A FADING GENERATION

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

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 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,
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.

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.     If  So, PLEASE FORWARD to someone who might  appreciate  it.