When We Were Young

Album: Sky Stacked Full (2016)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This song is about Atkinson's mother and Atkinsons' childhood growing up in Windsor, Ontario. Anna nearly left it off the album because she thought it was too direct and personal. When he mother passed away, she decided that she would include it, after all.

    "My father passed away 13 years ago but my mother passed away just two years ago," she said in a 2017 Songfacts interview. "That song, I wrote it sort of for her but while she was still alive and before she was ill. I don't even remember why I wrote it, exactly, but it was very direct about what it was about. She loved the song. She used to come to my shows, and she actually did a quilt – she was an artist and kind of renaissance woman. She did a whole bunch of different things and started learning the violin in her sixties. She was a very interesting, sometimes insufferable, but amazingly vibrant human being. She had a lot of struggles but did an amazing job in life as well."
  • For the video, Atkinson went back to the house she grew up in. The unicyclist in the video was Atkinson's friend George. He was meant to represent the street fairs and carnivals that used to go on in the neighborhood. The children in the video were neighborhood kids who showed up spontaneously and starting chasing the unicyclist without any direction.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Susanna Hoffs - "Eternal Flame"

Susanna Hoffs - "Eternal Flame"They're Playing My Song

The Prince-penned "Manic Monday" was the first song The Bangles heard coming from a car radio, but "Eternal Flame" is closest to Susanna's heart, perhaps because she sang it in "various states of undress."

Did They Really Sing In That Movie?

Did They Really Sing In That Movie?Fact or Fiction

Bradley Cooper, Michael J. Fox, Rami Malek, Reese Witherspoon, Gwyneth Paltrow and George Clooney: Which actors really sang in their movies?

Linda Perry

Linda PerrySongwriter Interviews

Songwriting Hall of Famer Linda Perry talks about her songs "What's Up" and "Beautiful," her songwriting process, and her move into film music.

Martin Page

Martin PageSongwriter Interviews

With Bernie Taupin, Martin co-wrote the #1 hits "We Built This City" and "These Dreams." After writing the Pretty Woman song for Go West, he had his own hit with "In the House of Stone and Light."

Al Kooper

Al KooperSongwriter Interviews

Kooper produced Lynyrd Skynyrd, played with Dylan and the Stones, and formed BS&T.

Jason Newsted (ex-Metallica)

Jason Newsted (ex-Metallica)Songwriter Interviews

The former Metallica bassist talks about his first time writing a song with James Hetfield, and how a hand-me-down iPad has changed his songwriting.