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Tuesday, August 30, 2011

The Land That Made Me, Me

by Sac Barb


I have no idea who put this together, but it is wonderful!!  Growing up in the Fifties was so different than how kids grow up today.  The simplicity of it all was the best.  I'm sure in 20 or 30 years from now there will be another version about how good it was growing up in the 80's or 90's.


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 learned to gut a muffler, we washed our hair at dawn,
We spread our crinolines to dry in circles on the lawn.

We longed for love and romance, and waited for our Prince,
And 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.

   
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 weren't 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.

Buicks 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.

 

32 comments:

Lynn D said...

Morning Glories
1

Lynn D said...

Sacbarb I read this and thought it's good to look back but it is not good to live in the past.

Progress is good in so many ways and yes it has it's draw backs too, but I would much rather be a woman now than in the past I think.

Waving at all of the owls!

Unknown said...

and a gracious god morning to you Lynn....

I had better get busy with reports out of Salt Lake City this morning...

Check in 6:45am MST....

Tina is wearing a hospital issue gown with hospital issue boxer shorts. She is checked in and has peed in a cup.

You may think my avatar is a photo of a habanero pepper today...

Its not.

That is an actual photo of Tina's inflamed bilary vesicle....

Unknown said...

In a text just now I can report that Mr. Tina is having second thoughts about coughing up the money on this surgery by reason that they wouldn't spend that much on the dog....

oops! This just in....a photo of the IV...it is in....haha...too late Mr. Tina!!!

goldie said...

Good Morning Hooters!

Great blog Barb.

Ok, I have certainly been out of the loop. Having the grandkids does that to you. What the heck is wrong with ~tina? I mean other than the obvious?????? :)

Unknown said...

Goldie...Tina is having her bilary vesicle removed this morning....

Tinka said...

Good Morning Lynn, Michael, Goldie and Tina who is probably asleep now.

I didn't sleep because I was worried that I wouldn't feel well enough to go to therapy. Of course now I don't feel well and I am not going to water therapy because I didn't sleep. Strange how things work out that way. My 13 year old granddaughter will be coming over to stay with me today. Have a good Tuesday everyone. I will be back tomorrow.

SacBarb - I loved your blog. It's so much fun to look back and remember. They were fun days.

Zona said...

BARB: Ya know..life seemed so much less complicated then..and it moved slower..way slower..or maybe that's only because I was young and didn't have to try so hard to keep up..lol.. :D

LYNN: Hey Beautiful! The older I get..the more I like to look back..but I don't think I'd want to go back..kwim? ;)

MICHAEL: Yikes..looks like thing is on fire! Thanks for the updates!

TINKA: I think it may be for the best that you are skipping water therapy today..it was just too hard on you last week. Your granddaughter's visit will make today a very nice day! :)

Good Morning GOLDIE!

Zona said...

ooops..that should have been 'looks like THAT thing is on fire'..

sacBarb said...

Happy Tuesday Owls.

Lynn, Hello pretty Lady. I agree that I would rather be a woman today, but the trade off is my kids never knew a simple life, which makes me a little sad. And I also see that communication skills have suffered with the advent of computers, not to mention grammar skills. But I do love my computer and my cell phone. Oh, I'm so conflicted!

Goldie, in case no one has answered you yet, Tina is having gall bladder surgery today.

sacBarb said...

Michael, thanks for the update on Tina.

Tinka, I hope you can find a therapy class that won't be so hard for you.

Zona, I think it was a slower pace even when you were younger, but aren't you sorry that you never got to experience drying your crinolines on the lawn? I actually did that because we starched them so much we had to spread them out in a big circle to dry. Plus we wore them in multiples, like 3 or 4, depending on how full they were. When we sat down, we had to be careful that they wouldn't all fly up in our face. WTH were we thinking?

sacBarb said...

Dianne, Your blog yesterday was very funny. Thanks for the laugh.

Lynn D said...

Sending Tina Prayers and Positive thoughts!

Unknown said...

