Songs about growing up, for when they're doing it way too fast

Put "The Circle Game" by Joni Mitchell (1970) on first. A boy turns ten, then twenty, while the carousel keeps going round.

Every parent in the room goes quiet by the second chorus.

The rest of these songs about growing up are grouped by stage, starting with the kid years and ending at the class reunion.

Parents get their own list in the middle. So do 30th birthdays.

Copy any title straight into the slideshow, or drop it in the family group chat before somebody else claims it.

Being a kid, glow stars and all

Bedroom ceiling, 9 p.m. The glow stars are still up there, and half of them are peeling at the corners.

Most of these songs about kids are sung from about knee height. Think toy boxes and the last bell before summer.

Little kids want the one from the movie. At full volume, nine times in a row.

Rosa is seven and has announced she's basically a grown-up now. She still sleeps with the hall light on.

"Puff, the Magic Dragon" by Peter, Paul and Mary (1963). Jackie Paper grows up and stops visiting, and Puff takes it badly.
"Our House" by Madness (1982). A busy British house, everybody talking at once. Good for the toddler-chaos photos.
"Sweet Baby James" by James Taylor (1970). He wrote this cowboy lullaby for his baby nephew, who was named after him. Use it for the hospital-blanket photo.
"You've Got a Friend in Me" by Randy Newman (1995). Toy Story's opening song, so expect a sing-along from the back seat. Woody's whole personality in one song.
"When She Loved Me" by Sarah McLachlan (1999). Same franchise, much sadder. Jessie remembers the girl who outgrew her.
"Ode to My Family" by The Cranberries (1994). Dolores O'Riordan looks back at her childhood and her parents. Very Irish, very hummable.
"School's Out" by Alice Cooper (1972). Goes with the last-day-of-school photo, obviously.
"Lost Boy" by Ruth B. (2015). Peter Pan from a lonely kid's point of view, just piano and that voice. Ruth B. is Canadian, and this was her first single.
"Grandma's Feather Bed" by John Denver (1974). Summers at grandma's, with a pile of cousins in one giant bed. Silly on purpose.
"Stressed Out" by Twenty One Pilots (2015). The older-kid version, homesick for playing pretend. Save it for the middle-school photos with the braces.

The teenage years, slammed doors included

Rule for any teen playlist. They run the aux cord for half of it, and you don't comment on the skips.

Anything older than they are gets an eye roll on the first listen. By the third, someone's humming it in the shower.

Teen photos are mostly blurry and shot from below. Put them in.

June's lock screen changes every week, and you haven't made the cut since she was eleven. If the slideshow is for her 18th, the card can borrow a line from these 18th birthday wishes.

"Fifteen" by Taylor Swift (2008). Advice to a 15-year-old from someone barely past it. Her real best friend, Abigail, turns up by name.
"At Seventeen" by Janis Ian (1975). The girl who never got the valentines. Rough to hear, and worth it.
"Wouldn't It Be Nice" by The Beach Boys (1966). Two teens who can't wait to be older.
"Teenage Kicks" by The Undertones (1978). Under three minutes of pure crush. The BBC DJ John Peel loved it so much that a line from it is on his headstone.
"Ribs" by Lorde (2013). Written while she was still a teenager, about the fear of getting older. Play it loud with the lights off.
"Vienna" by Billy Joel (1977). For the overachiever who's already planning their 30s. A gentle lecture, with an accordion in it.
"Summer of '69" by Bryan Adams (1984). A first guitar from the five-and-dime and a band that didn't last, so roll the windows down.
"Growin' Up" by Bruce Springsteen (1973). Young Springsteen remembering how badly he wanted to break every rule. It's off his very first album.
"Don't You (Forget About Me)" by Simple Minds (1985). The Breakfast Club song. Save it for the class photos at the very end.

Leaving home with the car packed to the roof

Jordan's boxes are in the hall, each one labeled in marker. Whoever's driving picks the first song, and that's final.

The car keys just changed hands. A move that lands near their 21st needs a card too, and these 21st birthday wishes have the lines.

The first apartment will have one chair and a mattress on the floor. They'll love it anyway.

Make the playlist about as long as the drive, plus twenty minutes for traffic. The slow ones belong in the driveway goodbye, because once the car hits the highway they'll want drums.

