Don't Have a Clue

[snopes]

Kids today don't have a clue
Where to go or what to do
We knew full well when we were young
Where to go to have some fun

A shiny quarter could buy delight
The friends we had without a fight
The days we talked till after dark
The things we learned to make our mark

A mitt and ball would sure suffice
Ice cube trays with Kool-Aid ice
We played real hard with cuts and bruises
A comic book could sure amuse us

A spinning top was such a thrill
To ride our bikes down the steepest hills
A bag of marbles could calm for hours
Paper Mache to make Mom flowers

Worn sneakers with broken laces
Dirt and grime on our tanned faces
Empty pockets and tattered jeans
Lux in a Maytag could make things clean

You never knew the time of day
From dawn to dusk you'd run and play
You never questioned our parents reason
Summertime was our favorite season

Wonder bread with fried bologna
Wednesday night was macaroni
Those wonderful days that flew so fast
Those magical times will always last

[Saint James]

A bit weak on the rhyme scheme at points.
And I don't see one toy in there which doesn't still exist or get played with.

[Ryda Wong, EBfCo.]

Wonder bread with fried bologna
Wednesday night was macaroni
Those wonderful days that flew so fast
Those magical times will always last

Well, yeah, until you die as a result of your early malnutrition!

Although I do love a fried bologna sandwich to this very day.

Yum.

[snopes]

Worn sneakers with broken laces
Dirt and grime on our tanned faces
Empty pockets and tattered jeans

Yeah, I long for a return to the good old days when everybody was poor, nobody could afford to replace worn clothing, and kids never had any money of their own.

- snopes

[Chloe]

Meh. Meter a bit dubious, and nowhere near hateful and condemnatory enough. Perhaps a final stanza as follows?

But kids today are rotten sods
They roam about in hoodie squads.
Our streets they spoil, our towns besmirch
It's time that we brought back the birch.

[DemonWolf]

Originally Posted by snopes

Yeah, I long for a return to the good old days when everybody was poor, nobody could afford to replace worn clothing, and kids never had any money of their own.

- snopes

In my case it was because of rough treatment and intense physical activity. New jeans would only last me about three months, and those were usually the better brands (Lee, Levi, Wrangler)

Going out to play at the crack of dawn
Coming in when the streetlights come on
Coming home to watch G.I. Joe
And other cartoon by Hasbro

[Tootsie Plunkette]

Lux in a Maytag could make things clean

Those were the days! Nowadays nobody can put clothing in a washing machine with some detergent and have clean clothes.

[DawnStorm]

Let me tell you what my parents remember:

Hauling in wood for the stove
My mother remembers using a wash board
My father remembered drinking raw milk, although I understand there are many people who like that sort of thing (note to govt--my dad did not get sick off of it)
My mother got whooping cough when she was a child and wouldn't wish that crud on her worst enemy. She also remembers getting scarlet fever and having a quarantine sign on her house.
My father remembered a time when the only time you went to the dentist was when you had a toothache and the remedy was to pull the tooth.
Both my parents often wonder(ed) how in hell they ever survived MD summers without AC.

Would my mother go back to those days? HELL NO!!!!

Dawn--I'm sure your parents/grand parents remember 'the good old days' as well--Storm

[TB Tabby]

"Remember a time when women couldn't vote, and certain people weren't allowed on the golf course? Pepperidge Farm remembers."

[hambubba]

I'm stuck on the "bologna/macaroni" rhyme. I lnow technically it does, but that's some mighty poor poetry.

There's a country song playing now with the same theme. I remember some of those "good old days" as well, no thanks.

[Rachael]

I like how none of these poems mentioned that people lived in constant fear of being bombed by the Russians. Good ol' McCarthyism!

Although I suppose I should shut up, since some people really did have idyllic childhoods back then. Don't want to destroy the dream for them.

[DawnStorm]

I think everyone's younger days/were a mixture of the good and the bad; glurge of course focuses only on the good, but the rest of us know that there were good times and bad times.

[BamaRainbow]

"You know, everybody's talking 'bout the good old days, the good old days. Well, let's talk about the good old days. Come to think of it, as bad as we think they are, these will become the good old days for our children. What if we, uh, try to remember the kind of September when life was slow and oh, so mellow? Huh. Try to remember, and if you remember, then follow. Oh, why does it seem that the past is always better? We look back and think, the winters were warmer, the grass was greener, the skies were bluer and smiles were bright. Can it be that life was all so simple then, or has time rewritten every line? And, if we had the chance to do it all again, tell me, would we? Could we?"

Those words open the Gladys Knight and the Pips 1975 recording of "The Way We Were/Try to Remember". I've always found it a pretty classy way to respond to those who harbor this fondness for seeing the past through rose-colored glasses.

Of course, when class doesn't work, that's when you pull out "Weird Al" Yankovic's "When I Was Your Age".

[applepwnz]

You know, it's funny, there are precisely two things that seem like they're better now than in the 50s, there's less racism now, and we have technology so that we don't have to play with a lame hula-hoop or whatever, I mean honestly, for all that people talk about "the good old days", I think that still wish every day that they could have had a Wii as a kid. I know that I personally would have been one lonely kid if it wasn't for my NES lol

[DrFraud]

Originally Posted by snopes

A shiny quarter could buy delight

Even a comic book cost more than a quarter, in my experience.

Wonder bread with fried bologna
Wednesday night was macaroni

Most people's moms* didn't have a culinary repetoire as limited as your own mother's, d00d.

*Or dads. But I could've counted the ones who did anything more than the occasional barbecue on one hand.

[Spam & Cookies-mmm]

Originally Posted by DrFraud

Even a comic book cost more than a quarter, in my experience.

Comic book pricing in the 70s wasn't bad.

I think I got 50 cents a week allowance in 1976. I liked to go with my friend to the Li'l General store, buy an Orange Crush and a comic book. We'd sit outside the store and drink our drinks and read the comics, and then collect the deposit on the bottles and buy us each a donut at the bakery. We felt so smart doing that.

Originally Posted by Spam & Cookies-mmm

Comic book pricing in the 70s wasn't bad.

I think I got 50 cents a week allowance in 1976. I liked to go with my friend to the Li'l General store, buy an Orange Crush and a comic book. We'd sit outside the store and drink our drinks and read the comics, and then collect the deposit on the bottles and buy us each a donut at the bakery. We felt so smart doing that.

And smart you should feel! You got far more out of your allowance than I did out of mine. And it showed planning ahead and investment. Very wise.

[Avril]

Originally Posted by snopes

A shiny quarter could buy delight
The friends we had without a fight

I would think buying friends costs more than a quarter.

Avril

[Chloe]

Originally Posted by applepwnz

You know, it's funny, there are precisely two things that seem like they're better now than in the 50s, there's less racism now, and we have technology so that we don't have to play with a lame hula-hoop or whatever,

Less homophobia, less sexism, less classism, less stigma attached to sex and unsanctioned pregnancy and disability and aging and disease. For starters.

[Canuckistan]

Originally Posted by Avril

I would think buying friends costs more than a quarter.

You can get some mighty good deals in the bargain bin.