Let's Get Back To The Good Old Days
Life was so much simpler and so much more innocent and fun in the good old days than it is now. We should bring them back. Nowadays, it’s all war and drugs and financial calamity.
Think of the Thirties; nothing like a Great Depression with bankers jumping off ledges and people being wiped out. Just before it hit, we started singing, “Happy Days Are Here Again,” and that one went down the drain fast. Farmers in the Midwest were generally not affected by the Depression, but the dust storms took care of them.
The Forties, ah! The Forties. World War Two, with a maniac who was determined to wipe out an entire religious race and certainly did a good job while he was able. I saw a film of a bulldozer pushing piles of bodies toward a mass grave. Scared teenagers with rifles were shooting scared teenagers with rifles; given their choice, they’d probably opt to have a beer together, shake hands and go their separate ways in peace.
I always wondered about “The Eisenhower Years,” which were supposed to be The American Dream, the best years of our lives. All sorts of tranquilizers were sold in those days, Miltown being one of them and sold like crazy (sorry) in 1955. Russia and the U.S. had enough nukes aimed at each other to blow the two of them up several times over. No wonder people wanted to be sedated: we’re all gonna die, so why get worked up over it.
You’d never know all this by listening to the music of those days.
Think of the Thirties; nothing like a Great Depression with bankers jumping off ledges and people being wiped out. Just before it hit, we started singing, “Happy Days Are Here Again,” and that one went down the drain fast. Farmers in the Midwest were generally not affected by the Depression, but the dust storms took care of them.
The Forties, ah! The Forties. World War Two, with a maniac who was determined to wipe out an entire religious race and certainly did a good job while he was able. I saw a film of a bulldozer pushing piles of bodies toward a mass grave. Scared teenagers with rifles were shooting scared teenagers with rifles; given their choice, they’d probably opt to have a beer together, shake hands and go their separate ways in peace.
I always wondered about “The Eisenhower Years,” which were supposed to be The American Dream, the best years of our lives. All sorts of tranquilizers were sold in those days, Miltown being one of them and sold like crazy (sorry) in 1955. Russia and the U.S. had enough nukes aimed at each other to blow the two of them up several times over. No wonder people wanted to be sedated: we’re all gonna die, so why get worked up over it.
You’d never know all this by listening to the music of those days.
posted by Tom Carten at 11:59 PM
1 Comments:
I was just thinking about this the other morning. Amazing the silly songs that permeated in a world on verge of Revelation-type destruction. Sort of like today. Pakistan nukes on verge of falling into unsure hands, North Korea wants to go nuclear again, and our biggest collective concern? The new season of "Dancing with the Stars." Yeah, I like Ike, too.
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