Marty Robbins – Too Young: The Sweet Innocence of a Love Denied by the Clock
In the early 1960s, when Marty Robbins was busy redefining himself as a versatile “total entertainer,” he turned his attention to a song that had already become a standard for the ages. “Too Young,” featured on his 1962 album Portrait of Marty, is a lush, orchestral reimagining of the classic popularized by Nat King Cole. As the album reached Number 7 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart, Robbins proved that his “Country-Pop” style was sophisticated enough to handle the most delicate of ballads. This is a song for the dreamers—those who remember the stinging injustice of being told their first love wasn’t “real” because they hadn’t lived long enough to understand pain.
To remember “Too Young” is to recall the shimmering elegance of the Nashville Sound at its most romantic. When Marty performed this—with his hair perfectly coiffed and that gentle, knowing smile—he wasn’t just singing a pop cover; he was reclaiming the memory of youth. The story behind this recording is one of vocal empathy. Marty had a unique ability to sound like both the young man in the throes of passion and the older, wiser narrator looking back with a sigh. With the Jordanaires providing a velvety, cloud-like background, the track became a timeless sanctuary for anyone who has ever been told that “time will heal” a heart that didn’t want to be cured.
The story within the lyrics is a defiant defense of youthful devotion. It describes a couple whose love is dismissed by the “grown-up” world as a mere crush or a passing fancy. The world says they are “too young” to know the meaning of forever, “too young” to promise their hearts. It is a narrative of stolen validity. The narrator argues that even if they are young in years, their feelings are as deep and as permanent as any ever felt by their elders. It is the story of that first, pure conviction that the rest of the world is wrong, and that love—in its first bloom—is the truest love of all.
The profound meaning of this ballad strikes a deep, resonant chord with a mature audience because it honors the integrity of our younger selves:
- The Validation of Memory: It acknowledges that those “puppy loves” often carried the weight of the world. Looking back over decades, we realize that the intensity of our first love set the bar for everything that followed.
- The Conflict Between Generations: For those of us who are now the “elders,” the song is a gentle reminder not to dismiss the feelings of the young. It bridges the gap between the “then” and the “now,” reminding us that the heart doesn’t need a birth certificate to feel deeply.
- The Nostalgic Glow of Innocence: There is a beautiful, bittersweet quality to the song. It evokes a time before life’s complications—before mortgages, careers, and loss—when the only thing that mattered was a hand to hold and a promise made under the moon.
Marty Robbins delivers this performance with a voice that is as light as a summer breeze yet as rich as cream. He treats the melody with a “crooner’s” reverence, gliding through the notes with effortless grace. The arrangement is quintessential early-60s “Portrait” style—featuring a soaring string section, a melodic piano, and a soft, rhythmic pulse that feels like a heartbeat. For our generation, “Too Young” is a piece of pure musical nostalgia; it reminds us that while we eventually grew up, the part of us that fell in love for the first time remains, forever young, in the melodies of Marty Robbins.