Alan Jackson wrote one song about getting older that has been a tearjerker hit. It was included in the album released after his mother's passing, but also as a single previously.
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The country legend lost his mother in January 2017. Losing his mom seriously affected the singer, but it wouldn't be too long before another song was released. Months later, in October, Alan Jackson released "The Older I Get," a powerful single about getting older and wiser.
It was released as a single, but was included in the Where Have You Gone album that was released in 2021, about three and a half years later.
A few years ago, Alan Jackson took to his YouTube channel to talk about the tracks in the album. There, he spoke on "The Older I Get."
"Love that song," he began. "Great song, well-written."
"I cut that song several years ago, when we were starting the next album," he recalled. For his mother's funeral service, he wrote a song for her, "Where Her Heart Has Always Been." Jackson explains that they "cut a couple extra tracks" when cutting his mother's song, and "The Older I Get" was one of them.
He said that it felt natural to put "The Older I Get" onto the 2021 album despite serving years as a single. "It felt like the perfect song to end the album with, to me."
"The Older I Get" Was Initially A Little Pessimistic
In an interview with SongFacts, Alan Jackson explained that he had to make the song a little more uplifting.
"This song reflects a lot of how I feel these days," he said. "It's a good song; I really liked it, but the message was a little different when I first heard it. I thought maybe it could be a little more positive about being older and wiser and more content, so they rewrote a few things, and this is how it ended up."
Trust Alan Jackson to want to make the song more positive. Although aging is scary to most, the country legend wanted to share what aging is really about. And it was a hit.
I started listening to Country music because of that song and video. Ive been to 4 AJ concerts!.