood and most importantly the rebelion of the teenage years although in a more sophisticated way. Its combined with the spirit of their job , the nature of their creativity and output to life.
By the time those lines of TATDOOL were written they were on a huge vehicle attached to their lives. It was speeding for two decades and now it was about to stop.
It seems like quite a shocking expirience and nostalgia must have been a safe place to express all that anxiety and even grief.
M-Train I understand exactly what you are talking about. That song is very meaningful for me as well. I was a kid in the 70's, too, and they were a fantastic time to grow up in (here in the US) and be a kid in... you really do look back and see so few problems, only happiness and a simpler life. I think Roger wrote the song and he nailed the feeling.