Tina is home.

She said she hurts and is dizzy.

She took 5 pills and has eaten cherry and strawberry and cherry jello...

more as news develops...

Zona said...

TINA: I'm glad you're home and eating jello..I wish you weren't hurting though..I hope they gave you good meds for the pain..get some rest..

BARB: I had to google crinolines.. :D

sacBarb said...

Zona, LOL. You probably aren't the only one who didn't know what they are. In fact, most of the Owls probably haven't experienced most of the things in the blog. You need to be OLD like me to really appreciate the significance of all that stuff. In fact, I hesitated sending it, but I figured it would be a history lesson for many. :)

Dianne/Denver said...

BARB: No history lesson for me....I lived it too an knew exactly what you were talking about. I used to have those slips all over my yard starched and ready to go each week. We used to put sugar in the starch to make them stand out more.....ever do that?

Glad to hear TINA is home and feeling okay.

We are off to the movie so will be back later. Hello to everyone

sacBarb said...

Dianne, Oh yes, I forgot about the sugar. It's a wonder they didn't get covered with ants. LOL

Unknown said...

If Tina hasn't got 15 things going at the same time she can stand it.

Shes not one to just be still.

So now shes just whiney!

and hurty.....I think this recovery is going to take some time...

the patient is uncooperative and overly emotional...

I hope Mr. Tina babies her...that is what she needs....

I would do that if I were there...well..I would have baby-er do it....same same...

Just_Lin said...

Tina I'm glad the surgery is over and you are home recovering. I hope you are getting plenty of TLC.

Just_Lin said...

SacBarb I remember wearing petticoats in grammar school. I guess my mom starched them. When I got to high school, it was tight skirts and maybe a pleated skirt or two. I was lucky that my mother was an excellent seamstress.

Just_Lin said...

Waving at all the HOoters. It was only in the 80's today, thank God.

Just_Lin said...

24

Just_Lin said...

I mean.....24

Just_Lin said...

25 for Tina

Tinka said...

Tina - I am glad you have the operation behind you. Each day you will feel a little better until soon you will be your old self. Well, I don't mean old as you are still very young but you know what I mean. You will be better.

Tinka said...

Michael - Thanks for the updates.

Tinka said...

SacBarb - . We all had crinolines. I don't remember them ever being out on the lawn. I don't know how my mom starched them. We would wear one under our poodle skirts. We also had plaid kilts held with a big fancy pin. Saddle shoes and bobby sox would be worn at our dances. We were connected to St. Louis College which was a boys' school run by the Irish Brothers. The Brothers were very strict but they allowed very supervised dances to be held in the basement of the school. We would have about one a month and of course at Halloween, Christmas and Valentine's Day. The girls would go to the school and help decorate the hall the day before. The nuns and Brothers thought it kept us busy and out of mischief. I think for the most part it worked.
We all had about 4 crinolines and we would wear all 4 of them under our formal net dresses. We would go to the Royal Roads Naval Academy for formal dances at Christmas and for their graduations. They were fun too.

Tinka said...

Zona - You were right. Last week's therapy was too hard. I think I have to find something more appropriate. It shouldn't take 5 days to get over one hour of water therapy. If you lived closer I would swim with you in your pool. That would be fun.

Tinka said...

30

sacBarb said...

J/L, When I said "we" starched them, I really meant my Mother. I did, however, lay them out and pick them up when they were dry. I wore a uniform in high school. It was a brown and yellow plaid skirt that was A-line in the front with low pleats in the back. We wore it with a yellow blouse and brown cardigan sweater. It was much cuter than the blue jumper & white blouse we wore in elementary school. We did wear straight skirts outside of school.

My Mom made all my clothes too. She even got the fabric from the uniform store to make my uniform. She was a professional seamstress from the time she was 12 when she had to quit school to go to work and help support her parents and seven younger siblings.

heather said...

The McKinney clan enduring bonds showcase the beauty of family unity, transcending generations with love, laughter, and cherished memories.