Song · Bob Dylan
“Forever Young” by Bob Dylan
From the album Planet Waves (1974)
“Forever Young” by Bob Dylan appears on 16 radio countdowns from 6 stations between 2001 and 2026. It was first released in 1974 on the album Planet Waves. Its best result is #134 on the WYEP Countdown to Fall 2023. In the combined RockLists rankings it is #240 indie & aaa song of all time.
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Bob Dylan cut "Forever Young" in California in November 1973 for Planet Waves, his 14th studio album, and put it on the record twice, once slow and once fast. He wrote it in Tucson, Arizona, with one of his sons on his mind, and by his own account he was working hard not to get too sentimental about it.
The backing is warm and unhurried: Robbie Robertson's guitar beside Dylan's own, Rick Danko on bass, Levon Helm on drums, Garth Hudson's organ and Richard Manuel's piano, with Rob Fraboni engineering and producing. An earlier demo, taped in New York that June, surfaced on Biograph in 1985, and a live take from Tokyo's Budokan, recorded in February 1978, became a European single in 1979.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Indie & Adult Alternative
Classic Rock
All Rock Formats
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 1379 | WFPK | WFPK 2001 Greatest Songs of All Time | 2000 |
| 2004 | 281 | WXPN | WXPN 885 All-Time Greatest Songs (2004) | 885 |
| 2009 | 182 | WYEP | WYEP 913 Essential Songs | 913 |
| 2009 | 171 | WXPN | WXPN 885 Desert Island Songs (2009) | 885 |
| 2010 | 186 | WXPN | WXPN 885 Ultimate Road Trip Songs (2010) | 885 |
| 2012 | 1184 | 100.7 WZLX | 100.7 WZLX Top 1200 Countdown (2012) | 1200 |
| 2014 | 148 | WXPN | WXPN 885 All-Time Greatest Songs (2014) | 885 |
| 2016 | 785 | WYEP | WYEP 913 Countdown 2016 | 913 |
| 2018 | 315 | The Current | The Current's 893 Essential Songs | 892 |
| 2019 | 576 | WYEP | WYEP Big Spring Countdown 2019 | 1017 |
| 2019 | 576 | WYEP | WYEP Labor Day Weekend Countdown 2019 | 1099 |
| 2020 | 335 | WXPN | WXPN 2020 Greatest Songs of All Time | 2020 |
| 2023 | 134 | WYEP | WYEP Countdown to Fall 2023 | 1229 |
| 2024 | 631 | WYEP | WYEP Best Songs of the Past 50 Years | 1049 |
| 2026 | 658 | KXT | KXT 917 Song Countdown | 917 |
| 2026 | 266 | WYEP | WYEP Greatest Songs of All Time | 1180 |
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