You had to be there
Chance to watch TV really rare
Drug of choice aspirin
Talk back to Dad knock on the chin
At school we played with marble Steelies
King of the block a bike that could do wheelies
Real challenge was, "Do or dare!"
Time stuck up on a tower I rarely share
You didn't say things on the phone that Mom might hear
The neighbor lady would report a nosy dear
Most of the time couldn't get the line
She talked for hours all the time
When I came my job to drop a match in the oil
Scared to death often my pants would soil
Remember the box where ice and milk would be
Chipping the ice with a pick my job you see
For a little kid lifting the ice quite a chore
Then off to the woods us kids would explore
Perverts and evil people I suppose were there
But caught by Dad or the neighbor men no justice did they share
Often there was a fight but it was with fists
Most of the girls were virgins those not we had to resist
Mom she seemed to know every time we were bad
And you never wanted her to say she was going to tell dad
Yes, I remember the fifties and suppose some of you do too
But gangs and drugs you feared the teachers ruler at school