Talkin' Bout My Generation
Last week, I lowered a few down at a local hangout with my old friend Rattler Sattler. Like me, Rattler is a baby boomer. We’re a nostalgic lot. We think we grew up in the best of times. The wonder years. We thought we’d be forever young.
When the second round arrived, Rattler loosened his tie and told me that whenever he hears a 60s tune, he feels relaxed, taken back to a mellower time. I have no idea how Rattler can relax to “Wooly Bully." But he’s from Chicopee, the kielbasa capital of the world, where everybody listens to Happy Louie & His Polka Band.
In these ditties, I’ve taken plenty of shots at what’s going on out there today. Gun violence, political division, protests all over the world. Those of us who grew up in the 60s are always bragging about how we were there with JFK, The Beatles, The Beach Boys, Elvis, Mickey Mantle, Muhammad Ali, and Marilyn Monroe. Christ, we were even cocky enough to call ourselves the “Greater Generation.”
Sitting there with Rattler, I got the news that David Crosby died. Driving home, a Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young tune came on the radio, and it took me back like ol’ Rattler described. But the times I remembered weren’t so mellow. It wasn’t that different from today. May have been even worse. Talk about gun violence and political division. The assassinations of MLK, JFK, RFK, Malcolm X. Kent State. The Chicago DNC in ’68. The term "generation gap" was coined then, about baby boomers growing apart from their parents in their beliefs and opinions.
The more things change, the more they stay the same. But hey, if we made it through that flipnutty era, maybe we can make it through these wacknut times, Georgie Santos. Keep your dukes up.
Keep your dukes up.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1PrUU2S_iw
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