We were sad of getting old it made me restless/
Oh I’m so mad I’m getting old it makes me reckless.

“When We Were Young” is one of Adele’s newer songs, but it is one of her best. It is hard for a newer song to make this list. You (I) feel unsure if the song is truly great or if it is just good because It hasn’t grown stale from hearing it a thousand times. But I am confident with this pick and placement.

Adele’s “When We Were Young” tells a great story of the narrator at a party and she sees an old boyfriend who seems to have aged well. She pulls him away at the end of the party and begins to talk to him. Interestingly, she asks if she could take his picture. The light is just perfect, and she knows both of them will never be this young and good-looking again. More so, she wants to capture the moment of this happy time…before they do something stupid like hookup.

In her mind this is only a possibility because she is sad–she’s getting old and wants a fling and a memory. She knows this won’t last as she’s been with him before.

The chorus is amazing—both the melody and the lyrics. And of course, Adele has one of the best female (or male) voices in the past twenty years. Her voice manages to convey the (almost) ineffable emotion as she ponders her own mortality while lusting for a new experience.

When We Were Young Lyrics
Everybody loves the things you do-
From the way you talk
To the way you move.
Everybody here is watching you-
‘Cause you feel like home;
You’re like a dream come true.
But if by chance you’re here alone,
Can I have a moment
Before I go?
‘Cause I’ve been by myself all night long,
Hoping you’re someone I used to know.

You look like a movie,
You sound like a song;
My God, this reminds me
Of when we were young.

Let me photograph you in this light,
In case it is the last time
That we might be exactly like we were
Before we realized-
We were sad of getting old
It made us restless.
It was just like a movie,
It was just like a song.

I was so scared to face my fears.
Nobody told me that you’d be here.
And I swear you’d moved overseas,
That’s what you said, when you left me.

You still look like a movie,
You still sound like a song;
My God, this reminds me,
Of when we were young…

Let me photograph you in this light,
In case it is the last time
That we might be exactly like we were
Before we realized-
We were sad of getting old
It made us restless.
It was just like a movie,
It was just like a song.

When we were young.
When we were young.
When we were young.
When we were young.

It’s hard to admit that
Everything just takes me back
To when you were there.
To when you were there.
And a part of me keeps holding on
Just in case it hasn’t gone,
‘Cause I still care.
Do you still care?
It was just like a movie.
It was just like a song.
My God, this reminds me
Of when we were young.

When we were young.
When we were young.
When we were young.
When we were young.

Let me photograph you in this light,
In case it is the last time
That we might be exactly like we were
Before we realized-
We were sad of getting old
It made us restless.
Oh, I’m so mad I’m getting old
It makes me reckless.
It was just like a movie.
It was just like a song.
When we were young.

Songwriters: Adele Laurie Blue Adkins / Tobias MacDonald Jesso