"She's Leaving Home" by The Beatles (1967). She slips out at 5 a.m. and leaves a note. The only instruments are strings and a harp.
"Father and Son" by Cat Stevens (1970). An argument between a dad who wants his son to stay and a son who has to go, with Cat Stevens singing both parts.
"Breakaway" by Kelly Clarkson (2004). Small-town kid, big city plans. Avril Lavigne co-wrote it before it went to Kelly.
"Simple Man" by Lynyrd Skynyrd (1973). Mom's advice before her son heads out the door, over a song that starts quiet and gets loud.
"Closing Time" by Semisonic (1998). Sounds like a last-call bar song. Dan Wilson has said it's partly about his daughter being born.
"Unwritten" by Natasha Bedingfield (2004). Blank-page energy for night one in the new apartment. It was also the theme for The Hills, if that dates you.
"My Wish" by Rascal Flatts (2006). Basically a graduation card, sung.
"Home" by Phillip Phillips (2012). Stomping acoustic guitar and a promise to make a new place feel like home. He first sang it on American Idol.

Songs about kids growing up too fast

Shuffle has a mean sense of timing. One of these will come on in the school pickup line, and you'll need sunglasses.

This is the parents' list, full of songs about kids growing up that sound different once you've packed a lunchbox. A few are about babies, and a few are about the day the car pulls out of the driveway.

Thinking of one kid in particular? There are separate lists of songs about daughters and songs about sons.

Several were written by parents in the thick of it. You can hear the sleep deprivation.

Two of these back to back at a party is how a toast turns into a group cry. Space them out.

"Slipping Through My Fingers" by ABBA (1981). Björn Ulvaeus wrote it about his young daughter walking off to school. Breakfast-table devastation, in a pop song.
"Cat's in the Cradle" by Harry Chapin (1974). The lyrics began as a poem by his wife, Sandy. Busy dads, consider yourselves warned.
"Isn't She Lovely" by Stevie Wonder (1976). Those baby sounds are his daughter, Aisha. The album cut runs past six minutes, so fade it early.
"Never Grow Up" by Taylor Swift (2010). Starts with a tiny hand around a finger and ends in a new apartment in a big city. She was about 20 when it came out, which is somehow worse.
"There Goes My Life" by Kenny Chesney (2003). A panicked young dad at the start. At the end, the same dad watches her drive away.
"Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy)" by John Lennon (1980). A lullaby for his son Sean, gentle enough for the baby photos.
"Forever Young" by Bob Dylan (1974). Planet Waves has it twice, slow and fast. Use the slow one.
"Kooks" by David Bowie (1971). Written for his newborn son, and a bit goofy about the whole parenting thing. A good break from the criers.
"Teach Your Children" by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (1970). Jerry Garcia plays that twangy pedal steel.
"I Hope You Dance" by Lee Ann Womack (2000). Each line is a wish for them. Use it on the last photo, the one at the front door.

Turning 30, 40 and beyond

Quick reality check. Thirty isn't old, whatever your knees say the morning after a wedding.

Songs about getting older land differently once the 30th birthday party wraps up by 10 p.m. Maya's friends got her a cake shaped like a walker, which feels early.

For a 40th video, mix a couple of goofy photos in with the sad songs. Nobody wants to cry into cake.

A parent's 50th is fair game too, with the kids picking the songs as gentle revenge.

"Landslide" by Fleetwood Mac (1975). Stevie Nicks wrote it in her twenties, already worried about getting older. Funny until you're 34.
"Glory Days" by Bruce Springsteen (1984). An old high school pitcher tells the same stories at a roadside bar. Play it when the dance floor needs help.
"7 Years" by Lukas Graham (2015). Counts from age seven up to sixty in about four minutes, courtesy of a band from Copenhagen.
"Time" by Pink Floyd (1973). Don't skip the clocks at the start. The bit about ten years going missing is aimed right at your 30s.
"Ooh La La" by Faces (1973). Ronnie Wood wishing he'd known sooner.
"It Was a Very Good Year" by Frank Sinatra (1965). A cover of a Kingston Trio song. Sinatra looks back at his good years one age at a time, which suits a 40th.
"Old Man" by Neil Young (1972). Written about the caretaker on the ranch he'd just bought. A young guy and an old guy turn out to be more alike than either expected.

Reunion-night songs about growing up

Reunion law says whoever brings the yearbook controls the music.

These are for when the kid in the old photos is you, and the haircut was a choice. They also work for new grads the week after the ceremony, when the group chat suddenly goes quiet.

