100 great songs composed by teenagers

23. Noise Addict - I Wish I Was Him

I too thought Chilton wrote "The Letter"

24. I Know You Got Soul - Eric B & Rakim (just to annoy Geir)

There's a number of great Carole King songs which she co-wrote with Gerry Goffin when she was a teenager, 'Will I Still Love You Tomorrow?', 'Halfway to Paradise', 'The Locomotion', 'He Hit Me (It Felt Like A Kiss)' etc.

25. U2 - I Will Follow

Stevie Wonder also had a lot of classic co-writes while still absurdly young

^ yeah, Tears of a Clown ffs

No Mmmbop, no credibility.

26. Strawberry Letter 23 - Shuggie Otis

27. the Who - "I Can't Explain"

'Will I Still Love You Tomorrow?'

That was the 'reply' version...

You're reading my mind Geir - I've was going to start a thread soon "50 great songs written by people 16 years old or younger"....

And I was going to start the list with Strawberry Letter #23, and that's already from several years into Shuggie Otis' career!

OK then:

26. "Walk Away, Renee", 16-year-old Michael Brown of The Left Banke

Nice one!

25./24. "Gimme Some Loving" and "I'm a Man" - Steve Winwood (primary songwriter of the former at 17, entirely the latter at 18).

23. "Surfer Girl" written by Brian Wilson when he was 19, as were several early Beach Boys songs like "Surfin' Safari" for which I presume Apple's web browser was named.

24. Tyler, The Creator - French
25. Tyler, The Creator - Yonkers
26. Tyler, The Creator - Sanwitches

It's been so long since I listened to the first Mobb Deep album to comment but I'm sure it has 1 or 2 stand outs.

"Hit It From the Back"

rap is pretty dense for this - De La were in high school when they recorded Three Feet High and Rising, for example, and you can't go past

27. Ice Cube - Boyz N The Hood
28. Ice Cube - Dopeman
29. Ice Cube - Gangsta Gangsta
30. Ice Cube - Straight Outta Compton
31. Ice Cube - Fuck The Police
32. Ice Cube - Express Yourself

33. Classy - DuSantiago/Laverne
34. Come Out 2Nite - Laverne
35. Robot Song - DuSantiago/Laverne

36. Fly - JK & Co

40. To Know Him is to Love Him - Teddy Bears

41. My Lip Gloss - Li'l Mama

42. By The Time I Get To Phoenix - Jimmy Webb
43. And When I Die - Laura Nyro

I'm still trying to figure out what the deal is with this song..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SYvSRXVW2o

Most of the stuff on Illmatic
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5PnuIRnJW8

Also "Wedding Bell Blues" and "Stoney End" by Laura Nyro

Kinda ironic "Wedding Bell Blues", about Laura (one has to assume) so wanting to marry this Bill guy, was written by a lesbian

Alex Chilton did write a few Box Tops songs when he was a teen BTW, all from the last of their four albums, but not "The Letter" or "Cry Me A River"

x-post: The lesbianism came later in life. She was married to a man in the early 1970s.

Laura Nyro's debut LP at age 19 contained four songs that became Top 10 hits for other artists!

44. Sugar Mountain - Neil Young

written on his 19th birthday

45. Lucky Man - ELP
(Strictly speaking not a teenager, but I would think a great song penned by a 12YO should deserve a mention)
46. Where's The Love - Hanson

wasn't love's Orange Skies written by one of the dude's as a teen

sorry for the extra apostrophe but I guess so

According to Bryan MacLean, "Orange Skies" was the first song he ever wrote. At the time 17 years old and working as a roadie for The Byrds, he based the song on a section from The Byrds' version of "The Bells of Rhymney", attributing that arrangement to Roger McGuinn

orange skies and sugar mountain are both songs that I can believe a teenager wrote tho

never heard this shit but holy shit

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auRmonzH1Yw

47. Arctic Monkeys, "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor"

48. Soulja Boy, "Crank That"

49. Everyday - Buddy Holly
(he had just turned 20 when it was released, so pretty sure he penned it at 19)
50. It Doesn't Matter Anymore - Buddy Holly
(He was not a teenager more at this stage, however this song was written by 18YO Paul Anka)

51. The Cure - Killing An Arab
52. The Cure - 10.15 Saturday Night

53. Paul Anka - Put Your Head on My Shoulder

54. "Society's Child," Janis Ian (age 14)
55. "Oh Bondage Up Yours!" Poly Styrene
56. "Wipe Out," The Surfaris

57. "Why Do Fools Fall in Love," Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers

58. From salsa, "Che Che Colé," Willie Colón
59. "Der Erlkönig," and a few others, Franz Schubert

60 Nas "The World is Yours"

61. "Creation" by Creation
One of my all time favourite Norwegian songs, penned by the then 16YO Geir Olav Bøkestad:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRD8sh8z8uI

