Let's dance in style,
Let's dance for a while
Heaven can wait,
We're only watching the skies
Hoping for the best
But expecting the worst
Are you going to drop the bomb or not?
Let us die young or let us live forever
We don't have the power
But we never say never
Sitting in a sandpit,
Life is a short trip
The music's for the sad men
Can you imagine when this race is won?
Turn our golden faces to the sun
Praising our leaders,
We're getting in tune
The music's played by the madmen

Forever young, I want to be forever young
Do you really want to live forever
Forever - and ever

Some are like water,
Some are like the heat
Some are a melody and some are the beat
Sooner or later they all will be gone
Why don't they stay young?
It's so hard to get old without a cause
I don't want to perish like a fading horse
Youth's like diamonds in the sun
And diamonds are forever
So many adventures couldn't happen today
So many songs we forgot to play
So many dreams swinging out of the blue
We'll let them come true

Forever young...

Lyrics & Music: Marian Gold, Bernhard Lloyd, Frank Mertens

Versions:

Single / album (3:45)
Version Rapide (3:30 - French 7")
Special Dance Mix (6:06 - 12", Forever Young / Big in Japan 3" CD)
New Single Mix (3:45, 1988 Promo 7", 1988 Promo CD)
Special Extended Mix (6:12, 1988, Promo CD & The Singles Collection)
? Untitled mix (4:53 - Forever Young / Big in Japan 7")
Unplugged (4:34 - Flame CD, Visions of Dreamscapes)
Demo Remix (4:44 - Dreamscapes, 2001 single)
Live (5:48 - Dreamscapes)
Live (5:43 - Stark Naked and Absolutely Live)
Live (?:?? - Little America)
F.A.F.'s Diamonds in the Sun Mix (3:56, 2001 single)
Factory Mix (4:21, 2001 single)
F.A.F. Mix (4:58, Forever Pop)
Metropolitan Mix (13 July 2020)
David Guetta Mix (18 October 2024)

Notes:

The History album features a cover version of this song by an unknown Jamaican band, which features significantly altered lyrics. Compare the Album version lyrics with the Cover version lyrics. In fact, "Forever Young" has been covered by - at least - twelve other artists. More information on the Cover versions page.

The sleeve of the French release of the single contained a French translation of the lyrics, though the song itself is performed in English.

"Forever Young" appears on the soundtrack of the 1989 US movie Listen to Me, directed by Douglas Day Stewart and starring Roy Scheider, Kirk Cameron, Jami Gertz and Peter DeLuise.
Click here for an MP3 audio version of the movie trailer which includes part of the song (alternatively, right-click on the link and select "Save Target as..." to download the file).

"Forever Young" also appears on the soundtrack of the 2004 US movie Napoleon Dynamite, directed by Jared Hess and starring Jon Heder, Efren Ramirez, Jon Gries and Diedrich Bader. The song is featured on the movie's soundtrack album.

A cover version of "Forever Young" by Youth Group was featured on the TV show The OC, and released on the soundtrack album The OC - Mix 5. Youth Group subsequently released the song as a single which reached #1 in the Australian charts.

The 1988 re-release of "Forever Young" position 67 in the US charts on 10 December 1988. In the same week Rod Stewart's song "Forever Young" was at position 68. It was not a cover version of Alphaville's song, unfortunately. Billboard Hot 100 Chart for 10 Dec 1988