Posted on 10/06/2021 6:32:38 AM PDT by sodpoodle
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. 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, 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. Bathing suits came big enough to acover both your cheeks. 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. 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 Fifty's, You missed the greatest time in history. Hope you enjoyed this read as much as I did.
God bless
Dean Martin? and who?
Florence Henderson.
The more important question is why is he wearing a coat and she’s half nekid?
Will Marty Mc Fly let me borrow his car, I want to go back.
For reference, I was born in 1954.
The 50’s were the pinacle of mankind, IMO. But just as the end of WWI sowed the seeds of WWII, the end of WWII sowed the seeds of the end of mankind. The 50’s were just the “good” part of it, depending on who you were. But even black people in the south at that time had it better than black people in the US today. At least they had less bastardy and were more self sufficient - which brings a form of joy to one’s life.
But I digress.
The fifties were, in my opinion, the end of a 2000 year era. It was our zenith. The collapse began in the 1960’s and has been increasing on a hyperbolic curve ever since. The fall has been remarkably swift, and is only picking up speed.
It will only get worse until the Lord returns. And this is God’s MO - to allow evil to reach full fruition, exposing it to all before finally cutting it down.
Remember, a lot of Americans supported Hitler - at first. In the end, there was no question who he was and what he had done. Sometimes the light needs to fully shine on evil before it meets its doom. It is clear that has not happened yet with the evil we endure today - but it is very clear it is headed that way. Sadly, its sheer overt audacity and impact on more and more people is part of that “light shedding” process. i.e. it brings a lot of pain to the world before it is destroyed.
The next couple of years* will be very instructive. Watch and learn.
*That’s right, not decades. Years and, truth be told, maybe months.
Unless you were black in the south, a domestically battered spouse, disabled, in need of mental health care etc . . .
I get it. “Good Times”.
But not everyone looks so fondly upon those years.
Cool thing? John Lydon was born in’56.
Never Mind the Bollocks
I relate to the post!
I’m also from the land that made me me—a place where Red States were countries with Marxist-Leninist dictatorships, the “Me-Too Movement” referred to the liberal wing of the GOP, Poland and Hungary were enemies, Cuba and Iran were allies, California had a Republican governor and two Republican Senators and Los Angeles and San Francisco had Republican mayors.
We tend to remember the good and forget the bad. The ‘50s was also a time when nuclear war with Russia was a constant fear. If you lived in the South and were not white life was full of indignities like segregated water fountains, restaurants, and hotel rooms. Women were often denied academic or career oportunities through a kind of unspoken old boys club mentality. Polio was a threat every summer and advances like stem cell transplants, effective chemotherapy, heart bypass surgery, and joint replacement were science fiction. Overall life expectancy was far shorter particularly due to auto accidents and smoking.
What I remember about growing up in the ‘50s and ‘60s was the confidence that we still had as “one nation, under God”. Whatever flaws we had we believed in a future that would be better for our children. I grew up in Chicago so I understood political corruption as an institution but I always believed that the FBI or IRS would be watching over the nation to protect us if things got really bad. I’m not so sure who the “good guys” are anymore. This is what I miss most, trust.
I was there.
If I had to guess, this poem was written around 1990.
Talk about being nostalgic for the 50’s. Hell, I’m nostalgic for the good old days of the 1990’s!
Silly and way off topic, but I long for the time when bump to the top was a thing. It would keep a topic of interest rolling along and most likely eliminate some duplication...one can dream.
Indeed, life in the 1950’s had a significant downside. Gray Poupon mustard, sri racha hot sauce, kim chee and real maple syrup were unavailable in the stores, watermelons could only be had in the summer, liberals dominated the GOP, which lost seats with every election until the 1958 blow-out, and in Los Angeles, the UCLA Bruins ruled the gridiron.
As the announcer warned the crowd at Woodstock, don't take the brown [lamestream media] acid.
Blacks in the south were much better off in the 1950s--with families more intact than white people's and fewer illegitimate births, better employment stats than now, and way better education, if you count actual knowledge like reading, writing, arithmetic, and making a living. I trust Thomas Sowell's info more than BLM's.
There were fewer divorces, and also fewer domestically battered spouses among all religious, racial, and social groups. And if you want real numbers on wife-beating today, you have to count assault and battery in couples who never managed to get married--where the rate is astronomical. And you have to count homosexual couples, where the rate is even more astronomical, especially among lesbians. Proclaiming (dishonestly) that marriage is "hypocrisy" because daily life is never unalloyed bliss did not produce more happiness, but served to put happiness out of young people's reach.
As for being disabled, the medical technology is way better today, plus the ramps and all. But in the 1950s, people had relatives who actually cared for them and about them, and there were fewer public places you had to go to and climb into. And if you were disabled, people considered it part of life, and not pathetic. A lot of what you saw were half-healed wounds from WWII.
In need of mental health care today? No more mental hospitals. They're all closed, at the orders of the Communist advocates who argued that insanity is just another point of view. So thanks to the Left, if you're crazy and poor, you have nowhere to go except the street and those crime-pits they call homeless shelters. There is better medical understanding of insanity now, ironically, but no political will to deal with any kind of dangerous, public, bad behavior by the insane.
The '50s had a lot of the same problems we have today--including Communists among one's friends and neighbors who argued that America needed to be undermined because socialism was more "advanced." So we got more socialism at every level, and now have the same problems you describe from the 1950s, but by different names. The difference is that virtue and family life are denounced by the drug-addled and envious--especially where sex is concerned--and I'm talking about the people who run the government and rule the universities.
What we need is a nationwide, worldwide movement to teach--in thought, word, example, schooling, and public discourse--Christian charity, patriotism, self-mastery, work, and gratitude. Everything else is just pitchers of insanity bought by the drink.
In the fifties, Russia was the only country that posed a threat of nuclear war, but we had military superiority and if they had been foolish enough to attack us, they would have been crushed. Today, a number of countries pose a nuclear threat, and there is currently a very real possibility of a nuclear war with Red China.
For blacks in the South, the indignities of Jim Crow were, indeed, still present, although they were fading. However, the permanent underclass of low-income blacks generated by the welfare state and Critical Race Theory, which poisons race relations, had not yet come into existence.
Women may have had fewer career opportunities, but they were far from oppressed and women's groups like the American Association of University Women were thriving.
Polio was a threat early in the decade, but the threat rapidly receded as the Salk vaccine became widespread. Medicine may have been far less advanced, yet it was not in the thrall of hysterical cults like Faucism as it is today.
In my opinion, the good things about the fifties outweighed the bad.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.