Young at Heart (Frank Sinatra song)

"Young at Heart" is a pop standard, a ballad with music by Johnny Richards and lyrics by Carolyn Leigh.[1] The song was written and published in 1953, with Leigh contributing the lyrics to what was originally a Richards instrumental called "Moonbeam". Frank Sinatra was the first performer to record the song, which became a million-selling hit in 1953 (and spilling over with popularity into 1954) where it reached the No. 2 spot in the Billboard charts.[2] The song was such a hit that a movie that Sinatra was filming at the same time with Doris Day was renamed to match the song title, and the song was included in the opening and closing credits of the movie.

Other performers who have recorded versions of "Young at Heart" include Bing Crosby (charting briefly in 1954 at the #24 spot),[3] Rosemary Clooney (on her album "While we're Young"),[4] Perry Como (on his 1960 album For the Young at Heart), Connie Francis[5] (1961), Jimmy Durante[6] (1963), Tony Bennett, Shawn Colvin, Bobby Vinton, Tom Waits, Barry Manilow (on his album The Greatest Songs of the Fifties), Bob Dylan, Gloria Estefan, Landon Pigg, Mark Vincent and Vonda Shepard, James Darren, Monty Alexander, and Michael Bublé (on his album To Be Loved). Wild Man Fischer recorded an eccentric version that was included on The Rhino Brothers Present the World's Worst Records.

The song has also been used on the soundtracks of other films, including The Front (1976),[7] Sweet Dreams (1985),[8] City Slickers (1991) (Jimmy Durante version),[9] It Could Happen to You (1994), Space Cowboys (2000) (in a rendition by Willie Nelson), and a 2016 Summer Olympics featurette from Gatorade.

In 2016, at the age of 90, Dick Van Dyke recorded a duet with his wife, Arlene, at Capitol Records Studio in Los Angeles, filmed for the HBO Special on aging If You're Not in the Obit, Eat Breakfast, starring Carl Reiner and featuring Mel Brooks, Norman Lear, Stan Lee, Betty White and others over 90 years old.[10] Van Dyke was recorded using Frank Sinatra's microphone.

The Cure incorporated verses from "Young At Heart" during concert performances of "Why Can't I Be You?" (widely available on bootlegs).