When I Was Young

Album: The Stars Are Indifferent to Astronomy (2012)
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Songfacts®:

  • When Nada Surf lead singer/guitarist Matthew Caws was young, his parents, both university professors, were based in New York City. This slow-building song from the band's seventh studio album The Stars Are Indifferent To Astronomy is about his childhood in the Big Apple.
  • The song's music video was filmed and directed by Phil Harder in New York City. Caws told Spinner: "Because 'When I Was Young' is about my childhood I thought a video about a kid growing up in New York would be great. The only suggestions that went out to Phil were a kid growing up in New York and The Royal Tenenbaums. But he really got it right and more, suggesting and nailing things about childhood that I would not have been able to express."

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