Tuesday, March 24, 2020

Thanks Mari—I LOVE This!

My dear friend Mari sent me this and I must share it with y'all, because it is so true. The author of this poem is Paul "Redman" Souder and I totally love it. Thanks Mari!

1950s E-Mail 


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,
Twas the best of times for all of
us in the Land That Made Me 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. 

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 fifties, 
You missed the greatest time in 
history,
Hope you enjoyed this read as much as I did.


--Paul "Redman" Souder

Y'all have a great day, stay safe and healthy and keep on laughing!

2 comments:

Vern said...

Great poem. Thanks Redman and thanks Nancy for sharing.

cousin nancy said...

Hi Vern! Please come see us after all of this mess is over.