Songfacts®:

• This is the opening track of Braver Than We Are. Longtime Meat Loaf collaborator Jim Steinman wrote all 10 tracks on the record, and this song dates back to the 1970s Bat Out Of Hell era. Meat Loaf recalled to Classic Rock magazine:
  
  "In the first conversation with Jim, I said this album should open with 'Who Needs the Young' and he goes, 'Absolutely,' because it's the most politically incorrect song I've ever heard in my life."
• The song is a sardonic look at aging from the perspective of a crotchety old man jealous of those who can still dream, dance, kiss, sing and screw. It's clear that he yearns for younger days: "Who needs the young when we're spending all the rest of our miserable lives learning to die!"
• Steinman recorded a demo of the song back in 1972, and a version of the song appeared in his 1977 stage musical Neverland.
• The album was produced by former Anthrax guitarist Paul Crook. Anthrax guitarist Scott Ian is married to Meat Loaf's daughter, Pearl Aday.