Malik's ten-year reunion is next month. He's already practicing his "I run a small business" face.

A reunion playlist only needs a handful of these. Everyone talks over the rest.

"In My Life" by The Beatles (1965). It looks back at every place and person, then settles on one. Play it last, after the yearbook photos.
"Castle on the Hill" by Ed Sheeran (2017). Sheeran drives back to his Suffolk hometown and ticks off every friend and broken bone. Car song, so turn it up.
"Those Were the Days" by Mary Hopkin (1968). Paul McCartney produced it for a Welsh teenager. It's about going back to the old tavern years later.
"Photograph" by Nickelback (2005). Yes, Nickelback. Laugh now, then try it at a 20-year reunion.
"Somewhere Only We Know" by Keane (2004). A piano song for the drive past your old school. Keane is from Battle, a small town in East Sussex.
"Strawberry Wine" by Deana Carter (1996). Slow-dance country about being seventeen.

A song about who they're becoming

Every one of those songs about growing up is somebody else's story. A HeartCraft song card is built from yours.

You say who it's for and share a few memories, like the glow stars or the bike that went straight into the mailbox. Their name goes in the chorus, and the story goes into the lines.

Pick small, specific memories, the weirder the better. The bath-time song at age four beats a list of school awards.

It's ready in about 10 minutes and arrives on your WhatsApp or email as a link. Forward it, or play it for them at the party.

You pick the language and the feel of the song.

For a cap-and-gown send-off, start on the graduation song page with those memories ready.

Slideshow and playlist questions

How many songs does a graduation slideshow need?

About one song for every 40 photos. At five seconds a photo, a three-and-a-half-minute song covers roughly 40 pictures, so 200 photos need five songs.

Trim long intros in the editor, or you'll lose ten photos to a drum fill.

Can I post the slideshow online with these songs?

Sometimes. Social apps can mute or block videos that use commercial recordings, so pick the song from the app's own music library when it's there.

Keep the full version for the party itself.

Are these songs clean enough for a school assembly?

They're radio-friendly, but play each one through first. A couple slip a mild word into a verse, and a teacher will notice.

The movie songs in the first list are the safest bet.

Should the slideshow go in order, baby photos first?

Mostly, yes. Start the baby photos on something slow and speed up for the teen years, then slow right back down for the last ten pictures.

End on the photo that makes everyone groan.

Put "The Circle Game" by Joni Mitchell (1970) on first. A boy turns ten, then twenty, while the carousel keeps going round.

Every parent in the room goes quiet by the second chorus.

The rest of these songs about growing up are grouped by stage, starting with the kid years and ending at the class reunion.

Parents get their own list in the middle. So do 30th birthdays.

Copy any title straight into the slideshow, or drop it in the family group chat before somebody else claims it.

Being a kid, glow stars and all

Bedroom ceiling, 9 p.m. The glow stars are still up there, and half of them are peeling at the corners.

Most of these songs about kids are sung from about knee height. Think toy boxes and the last bell before summer.

Little kids want the one from the movie. At full volume, nine times in a row.

Rosa is seven and has announced she's basically a grown-up now. She still sleeps with the hall light on.

"Puff, the Magic Dragon" by Peter, Paul and Mary (1963). Jackie Paper grows up and stops visiting, and Puff takes it badly.
"Our House" by Madness (1982). A busy British house, everybody talking at once. Good for the toddler-chaos photos.
"Sweet Baby James" by James Taylor (1970). He wrote this cowboy lullaby for his baby nephew, who was named after him. Use it for the hospital-blanket photo.
"You've Got a Friend in Me" by Randy Newman (1995). Toy Story's opening song, so expect a sing-along from the back seat. Woody's whole personality in one song.
"When She Loved Me" by Sarah McLachlan (1999). Same franchise, much sadder. Jessie remembers the girl who outgrew her.
"Ode to My Family" by The Cranberries (1994). Dolores O'Riordan looks back at her childhood and her parents. Very Irish, very hummable.
"School's Out" by Alice Cooper (1972). Goes with the last-day-of-school photo, obviously.
"Lost Boy" by Ruth B. (2015). Peter Pan from a lonely kid's point of view, just piano and that voice. Ruth B. is Canadian, and this was her first single.
"Grandma's Feather Bed" by John Denver (1974). Summers at grandma's, with a pile of cousins in one giant bed. Silly on purpose.
"Stressed Out" by Twenty One Pilots (2015). The older-kid version, homesick for playing pretend. Save it for the middle-school photos with the braces.