Let's do this for PROGGE

Cardiac Arrest - A Balloon For Bertie's Party
Kiran Leonard - Pink Fruit
The Electric Soft Parade - Silent To The Dark
like all of Bergtatt by Ulver and loads of other BM kinda

YOUNGE PROGGE

A modern day Riquelme

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDG6FibIkwY

How Mozart's compositions are listed[edit]
The indication "K." or "KV" refers to Köchel Verzeichnis (Köchel catalogue), i.e. the (more or less) chronological (i.e. by composition date) catalogue of Mozart's works by Ludwig von Köchel. This catalog has been amended several times, leading to ambiguity over some KV numbers (see e.g. Symphony No. 25).
The compositions of Mozart listed below are grouped thematically, i.e. by type of composition. Not all thematic groups of Mozart's works have a separate numbering that is generally accepted: Köchel only numbers symphonies (1 to 41), piano concertos (1 to 27, leaving out some early transcriptions by Mozart) and a few other groups. On the other hand, for most chamber music and vocal music there is no such numbering (or at least no generally accepted one).
Only relatively few of Mozart's compositions have opus numbers, as not so many of his compositions were published during his lifetime, so numbering by opus number proves quite impractical for Mozart compositions.
Symphonies[edit]
Main article: List of symphonies by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Mozart's symphonic production covers a 24-year interval, from 1764 to 1788. According to most recent investigations, Mozart wrote not just the 41 symphonies reported in traditional editions, but up to 68 complete works of this type. However, by convention, the original numbering has been retained, and so his last symphony is still known as "No. 41". Some of the symphonies (K. 297, 385, 550) were revised by the author after their first versions.

Childhood symphonies (1764–1771)[edit]
These are the numbered symphonies from Mozart's early childhood.

Symphony No. 1 in E-flat major, K. 16
Symphony No. 2 in B-flat major, K. 17 (spurious, attributed to Leopold Mozart)
Symphony No. 3 in E-flat major, K. 18 (spurious, by Carl Friedrich Abel)
Symphony No. 4 in D major, K. 19
Symphony No. 5 in B-flat major, K. 22
Symphony No. 6 in F major, K. 43
Symphony No. 7 in D major, K. 45
Symphony No. 8 in D major, K. 48
Symphony No. 9 in C major, K. 73/75a
Symphony No. 10 in G major, K. 74
Symphony No. 11 in D major, K. 84/73q
Symphony No. 12 in G major, K. 110/75b
Symphony No. 13 in F major, K. 112
There are also several "unnumbered" symphonies from this time period. Many of them were given numbers past 41 (but not in chronological order) in an older collection of Mozart's works (Mozart-Werke, 1877–1910, referred to as "GA"), but newer collections refer to them only by their entries in the Köchel catalogue. Many of these cannot be definitively established as having been written by Mozart (see here).

Symphony in F major, K. 75 (GA 42)
Symphony in F major, K. 76/42a (GA 43: doubtful)
Symphony in D major, K. 81/73l (GA 44: doubtful)
Symphony in D major, K. 95/73n (GA 45)
Symphony in C major, K. 96/111b (GA 46)
Symphony in D major, K. 97/73m (GA 47)
Symphony in F major, K. 98/Anh.C 11.04 (GA 48/56: doubtful)
Symphony in B-flat major, K. Anh. 214/45b (GA 55: doubtful)
Symphony in B-flat major, K. Anh. 216/74g/Anh.C 11.03 (GA 54: doubtful)
Symphony in G major, "Old Lambach", K. Anh. 221/45a
Symphony in F major, K. Anh. 223/19a
Symphony in A minor, "Odense", K. Anh. 220/16a (doubtful)
Salzburg-era symphonies (1771–1777)[edit]
These symphonies are sometimes subcategorized as "Early" (1771–1773) and "Late" (1773–1777), and sometimes subcategorized as "Germanic" (with minuet) or "Italian" (without minuet). None of these were printed during Mozart's lifetime.

Although not counted as "symphonies" the three Divertimenti K. 136–138, in 3-movement Italian overture style, are sometimes indicated as "Salzburg Symphonies" too.

Symphony No. 14 in A major, K. 114 (1771)
Symphony No. 15 in G major, K. 124 (1772)
Symphony No. 16 in C major, K. 128 (1772)
Symphony No. 17 in G major, K. 129 (1772)
Symphony No. 18 in F major, K. 130 (1772)
Symphony No. 19 in E-flat major, K. 132 (1772)
Symphony No. 20 in D major, K. 133 (1772)
Symphony No. 21 in A major, K. 134 (1772)
Symphony No. 22 in C major, K. 162 (1773)
Symphony No. 23 in D major, K. 181/162b (1773)
Symphony No. 24 in B-flat major, K. 182/173dA (1773)
Symphony No. 25 in G minor, K. 183/173dB (1773)
Symphony No. 26 in E-flat major, K. 184/161a (1773)
Symphony No. 27 in G major, K. 199/161b (1773)
Symphony No. 28 in C major, K. 200/189k (1774)
Symphony No. 29 in A major, K. 201/186a (1774)
Symphony No. 30 in D major, K. 202/186b (1774)
There are also several "unnumbered" symphonies from this time period that make use of music from Mozart's operas from the same time period. They are also given numbers past 41.

