Originally coming to fame in the mid-1960s singing orchestral pop ballads as the frontman of The Walker Brothers, Walker went on to a solo career balancing a light entertainment/MOR ballad approach with increasing artistic innovations in arrangement and writing. Despite a series of acclaimed albums, a disastrous drop in sales forced him back into straight Middle of the road recordings with little of his own artistic input. This in turn eventually led to a Walker Brothers reunion in the mid-1970s (although the latter eventually moved, by mutual consent, into more avant-garde areas).
From the mid-1980s, Walker revived his solo career while drastically reinventing his artistic and compositional methods, via a series of acclaimed and vividly avant-garde albums. These combined his iconic voice with an unsettling avant-garde approach which owed more to modernist and post-modernist classical composition than to his pop singer past. This change in approach has been compared to "Andy Williams reinventing himself as Stockhausen".
Walker has been a continuing influence on other artists, in particular The Last Shadow Puppets, Marc Almond, Goldfrapp, Douglas Pearce of the band Death in June, Billy MacKenzie of The Associates, David Sylvian, Julian Cope, Antony Hegarty, Thom Yorke, Steven Wilson, David Bowie, Leonard Cohen, Trey Spruance, Perry Blake, Radiohead, Noah Lennox, Mikael Åkerfeldt, and the Divine Comedy/Neil Hannon.
Walker continued to release solo material until his death, and was signed to 4AD Records. As a record producer or guest performer he worked with a number of artists including Pulp, Ute Lemper, Bat For Lashes and Sunn O))).
Too Young
Scott Walker Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Too young, to really be in love.
They say that love's a word,
A word we've only heard
And can't begin to know the meaning of.
And yet we're not too young to know
Our love will last though years may go.
We were not too young at all.
And yet we're not too young to know
Our love will last though years may go.
And then one day they may recall
We were not too young at all.
At all, at all...
The Scott Walker song "Too Young" speaks to the power of young love and the criticism that sometimes comes with it. The song opens with a chorus of voices telling the two lovers that they are "too young" to truly be in love. But the lovers reject this, arguing that they are not too young to feel a deep connection and that their love will endure.
The song then builds on this theme, with the lovers insisting that despite their youth, they understand the meaning of love better than those who would try to dismiss their feelings. They declare that their love will last, even as years pass and memories fade. Ultimately, the song suggests that the lovers will have the last laugh, as those who doubted them will one day realize that they were never too young to love.
Line by Line Meaning
They tried to tell us we're too young,
People have suggested that we are not old enough to understand what love is
Too young, to really be in love.
We are being dismissed as too immature to experience genuine love
They say that love's a word,
According to them, love is simply a concept
A word we've only heard
We have only heard about love and not experienced it before
And can't begin to know the meaning of.
They don't believe we are capable of understanding the true significance of love
And yet we're not too young to know
Despite what others say, we believe we are capable of understanding love
Our love will last though years may go.
We believe our love will endure over time
And then one day they may recall
In the future, those who doubted us may remember our love story
We were not too young at all.
They will come to realize that we were not too young to experience love after all
At all, at all...
We want to emphasize the fact that we were not too young to fall in love, not even a little bit
Writer(s): S. Lippman, S. Dee
Contributed by Joseph B. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Narrowboating! Our life in the slow lane.
RIP Scott, you were a fantastic singer. Always remembered.
groofay
This is the first time I've heard Scott's '50s sides. It's almost surreal, having only heard his voice from the mid-60's onward.
UncleMike43
One of the best versions I've ever heard, though it may be one of the many. Thanks for the post.
crescentfreshbret
Such a talented man with such a long, fruitful, influential, and wide-ranging career.
barbara palmer
It is so so beautiful. Best version yet..shine brightly lovely boy...
Chris Witmer
Wow, this is fabulous! And so young since obviously his voice was deeper. Thanks for posting! Sweet heavenly peace, Scott. ⚘⚘⚘
barrygioportmorien1
What a great version of this song, Scott engel (Walker) was very underrated.
barbara palmer
Thank you very much Guidofski for letting us hear this song.
elaine june ayton
wonderful how the brothers got recognised for their talent so much later
robert damico
What a great talent even at such a young age!