“Stay Young”
Don Williams
Written by Benny Gallagher and Graham Lyle
Radio & Records
#1 (2 weeks)
January 27 – February 3, 1984
Billboard
#1 (1 week)
February 4, 1984
Don Williams found “Stay Young” on an LP from seventies British duo Gallagher & Lyle, and he improves on the original recording quite a bit.
“Stay Young” works better with Williams at the mic because he was already a veteran artist, and he delivers the song’s message with the wisdom of a man who has seen a few years already:
Oh, don’t you lose that light in your eyesYou’re never too old to love, never too late to tryWhen somebody needs youGive ’em all you can giveWhen you’re livin’ to love and lovin’ to live
Stay young, keep your wheels in motionYou’ve got everything that you needStay young with your rock n’ rollin’All the best things in life are free
That’s not to say that there’s a whole bunch of wisdom for Williams to deliver here. The lyrics are trite and disconnected, as if Mad Libs had done a Hallmark Card edition and this was the best the players could come up with.
But it sounds so much more profound than it is because Williams is the artist singing it. That speaks volumes about his talent, but he’s got a dozen or so thoughtful hit records that are way better than this.
“Stay Young” gets a B-.
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