Song · Robbie Williams
“Old Before I Die” by Robbie Williams
From the album Life Thru a Lens (1997)
“Old Before I Die” by Robbie Williams appears on 2 radio countdowns from 1 station between 1997 and 2001. It was first released in 1997 on the album Life Thru a Lens. Its best result is #10 on the Virgin Radio Top 10 Songs of 1997. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #390 alternative song of 1997 and #7,352 alternative song of all time.
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"Old Before I Die" was the first single from Life thru a Lens, the debut album from former Take That man Robbie Williams, and Chrysalis put it out in April 1997. He wrote it with Desmond Child and Eric Bazilian, and Guy Chambers and Steve Power produced, with Chambers arranging and playing guitar and keyboards, Fil Eisler on bass and guitar, Steve McEwan on guitar and Geoff Dugmore on drums and percussion.
The sound owed plenty to Oasis, and reviewers noticed: Music & Media applauded him for not playing it safe and heard him swap the sweet, middle-of-the-road pop of old for a confident rock sound, and Music Week praised a strong vocal and a Beatles-style melody, while Martin Aston called it pure Britpop swagger and crunch. It went to number two in Britain and number one in Spain.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Alternative & Modern Rock
All Rock Formats
Year-end countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | 10 | Virgin Radio United Kingdom | Virgin Radio Top 10 Songs of 1997 | 10 |
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 472 | Virgin Radio | Virgin Radio Top 500 Songs of All-Time (December 2001) | 500 |
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