The Land That Made Me, Me (poem)

www.classcreator.com ^ | 17 August 2023 | Unknown

[Red Badger]

I have no idea who put this together, but it is wonderful!!

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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 Monkeys 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.

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 now to join the 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.

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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.

[no-to-illegals]

Heartwarming and Heartbreaking

[Tupelo]

Great to see again, thanks

“If you didn’t grow up in the fifties,
You missed the greatest time in history,”

Boy Howdy! Ain’t that the truth. I grew up in Happy Days, but Dayton, not Milwaukee. There were Happy Days towns & cities all over this land that made me me.

[AuntB]

Made me cry!

[newmomster]

Reminds us of all we’ve lost....the innocence of childhood, the age of manly husbands going to work and competent wives in aprons running the household: shopping, cooking, arranging holidays & get-togethers, managing the budget - making sure there was enough money for ice cream on the weekend.

Unfortunately our children don’t see the beauty in all this - it’s hard to make them recognize the evil that surrounds so much in our society and takes us away from a happy, well adjusted family - which ensures a productive society.

[marktwain]

I'd say it lasted until about 65-70. That seems to be the fatal transition point where our leadership started hating the USA.

The Kennedy assassination and the Presidency of Johnson were a significant part of the transformation.

[redangus]

To quote a singer I went to HS with

“I was born in a small town, learned to love Jesus in a small town”

[Red Badger]

Yes, November 22, 1963 was the end of the Republic as we know it.................

[Chad C. Mulligan]

Well, Ii do remember all that fondly, except for the pop music on the radio, which frankly sucked.

[Democrat = party of treason]

I don’t know about the 50’s, but the 60’s was innocent enough. It all started going downhill in the late 60’s for whatever reason, and has been gaining downhill speed ever since to this point. How pathetic.

[Carriage Hill]

My era of growing-up, in my America. I miss it
and go back often, in my mind and heart. Very
good memories...

BKMRK.

[Laslo Fripp]

Born in 1943 here.

That poem, and the comments, say it all.

[Carriage Hill]

I arrived in 1949, and enjoyed the 50s immensely; I sure wish the following generations could have had the same experience as we did. But hell came in during the mid-60s and has only gotten much, much worse, year-by-year.

[scottiemom]

Red, this is your finest post ever. Thanks for reminding me there existed a time so good that there are no words to express it.
Scottiemom (born October 26, 1950)

[Red Badger]