At the risk of sounding cliché, life is short.
I think the older you get, the shorter it feels. Maybe that’s even truer for people who have pretty-much-chronic nostalgia issues (yeah, I spend way too much time thinking about how the past is gone forever), but I think the sentiment’s fairly universal. You, me, and Ferris Bueller all know: life moves pretty fast.
When you start to feel like this, the standard advice is actually pretty helpful.
Be intentional. Tell people you love them. Go do something you’ve always wanted to do. And that’s all good, but I’ve got one new note to add: maybe blast this track by Like Lions while you do it.
Trust me – “Older” is perfect for dealing with the shortness of life. It’s heavy with the weight of passing time and nostalgia, but shiny and slick enough to make you feel good anyway. And it’s an absolute ear worm. Listen through it once, and then good luck getting the chorus out of your head before you die.
I’ve been getting older
And the weight on my shoulders is keeping me down
I’ve been feeling head sick
I don’t have a metric to count all the doubt.
But I waited a long, long time in my mind
I thought I’d be there by now.
It’s pretty sobering stuff.
Patrick (the creative force behind the one-man indie-pop outfit) wrote this as a reflection around his 30th birthday, and the lyrical themes reflect it well – straightforward and blunt, they make up for in impact what they lack in subtlety.
Who hasn’t felt the doubt that comes with age? Who hasn’t wrestled with the feeling that life isn’t turning out how it was expected to?
There are moments of hope, though. The second verse hints at better times ahead:
I’ll get up again when the spring comes around.
And then the chorus kicks in. Don’t despair, though – the biggest reasons to blast this song when time seems fast are the melodies. This is sweet, pulsing, synth-driven indie pop, through and through. And it’s made to sing along to.
So go ahead. Sing it out.
The years are going to fly by. We’re all getting older. But we’re all along for the ride, at least. And if you age to a soundtrack this good, the weight of getting older doesn’t feel quite as heavy.
To hear more from Like Lions, check out Patrick’s social profiles: Spotify // Facebook // Instagram // Twitter. And keep an eye out for an “Older” music video dropping soon.
