Song Profile: “Young at Heart” Lives Up to its Mantra
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Sometimes, the next big thing has already happened. Thirty years ago. To illustrate this point, rather than dusting off tired idioms about how what’s old is new again and trends moving in cycles and all that good stuff, we’d simply like to direct your attention to a hidden Reservoir gem that we’ve been grooving to all Spring.
“Young At Heart,” written in part by Siobhan Fahey, an original member of the legendary group Bananarama and a former Reverb songwriter, hit the top 10 on the U.K. Singles chart in 1984 when a Scottish indie outfit called The Bluebells put their own bluegrass-meets-Dexy’s-Midnight-Runners twist on the original über-bright pop song.
As often happens with such unexpected hits, “Young At Heart” promptly descended into ‘80s obscurity after its few weeks on the chart, taking, for many, the memory of The Bluebells right along with it. And that might have been the end of the story if the folks at Volkswagen hadn’t gotten their hands on the record almost a decade later in 1993–well after The Bluebells themselves had disbanded–in time to make one of the greatest commercials ever produced. “Young at Heart” leapt back into the charts, landing at #1 for a month, before once again sliding into musical oblivion.
For those of you who were barely sentient in 1993, no hipster cred lost for not having heard of The Bluebells (conversely, major cred awarded if you have, with grand prize going to anyone who made it out to this joyous affair). Just know that long before the Mumford, Avett, and Punch family trees ever dreamed of bringing folksy back, and before fun. regaled us with the mega-hook to end all mega-hooks and galvanize the ‘young,’ The Bluebells managed to do all of the above. In one song.