Song No. 20 "Young At Heart"

Music by Johnny Richards

Words by Carolyn Leigh

When the late Nat Cole was introduced to Carolyn Leigh, his first words were "I goofed." He was referring to the fact that he had turned down this song a year before, dismissing it as one for the "geriatric set." In the interim, Frank Sinatra had made the definitive hit recording of it. Avant-garde arranger Richards wrote the melody, determined to produce a "commercial"  singable hit. Several writers attempted lyrics, but none came up with a set to match the sunny mood of the tune until the publisher approached Miss Leigh. At the time her father, a man with a great zest for life, had become ill and depressed. "I wrote the words for him," she recalled for this Reader's Digest Songbook article interview, "using some of his own philosophy to cheer him up. When the song became No. 1, he became the most happy fella in the  hospital."

Lyrics Fairy tales can come true, It can happen to you.. If You're Young At Heart For it's hard, you will find To be narrow of mind If you're Young At Heart You can go to extremes with impossible schemes You can laugh when your dreams fall apart at the seams And life gets more exciting with each passing day And love is either in your heart or on the way Don't you know that it's worth Every treasure on earth To be Young At Heart For as rich as you are It's much better by far To be Young At Heart And if you should survive to a hundred and five Look at all you'll derive out of being alive And here is the best part.. You have a head start.. If you are among the very Young At Heart

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