21 Songs About Childhood Memories (2023)

Childhood memories are remembered very differently by each person. Some enjoy the nostalgia and recall moments in their past with a wistful smile, while others would rather run away from those ugly times that have the power to haunt and terrorize them. There are kinds of childhood that one would rather forget. Either way, or maybe somewhere in between, childhood memories are one thing all of us have.

Listen to these 21 best songs about childhood memories that will remind you of your younger years.

21. Don’t You Worry Child by Swedish House House Mafia

With 907M views for its music video, this song has such a feel-good electronic dance vibe. It recalls his simple memories of his childhood such as young love and heartaches that came thereafter. His father always reassured him throughout these times. He says “don’t you worry child, heaven’s got a plan for you.” 

 

20. When We Were Young by Adele

Adele is so known for writing powerful and meaningful lyrics that are usually based on her personal experiences. This song is about someone she knew from her childhood. They see each other again and he looks pretty amazing. She wanted to take his photograph before everything completely changes between them. This happens when people grow up. They change and they outgrow parts of their lives – people included.

19. 1979 by Smashing Pumpkins

1979 is the year when the band members of Smashing Pumpkins were still kids. This song has an easy sounding  tune that you wouldn’t mind playing this song in the background on loop. Much like the vibe of the song, its lyrics sing about the easy times of one’s childhood. 1979 was a time when children had a way simpler childhood than today’s time. Skipping stones was a pastime and hanging out with friends outdoors was a regular thing.

18. Glory Days by Bruce Springsteen

This is an interesting song about reliving one’s childhood past. The singer sees two of his friends from school and life hasn’t turned out very well for them. They remind themselves of those “glory days” in high school when everything seems to be doing great. Life had different plans for them and the singer said that he probably will be the same.  It is easy to be stuck and relive one’s glory days but it’s another thing to create new glory days and not believe that the past glory days are the only ones worth celebrating.

17. Good Old Days by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis

This song surely will tug on your heartstrings. It is such a nostalgic song about one’s childhood and the many things he wished he did and did not do. Simple details such as asking someone out, attending homecoming, even simply being comfortable in your own skin. He also reminisced about the times when he was just a new musician. He has come a long way but he wishes that he knew that those “good, old days” were the absolute best.

16. Photograph by Nickelback

Looking at a photograph gave the singer a sudden trip to his childhood memories. Usually, these recollections are the simple joys that children have. Hanging out and doing something foolish. Most of the time, these are done with childhood friends. One of the best lines in this song is “So hard to stay, too hard to leave it.” It captures what past lives make people feel. You’d want to relive them but you wouldn’t really want to stay in the part of your life.

15. Rollercoaster by Jonas Brothers

The Jonas Brothers have created a lot of feel-good songs and this is definitely one of them. Their childhood memories are recollected with such fondness and happiness. Those memories were akin to a rollercoaster that sometimes takes you high or low, even upside down. Most of the time, youth and being broke are pretty synonymous but it doesn’t mean that you can’t be happy and have fun all the same. 

14. Kids by OneRepublic

OneRepublic is one of the bands that create authentic songs with truthful lyrics. This song’s recollections of childhood memories are not the usual longing for those easy days, or celebrating the past like glory days. The refusal to think that those childhood days are better is a show of wisdom and understanding that youth is sometimes filled with foolish decisions and uncomfortable uncertainty.  

13. The Best Day by Taylor Swift

This song is such a sweet song Taylor Swift wrote for her mother. It is a celebration for the beautiful childhood memories that her mom gave her. Through highs and lows, her mother has always been there for her. She has a lovely family but she is not immune to the hurts of her teenage years. Through it all, her mother has been her strength and foundation. 

12. I’m Just A Kid by Simple Plan

In the early 2000s, Simple Plan released several songs that rose up the charts. A few of these songs are definitely hard-hitting and exemplify how sad and lonely life can sometimes be. Being engulfed by the waves of loneliness is such an overwhelming experience that can truly damage one’s self esteem. This song is a simple, raw, and honest sharing of this harrowing experience.  