The teenage years, slammed doors included

Rule for any teen playlist. They run the aux cord for half of it, and you don't comment on the skips.

Anything older than they are gets an eye roll on the first listen. By the third, someone's humming it in the shower.

Teen photos are mostly blurry and shot from below. Put them in.

June's lock screen changes every week, and you haven't made the cut since she was eleven. If the slideshow is for her 18th, the card can borrow a line from these 18th birthday wishes.

"Fifteen" by Taylor Swift (2008). Advice to a 15-year-old from someone barely past it. Her real best friend, Abigail, turns up by name.
"At Seventeen" by Janis Ian (1975). The girl who never got the valentines. Rough to hear, and worth it.
"Wouldn't It Be Nice" by The Beach Boys (1966). Two teens who can't wait to be older.
"Teenage Kicks" by The Undertones (1978). Under three minutes of pure crush. The BBC DJ John Peel loved it so much that a line from it is on his headstone.
"Ribs" by Lorde (2013). Written while she was still a teenager, about the fear of getting older. Play it loud with the lights off.
"Vienna" by Billy Joel (1977). For the overachiever who's already planning their 30s. A gentle lecture, with an accordion in it.
"Summer of '69" by Bryan Adams (1984). A first guitar from the five-and-dime and a band that didn't last, so roll the windows down.
"Growin' Up" by Bruce Springsteen (1973). Young Springsteen remembering how badly he wanted to break every rule. It's off his very first album.
"Don't You (Forget About Me)" by Simple Minds (1985). The Breakfast Club song. Save it for the class photos at the very end.

Leaving home with the car packed to the roof

Jordan's boxes are in the hall, each one labeled in marker. Whoever's driving picks the first song, and that's final.

The car keys just changed hands. A move that lands near their 21st needs a card too, and these 21st birthday wishes have the lines.

The first apartment will have one chair and a mattress on the floor. They'll love it anyway.

Make the playlist about as long as the drive, plus twenty minutes for traffic. The slow ones belong in the driveway goodbye, because once the car hits the highway they'll want drums.

"She's Leaving Home" by The Beatles (1967). She slips out at 5 a.m. and leaves a note. The only instruments are strings and a harp.
"Father and Son" by Cat Stevens (1970). An argument between a dad who wants his son to stay and a son who has to go, with Cat Stevens singing both parts.
"Breakaway" by Kelly Clarkson (2004). Small-town kid, big city plans. Avril Lavigne co-wrote it before it went to Kelly.
"Simple Man" by Lynyrd Skynyrd (1973). Mom's advice before her son heads out the door, over a song that starts quiet and gets loud.
"Closing Time" by Semisonic (1998). Sounds like a last-call bar song. Dan Wilson has said it's partly about his daughter being born.
"Unwritten" by Natasha Bedingfield (2004). Blank-page energy for night one in the new apartment. It was also the theme for The Hills, if that dates you.
"My Wish" by Rascal Flatts (2006). Basically a graduation card, sung.
"Home" by Phillip Phillips (2012). Stomping acoustic guitar and a promise to make a new place feel like home. He first sang it on American Idol.

Songs about kids growing up too fast

Shuffle has a mean sense of timing. One of these will come on in the school pickup line, and you'll need sunglasses.

Thinking of one kid in particular? There are separate lists of songs about daughters and songs about sons.

Several were written by parents in the thick of it. You can hear the sleep deprivation.

Two of these back to back at a party is how a toast turns into a group cry. Space them out.

"Slipping Through My Fingers" by ABBA (1981). Björn Ulvaeus wrote it about his young daughter walking off to school. Breakfast-table devastation, in a pop song.
"Cat's in the Cradle" by Harry Chapin (1974). The lyrics began as a poem by his wife, Sandy. Busy dads, consider yourselves warned.
"Isn't She Lovely" by Stevie Wonder (1976). Those baby sounds are his daughter, Aisha. The album cut runs past six minutes, so fade it early.
"Never Grow Up" by Taylor Swift (2010). Starts with a tiny hand around a finger and ends in a new apartment in a big city. She was about 20 when it came out, which is somehow worse.
"There Goes My Life" by Kenny Chesney (2003). A panicked young dad at the start. At the end, the same dad watches her drive away.
"Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy)" by John Lennon (1980). A lullaby for his son Sean, gentle enough for the baby photos.
"Forever Young" by Bob Dylan (1974). Planet Waves has it twice, slow and fast. Use the slow one.
"Kooks" by David Bowie (1971). Written for his newborn son, and a bit goofy about the whole parenting thing. A good break from the criers.
"Teach Your Children" by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (1970). Jerry Garcia plays that twangy pedal steel.
"I Hope You Dance" by Lee Ann Womack (2000). Each line is a wish for them. Use it on the last photo, the one at the front door.

