Song Lyrics

Mama preached to me, boy be a kid just as long as you can
But I was hell-bent and bound and determined to be my old man
I was ready to drive and I wanted a job
Hungry to chase my dreams
Way back when I was twelve years old going on eighteen

Those four years of college I stretched into six and a half
If I woke up in time after parties you'd catch me in class
I moved back home, stayed out, slept in
'Til one Monday morning I heard Daddy scream
You're twenty-four years old boy, going on eighteen

[Chorus]
Hey all I'm dying to do is to live
Just tryin' to take what the day has to give
Everyone wants but they don't always get what's expected of me
They say act your age, don't break no mold
Be young when you're young and old when you're old
They say I'm in the prime of my life, hell if I know what that means
In the back of my mind I'm still going on eighteen

Got the wife, got the kids, got the job, got the cars and the house
In life's little rulebook it falls under "all settled down"
But give a handful of friends a handful drinks
It's like riding a time machine
A bunch of thirty-something-year-old guys going on eighteen

[Chorus]

Now I preach to my boy be a kid just as long as you can
But he's hell-bent and determined
To be his old man

Casey Beathard, Michael Heeney

The duration of Going on Eighteen is 4:31 minutes and seconds.