The Land that made me me
Long ago and far away, in a land that time forgot,
Before the days of Dylan, or the dawn of Camelot.
There lived a race of innocents, and they were you and me,
For Ike was in the White House in that land where we were born,
Where navels were for oranges, and Peyton Place was porn.
We longed for love and romance, and waited for our Prince,
Eddie Fisher married Liz, and no one's seen him since.
We danced to 'Little Darlin,' and sang to 'Stagger Lee'
And cried for Buddy Holly in the Land That Made Me, Me.
Only girls wore earrings then, and 3 was one too many,
And only boys wore flat-top cuts, except for Jean McKinney.
And only in our wildest dreams did we expect to see
A boy named George with Lipstick, in the Land That Made Me, Me.
We fell for Frankie Avalon, Annette was oh, so nice,
And when they made a movie, they never made it twice..
We didn't have a Star Trek Five, or Psycho Two and Three,
Or Rocky-Rambo Twenty in the Land That Made Me, Me.
Miss Kitty had a heart of gold, and Chester had a limp,
And Reagan was a Democrat whose co-star was a chimp.
We had a Mr. Wizard, but not a Mr. T,
And Oprah couldn't talk yet, in the Land That Made Me, Me.
We had our share of heroes, we never thought they'd go,
At least not Bobby Darin, or Marilyn Monroe.
For youth was still eternal, and life was yet to be,
And Elvis was forever in the Land That Made Me, Me.
We'd never seen the rock band that was Grateful to be Dead,
And Airplanes weren't named Jefferson , and Zeppelins were not Led.
And Beatles lived in gardens then, and Monkees lived in trees,
Madonna was Mary in the Land That Made Me, Me.
We'd never heard of microwaves, or telephones in cars,
And babies might be bottle-fed, but they were not grown in jars.
And pumping iron got wrinkles out, and 'gay' meant fancy-free,
And dorms were never co-Ed in the Land That Made Me, Me.
We hadn't seen enough of jets to talk about the lag,
And microchips were what was left at the bottom of the bag.
And hardware was a box of nails, and bytes came from a flea,
And rocket ships were fiction in the Land That Made Me, Me.
T-Birds came with portholes, and side shows came with freaks,
And bathing suits came big enough to cover both your cheeks.
And Coke came just in bottles, and skirts below the knee,
And Castro came to power near the Land That Made Me, Me.
We had no Crest with Fluoride, we had no Hill Street Blues,
We had no patterned pantyhose or Lipton herbal tea
Or prime-time ads for those dysfunctions in the Land That Made Me, Me.
There were no golden arches, no Perrier to chill,
And fish were not called Wanda, and cats were not called Bill
And middle-aged was 35 and old was forty-three,
And ancient were our parents in the Land That Made Me, Me.
But all things have a season, or so we've heard them say,
And now instead of Maybelline we swear by Retin-A.
They send us invitations to join AARP,
We've come a long way, baby, from the Land That Made Me, Me.
So now we face a brave new world in slightly larger jeans,
And wonder why they're using smaller print in magazines.
And we tell our children's children of the way it used to be,
Long ago and far away in the Land That Made Me, Me.
If you didn't grow up in the fiftys,
You missed the greatest time in history,
Before the days of Dylan, or the dawn of Camelot.
There lived a race of innocents, and they were you and me,
For Ike was in the White House in that land where we were born,
Where navels were for oranges, and Peyton Place was porn.
We longed for love and romance, and waited for our Prince,
Eddie Fisher married Liz, and no one's seen him since.
We danced to 'Little Darlin,' and sang to 'Stagger Lee'
And cried for Buddy Holly in the Land That Made Me, Me.
Only girls wore earrings then, and 3 was one too many,
And only boys wore flat-top cuts, except for Jean McKinney.
And only in our wildest dreams did we expect to see
A boy named George with Lipstick, in the Land That Made Me, Me.
We fell for Frankie Avalon, Annette was oh, so nice,
And when they made a movie, they never made it twice..
We didn't have a Star Trek Five, or Psycho Two and Three,
Or Rocky-Rambo Twenty in the Land That Made Me, Me.
Miss Kitty had a heart of gold, and Chester had a limp,
And Reagan was a Democrat whose co-star was a chimp.
We had a Mr. Wizard, but not a Mr. T,
And Oprah couldn't talk yet, in the Land That Made Me, Me.
We had our share of heroes, we never thought they'd go,
At least not Bobby Darin, or Marilyn Monroe.
For youth was still eternal, and life was yet to be,
And Elvis was forever in the Land That Made Me, Me.
We'd never seen the rock band that was Grateful to be Dead,
And Airplanes weren't named Jefferson , and Zeppelins were not Led.
