Behind the Song: "100 Years" by Five for Fighting (2024)

John Ondrasik, aka Five for Fighting, released his hit song,“100Years,” on November 24^th, 2003. The track, which followedthe artist’s 2001 mega hit, “Superman (It’s Not Easy),”solidified Five for Fighting in the American cannon. The track, which followsthe course of a life from birth to old age, hit number-28 on the Billboard charts and has since earnedU.S. platinum-status. “100 Years,” which boasts some 50-million YouTube viewsto date, came as the result of a great deal of work and craft for Ondrasik. Wecaught up with the songwriter and asked him about the song’s origin, how hebecame so skilled on the piano, what he loves most about the song whenconsidering it today and much more.

How did you become soskilled at playing the piano in all of its regal nobility?

My mom started me early as a little kid. I played recitals and I loved The Beatles, I had The Beatles songbook. I also played a bunch of Broadway – Godspell songbook was on my piano. Burt Bacharach, all that stuff. I would play the contemporary hits. I loved piano. Then, you know, in high school, you’d go to parties and you’d sit down and play “Somebody To Love” from Queen or a Journey song and all of a sudden the girls who wouldn’t talk to you actually talked to you. So, I was used to doing that. And guitar, too. I’m certainly not a great guitar player but I’ve always – piano has always been part of me. I banged it at 2 in the morning last night to relieve my stress. It’s a tool for songwriting. But I’ve always been kind of comfortable and after you play 1,000 shows you kind of learn how to do that, too.

What inspired thethrough-life theme for you in particular on “100 Years”?

Pretty much every song’s been written, it’s just how do yousay it in a different way. After “Superman” – I tend to be one of those peoplewho’s always competitive, always pushing the goal posts. And I think havingchildren actually was very helpful in the basis for that song. When you havekids and they’re sitting on your lap, you can’t help but be in the moment. Allthe outside stuff that seems to matter kind of takes a backseat to that. Iremember, you know, sitting with my kid, two- or three-years-old, and trying tofind a song. How do you follow “Superman” after that? I wrote a bunch of“Superman” sequels but, as we know, sequels are rarely as good as the original.So, I was sitting with the kid and I kept having to tell myself, “Hey man,appreciate the moment. Sometimes it’s not great but appreciate the moment.”

A lot of these songs, they’re little post-it notes tomyself. Even “Superman” in a way and “The Riddle” and “Chances.” And “100Years” was a little post-it note saying, “Dude, just chill and appreciate themoment, recognize the moment.” Once I had the lyric, “There’s never a wishbetter than this,” and I had the piano theme, I had this concept of let’s letthis song be a lifetime. Let’s have each verse be the stages of our lives,let’s move through the song. “100 Years” is different than “Superman” in that,for me, it’s always relevant because I’m always somewhere in the song. I wroteit when I was the beginning of the second verse, now I’m in the bridge, youknow? Pretty soon I’ll be in the vamp.

So, when I sing that song, it is a song I could write today– or at least I could conceptually think of today. That’s been kind of cool,growing up with that song. There’s a place for everyone in that song, which iswhy I think folks relate to it so much. Now, this song did not come in45-minutes, as I said. I spent three or four months writing 30 or 40 differentverses. I rearranged the thing in probably a dozen permutations to get itright. We did, you know, 30 different demos, tempo-mapping the whole thing. Itwas really much more structured and concise and took a lot more effort, whichis more typical for me for songs. Especially songs you think may be, like, asingle or a song you want to take to the masses. You have to be much moremyopic and microscopic and really go to every detail to get it right. Luckily,that song secured myself as a non-one-hit-wonder! That was nice!

Though there was somuch work put into it, the song is so pleasant and clean and bright. Can youtalk about how you achieved that sonic crispness?

It’s like all songwriters know, you explore many differentkeys, you explore many different tempos. “100 Years” is really long. It’s,like, four minutes long, which is really long for a song that’s on the radio.But I think we needed to tell the story. We could spend an hour talking about this, butfinding the right drum pattern, the exact perfect piano part and then thevocal. The vocal is key. And mixing it. Everything – you know, you miss on onething, the whole house of cards can collapse. But we had a sense, you know? Ispent two years trying to write the follow-up to “Superman” and I knew it had tobe a song that was the same guy but it couldn’t just be “Superman”regurgitated. And that took a long time.

I think a lot of bands or songwriters who have a hit song,the tendency is to try and write that song again. I knew that was the kiss ofdeath. But there was a lot of pressure, though. Especially with what “Superman”became. No other song could do that. But you want a song that, if “Superman”never existed, could maybe stand on its own and raise your hand as asongwriter. So, it took a long time. Again, I’m grateful that the masses pickedthat song up and embraced it. Even to this day – I look at that as more of asong of mine than “Superman.” Because “Superman” came so fast. With “100Years,” there was a lot of sweat and tears and work to get it to work. Songsare strange and how they come is strange. You start with a blank canvas and youend up with that thing and everything in between is kind of a miracle when itworks.

This might be astretch but do you ever think about how that song was numerically oriented andyou have a degree in mathematics?

Well, some people think I used numbers from my favoritesports players, which we’ve actually made videos – of course, 99 being Gretzkyand 33 is Kareem. But, to be honest with you, I just picked numbers that sangwell. You know, 15 had a ring to it. But 17 has three syllables. So, I trieddifferent numbers, thinking, “What sings well? What flows?” So much of lyricsis in the consonants. It helps when you’re a singer because you can see whatrolls off the tongue good and what flows. So, most of the numbers I picked justbecause they sang well and they stood out properly. We basically jumped 10years every verse. So, it had to get to 99 before too long!

What do you love mostabout “100 Years” when you think about it now?

I love that “100 Years” is kind of in many people’s video catalogue of their lives. I’ve seen so many birthday parties, marriages, graduations, even funerals – that song is kind of part of America’s home movie catalogue. That, to me, is just amazing and wonderful and I always get a smile when somebody sends me one like, “Here’s our anniversary” or “Here’s our wedding” or “Here’s our first child.” Like, “Now I’m 33 for a moment with a family.” To me, that’s a gift.