Symphony in D major, K. 111+(120/111a) (GA 48)
Symphony in D major, K. (126+(161/163))/141a (GA 50)
Symphony in D major, K. 196+(121/207a) (GA 51)
Symphony in C major, K. 208+(102/213c) (GA 52)
Symphony in D major, K. 135+61h
There are also three symphonies from this time period that are based on three of Mozart's serenades:

Symphony in D major, K. 204 (based on the Serenade No. 5)
Symphony in D major, K. 250 (based on the "Haffner" serenade)
Symphony in D major, K. 320 (based on the "Posthorn" serenade)

Violin concertos[edit]
Mozart's five violin concertos were written in Salzburg around 1775. They are notable for the beauty of their melodies and the skillful use of the expressive and technical characteristics of the instrument, though Mozart likely never went through all the violin possibilities that others (e.g. Beethoven and Brahms) did after him. (Alfred Einstein notes that the violin concerto-like sections in the serenades are more virtuosic than in the works titled Violin Concertos.)

Violin Concerto No. 1 in B-flat major, K. 207 (1775)
Violin Concerto No. 2 in D major, K. 211 (1775)
Violin Concerto No. 3 in G major, K. 216 (1775)
Violin Concerto No. 4 in D major, K. 218 (1775)
Violin Concerto No. 5 in A major, K. 219 (1775)
Mozart also wrote a concertone, an adagio and two stand-alone rondos for violin and orchestra.

Concertone in C major, for Two Violins and Orchestra, K. 190/186E (1774)

"It Doesn't Matter Anymore," sung by Buddy Holly, is a Paul Anka composition.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7kpgFwXCMg

wendy n bonnie

Animal Collective - "Penny Dreadfuls"

avey tare wrote that when he was 16

the entirety of Before the World Was Big by Girlpool

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6lYDZ8xGVY

oh man, so otm ^

^ That song was written by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein

Everything on the first Violent Femmes album was written by Gordon Gano when he was 18. Blister in the Sun, Gone Daddy Gone, etc.

imago mentioned black metal upthread but I'll spell it out: the entirety of Emperor's In the Nightside Eclipse.

Free- All Right Now

Andy Fraser was 18 when he co-wrote this hit with Paul Rodgers who was an over the hill 21 at the time.

I believe Todd Rundgren was 19 when he wrote "Hello It's Me"

Robin Gibb (b. 22/12/49) had a hand in a fair few. As did Maurice, for that matter. (Andy Fraser was 17 when we wrote "All Right Now btw).

Christian Wolff was 17/18 when wrote this ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDKXlMnhdT4

Elliott Smith - Condor Avenue

Ha, I compiled a similar list a few days ago.

Oh I bumped this thread because I saw your list but wanted to expand the idea beyond pop! Good list though

Cardiac Arrest - A Balloon For Bertie's Party

I've read that As Cold As Can Be In An English Sea was written in 1976 so he would have been around 14. It's one of my favourite songs.

The 2005 'rehearsal' version if anyone needs evidence. Also one of the best things on YouTube.

https://youtu.be/N5QYijFfOaQ

Felix Mendelssohn and George Enescu's string octets, written when they were 16 and 19, respectively. Here's a quality performance of the latter:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ugv_o2XsJoE

nobody mentioned Rowland S Howard's 'Shivers'?!?!

George Michael was 17 when he wrote "Careless Whisper."

McCartney wrote « When I’m 64 » when he was 15. It might not be « great » though!

It isn't.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rfGKIMwpJk

That album by Jethro Tull, written by Gerald Bostock..

:-)

entirety of Fiona Apple's Tidal, but especially "Sleep to Dream" and "Shadowboxer".

totally otm Roz

Just realised Matt Johnson wrote Icing Up when he was still a teenager. I think it's one of the greatest songs ever written tbh

Billy Nicholls wrote Daytime Girl when he was 18

(by contrast, "boy genius" Brian Wilson was 20 when he wrote the enduring surfpop masterpieces 'Cuckoo Clock' and 'Heads You Win, Tails I Lose')

those are my favorite songs on Pet Sounds

Kate Bush wrote The Man With The Child In His Eyes when she was 13. Beat that.

</simon day voice>

40. To Know Him is to Love Him - Teddy Bears

Still my choice for the eeriest no. 1 single. A teenage love song inspired by the words on a father's gravestone after he commits suicide. Also the fact that Spector's father killed himself in 1949 in NY and the Teddy Bears released the song in LA in 1958, so Spector must have had the words rattling around in his head for all those years...and suddenly he turns it into a song of teenage angst amid the California sunshine.

Most of the first Supergrass album.