And Beatles lived in gardens then, and Monkees lived in trees,
Madonna was Mary in the Land That Made Me, Me.
We'd never heard of microwaves, or telephones in cars,
And babies might be bottle-fed, but they were not grown in jars.
And pumping iron got wrinkles out, and 'gay' meant fancy-free,
And dorms were never co-Ed in the Land That Made Me, Me.
We hadn't seen enough of jets to talk about the lag,
And microchips were what was left at the bottom of the bag.
And hardware was a box of nails, and bytes came from a flea,
And rocket ships were fiction in the Land That Made Me, Me.
T-Birds came with portholes, and side shows came with freaks,
And bathing suits came big enough to cover both your cheeks.
And Coke came just in bottles, and skirts below the knee,
And Castro came to power near the Land That Made Me, Me.
We had no Crest with Fluoride, we had no Hill Street Blues,
We had no patterned pantyhose or Lipton herbal tea
Or prime-time ads for those dysfunctions in the Land That Made Me, Me.
There were no golden arches, no Perrier to chill,
And fish were not called Wanda, and cats were not called Bill
And middle-aged was 35 and old was forty-three,
And ancient were our parents in the Land That Made Me, Me.
But all things have a season, or so we've heard them say,
And now instead of Maybelline we swear by Retin-A.
They send us invitations to join AARP,
We've come a long way, baby, from the Land That Made Me, Me.
So now we face a brave new world in slightly larger jeans,
And wonder why they're using smaller print in magazines.
And we tell our children's children of the way it used to be,
Long ago and far away in the Land That Made Me, Me.
If you didn't grow up in the fiftys,
You missed the greatest time in history,
0
-
Been there, done that
even got the hat
would go back in a heartbeat
it would be a treat.
0 -
Firearms were sturdy and not of plastic
Glocks had not yet been made
If John Browning seen a Glock
He would be rolling in his Grave.0 -
Enjoyed life when I was younger, but wouldn't consider going back.
Air travel is cheaper, more reliable and more comfortable.
Beer is better.
Houses are tighter and more comfortable.
Beer is better.
Cars are much more comfortable and reliable.
Beer is better.
We have access to almost anything we could ever want and much that we don't even know we want.
Oh, and beer is better.
Don0 -
Yeah Don but what about the beer? 0 -
forgemonkey wrote:Dang Bull,,,,,,
Don't know whether to laugh or shed a tear !!!! It's all good,,,,,,
I can relate, big laugh because I was there and a tear because it's gone ................................................... sigh ..........0 -
This guy is definitely the poet laureate of GB. 0 -
Accurate except there were golden arches in the late 40's and for sure in 53 as part of the building design.
I'd bet the writer grew up in a small town,, but no mention of rodeo parades.0 -
They had this stuff called Brylcreem to keep our pomps in check.
A little dab would do ya, no breeze would give ya heck.
Now days my "pomp" grows around my ass, out my nose, and on my back.
You'd think here in the future they'd not be so slack.
All they've done is make bald hip these days and that makes me really sore.
Cause of all the things I miss the most is my fine curly pompadour!0 -
It never ceases to amaze me how the baby boomers cant correlate that while they were sitting comfortably on the sidelines they were enabling decades of corrosion to the nation. 0 -
Born in 1956.
I had the best growing up years ever. And there was so many of us that did also.
But there was some things that many forget.....
Nuclear bomb drills in school- hide under your desk, facing away from the windows. { that would be a great help!}
My uncle building a bomb shelter in the basement {Now LOL}
My elementally school had barrels of water piled up in the hallway to the gym from the Civil Defense Agency.
The bad milk scare of the early sixties from contaminated cow feeds.
But it was still the best time to be a kid.
Heard on the radio, yesterday, a popular conservative talk show host was talking to his teenage son about his growing up years and his son's years.
The son, {pretty smart kid} said "we got it too easy today"..
Just about sums it up pretty good , if you ask me.0 -
Born in 1956.
I had the best growing up years ever. And there was so many of us that did also.
But there was some things that many forget.....
Nuclear bomb drills in school- hide under your desk, facing away from the windows. { that would be a great help!}
My uncle building a bomb shelter in the basement {Now LOL}
My elementally school had barrels of water piled up in the hallway to the gym from the Civil Defense Agency.
The bad milk scare of the early sixties from contaminated cow feeds.
But it was still the best time to be a kid.
Heard on the radio, yesterday, a popular conservative talk show host was talking to his teenage son about his growing up years and his son's years.
The son, {pretty smart kid} said "we got it too easy today"..
Just about sums it up pretty good , if you ask me.0
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