There’s something special about songs that hold that certain cinematic quality. How you can close your eyes and vividly picture a movie scene playing out before you. Some tracks just seem tailor made for setting the tone and eliciting emotion in film. But to me, there’s something about ‘When Youth Was Wasted’ that goes a level deeper. It makes me think of movies that feature fictional bands, with their own in-universe hits; think Almost Famous, O Brother, Where Are Thou?, or That Thing You Do!. Sometimes the musicians making the soundtracks nail their assignment so perfectly, that it’s hard to believe that these weren’t the hit songs they pretend to be. You can so easily imagine a world where people grew up listening to these songs, playing them on jukeboxes, dancing to them at weddings. ‘When Youth Was Wasted’ to me doesn’t just sound like the perfect song to soundtrack a film scene, it feels like a hit song from one of these other worlds that has had pride of place in countless playlists and movies scenes over the years. The bright folk intro, the hopeful piano tone, the expressive rhythm section, that uplifting build towards the big brass climax, the irresistible melody of its titular refrain. Somehow it’s so easy to slip into the belief that there’s a world out there where this was a classic song I grew up loving.