11. Castle On The Hill by Ed Sheeran

Ed Sheeran grew up in Framlingham, Suffolk in England. It seems to be a quiet, peaceful place that is away from the city. In this song, he sings about his childhood and shares a few snippets of his life growing up and even how some of friends turned out. However life has turned out for each of them, he still remembers the feeling of belongingness and a desire to go home to the place where his childhood memories belong.

10. Stressed Out by Twenty One Pilots

This alternative rock song that was released in 2015 is a straightforward testament to how worry-free early childhood truly is. The times when your mother sings you to sleep, the times when you can freely play and roam are the most precious days in a lot of people’s memories. Adulthood presents a lot of stress and demands. Student loans, making a living, and insecurity plague a lot of us. It is a truthful take on reality, hence the song title.

9. The House That Built Me by Miranda Lambert

This country song is highly relatable to those people who lost their childhood homes. When you go through life and feel lost, it seems that going home to the place you grew up in can give answers or provide some solace and comfort; but what if that house is sold or lost? Miranda Lambert sings this as a plea to the new homeowner of her childhood home to allow her to go inside and find her healing and relive her childhood memories.

8. Lost Boy by Ruth B

Peter Pan is a classical story of a boy who never grew up and lived in Neverland. In this song, the singer goes on a deep dive and clings on to this story because of the cruel reality of having no one and being unwanted. Some songs about childhood are truly painful. So many children grow up hurt and broken. Since these children are not heard nor healed, they end up being hurt and broken adults. It’s such a confusing mess how children are treated cruelly. In a way, it’s good that this lifetime is short compared to eternity. We are but a mist that is here for a very short time.

7. Sixteen by Ellie Goulding

This song is a cute and refreshing one in this list. In this song, her current lover has been with her since she was sixteen. She is reminiscing about all those times when they were young and everyone just found them foolish and out of their minds. They braved the odds and are still together as the years passed by. Though life became busy, it is still a joy to recall what they have been through and they can celebrate being together like when they were still sixteen.

6. These Are The Days Of Our Lives by Queen

This song is one of the lesser known songs by Queen. It is a love song that includes thinking back to the times of their youth when life was good and there were not many worries to think about. However, anytime he thinks about that memory, there is one thing that is left unchanged. It is the love for this beloved whom this song is dedicated to.

5. Young by Kenny Chesney

Country songs have a unique way to make you feel nostalgic about certain things. Childhood memories are not exempted from this feeling. This song has a recollection of senseless childhood exploits and how these young men acted so foolishly just to look tough and manly. These are pretty normal and common in that particular age. From an adult’s perspective, one can simply laugh at how ill-conceived decisions were during those times of one’s childhood.

 

4. When You’re Young by The Jam

This song was released way back in 1979 from the album Setting Suns. Despite the age of this song, its lyrics are still deeply relatable today. It’s a jab on capitalism and how it seems to easily work against an individual. Dreams are not achievable. Adult life is a far cry from the daydreams children think about when they wish to rush into growing older. It has been a joke nowadays to tell the kids not to grow up because it’s a trap!

3. Sixteen by Thomas Rhett

Kids always rush into growing up thinking that life will always be better. This song is a charming rendition of those childhood wishes. When you’re fifteen, you wish to be a year older to drive alone. When you’re sixteen, you’d wish to be 18, then you’d wish to be 21. What’s so pleasant about this song is how it ends. At 25, the singer is in a good place with his wife and they could just laugh about the time when they were sixteen.

2. Childhood Memories by Sea Power

This song is an ominous warning about the bad effects of human activities on nature. We seem to be on the way to total destruction of our habitat with the unchanging ways that we live our lives. The song ends with the mention of a little child and it is up to the audience to interpret how we impact this child with our ways.   

1. Graduation (Friends Forever) by Vitamin C

As the title suggests, this song is about friends who are about to graduate, pave their own paths, and live their own lives. They think about how their futures will unfold but at the same time thinking about how they will all miss each other. It ends with a wish to remember these times, to remain friends as their lives change and they all grow older.