Turning 30, 40 and beyond

Quick reality check. Thirty isn't old, whatever your knees say the morning after a wedding.

Songs about getting older land differently once the 30th birthday party wraps up by 10 p.m. Maya's friends got her a cake shaped like a walker, which feels early.

For a 40th video, mix a couple of goofy photos in with the sad songs. Nobody wants to cry into cake.

A parent's 50th is fair game too, with the kids picking the songs as gentle revenge.

"Landslide" by Fleetwood Mac (1975). Stevie Nicks wrote it in her twenties, already worried about getting older. Funny until you're 34.
"Glory Days" by Bruce Springsteen (1984). An old high school pitcher tells the same stories at a roadside bar. Play it when the dance floor needs help.
"7 Years" by Lukas Graham (2015). Counts from age seven up to sixty in about four minutes, courtesy of a band from Copenhagen.
"Time" by Pink Floyd (1973). Don't skip the clocks at the start. The bit about ten years going missing is aimed right at your 30s.
"Ooh La La" by Faces (1973). Ronnie Wood wishing he'd known sooner.
"It Was a Very Good Year" by Frank Sinatra (1965). A cover of a Kingston Trio song. Sinatra looks back at his good years one age at a time, which suits a 40th.
"Old Man" by Neil Young (1972). Written about the caretaker on the ranch he'd just bought. A young guy and an old guy turn out to be more alike than either expected.

Reunion-night songs about growing up

Reunion law says whoever brings the yearbook controls the music.

These are for when the kid in the old photos is you, and the haircut was a choice. They also work for new grads the week after the ceremony, when the group chat suddenly goes quiet.

Malik's ten-year reunion is next month. He's already practicing his "I run a small business" face.

A reunion playlist only needs a handful of these. Everyone talks over the rest.

"In My Life" by The Beatles (1965). It looks back at every place and person, then settles on one. Play it last, after the yearbook photos.
"Castle on the Hill" by Ed Sheeran (2017). Sheeran drives back to his Suffolk hometown and ticks off every friend and broken bone. Car song, so turn it up.
"Those Were the Days" by Mary Hopkin (1968). Paul McCartney produced it for a Welsh teenager. It's about going back to the old tavern years later.
"Photograph" by Nickelback (2005). Yes, Nickelback. Laugh now, then try it at a 20-year reunion.
"Somewhere Only We Know" by Keane (2004). A piano song for the drive past your old school. Keane is from Battle, a small town in East Sussex.
"Strawberry Wine" by Deana Carter (1996). Slow-dance country about being seventeen.

A song about who they're becoming

Every one of those songs about growing up is somebody else's story. A HeartCraft song card is built from yours.

You say who it's for and share a few memories, like the glow stars or the bike that went straight into the mailbox. Their name goes in the chorus, and the story goes into the lines.

Pick small, specific memories, the weirder the better. The bath-time song at age four beats a list of school awards.

It's ready in about 10 minutes and arrives on your WhatsApp or email as a link. Forward it, or play it for them at the party.

You pick the language and the feel of the song.

For a cap-and-gown send-off, start on the graduation song page with those memories ready.

Slideshow and playlist questions

How many songs does a graduation slideshow need?

About one song for every 40 photos. At five seconds a photo, a three-and-a-half-minute song covers roughly 40 pictures, so 200 photos need five songs.

Trim long intros in the editor, or you'll lose ten photos to a drum fill.

Can I post the slideshow online with these songs?

Sometimes. Social apps can mute or block videos that use commercial recordings, so pick the song from the app's own music library when it's there.

Keep the full version for the party itself.

Are these songs clean enough for a school assembly?

They're radio-friendly, but play each one through first. A couple slip a mild word into a verse, and a teacher will notice.

The movie songs in the first list are the safest bet.

Should the slideshow go in order, baby photos first?

Mostly, yes. Start the baby photos on something slow and speed up for the teen years, then slow right back down for the last ten pictures.

End on the photo that makes everyone groan.