Toots & The Maytals’ ‘I’ll Never Grow Old’ Sets Cheery Mood On Netflix’s Postapocalyptic ‘Sweet Tooth’
In an enchanting intersection of the postapocalyptic and the timeless, the 1963 Ska hit I’ll Never Grow Old by Reggae band Toots & The Maytals is one of the “biggest songs” featured in the Netflix series Sweet Tooth, a fantasy-drama that has just completed its second season.
The lively tune, a critical element of the band’s debut album Never Grow Old, offered a hopeful counterpoint to the somber themes of the series, blending seamlessly into the second season’s third episode, which is titled ‘Chicken or Egg?’.
The scene comes to life as the character Rani, played by Aliza Vellani, offers treats to captive children, sparking a joyous celebration. As the song takes on a life of its own, viewers follow 10-year-old protagonist Gus, played by Christian Convery, as he sets aside the dismal narrative for a moment, to playfully explore the stairwell of a deserted lab.
Created by Jim Mickle, Sweet Tooth imagines a world where a lethal virus has drastically reduced the human population and, rather intriguingly, has given rise to a generation of hybrid children—part human, part animal. Other cast members include Nanso Anozie (Tommy Jepperd), Dania Ramirez (Aimee), and Neil Sandilands (General Abbot).
In an article on Netflix’s Tudum publication, titled “Behind the Biggest Songs in ‘Sweet Tooth’ Season 2,” the show’s music supervisor Season Kent explained that the musical selections for the season were intentional, juxtaposing the dark themes addressed in the series.
“There’s something about this folky, organic feeling. Because of the world ending, we’re clinging to what’s real. A lot of the instrumentation that we use is live, not synth-feeling,” he said. In a world filled with doom, “there’s a warmness to these organic instruments. Our main character has such a human spirit, and I think this music helps you connect [to him].”
I’ll Never Grow Old was the product of the synergistic collaboration between producer Clement ‘Sir Coxsone’ Dodd and lead vocalist Frederick ‘Toots’ Hibbert, backed by harmonies from The Maytals (Henry “Raleigh” Gordon and Nathaniel “Jerry” Mathias) and the vibrant brass section from The Skatalites.
It appeared on the group’s debut album Never Grow Old, released in 1964 under Sir Coxsone’s Studio One.
In 2004, the song was revamped as Never Grow Old for the Toots & the Maytals’ True Love album, which later earned the Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album in 2005. The updated track had featured The Skatalites and U-Roy.
This isn’t the first time music from the legendary Toots & The Maytals has been featured on a Netflix series.
In December, their cover of John Denver’s Take Me Home, Country Roads was featured in the Netflix film Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery.
Toots Hibbert, the band’s celebrated frontman, passed away in 2020, and his daughter Leba Hibbert recently stepped up as the lead singer, a change announced on what would have been Toots’ 80th birthday. The announcement was also a resolution to a dispute involving the Hibbert estate and the original members of the band over the rights to the Maytals name.
Toots & The Maytals’ second Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album came in 2021 for the Got To Be Tough project.
Toots and his band were responsible for some of the most iconic songs in Reggae history, including Pressure Drop, Bam Bam, Sweet And Dandy, 54-46, Beautiful Woman, Time Tough, and Monkey Man.
Time Tough appeared on The Man Who Fell To Earth (2022) on Showtime.