Excerpt from "Talking Union" Words by Lee Hayes, Millard Lampell and Pete Seeger - inspired by Woody Guthrie's "Talking Dustbowl". "Talking Union" ©1958 Stormking Music, Inc., BMI
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Lately I've been picking up strange vibrations
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I hear my music now on oldies stations
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"Put out a CD called "the best of what I was"
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My picture's on the cover and no one knows
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Just when you think you've got the wisdom of the ages
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Nobody seems to want to turn your pages
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I used to think I was the cat's pajamas
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Now I'm about as hip as Fernando Lamas
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(cause I'm) Old enough
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Old enough to be your father
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Old enough
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Old enough (and then some)
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And now my kids are taking me to the shows
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There's hip-hop, rap, grunge music I don't know
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I like to think I'm still part of the crowd
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But, how can they hear the lyrics
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When the music is so loud?!
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I dig rock and roll music
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(I been saying that for a while)
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But I wonder if you knew
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That rhythm & blues begat the rock and roll style?
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And just like that, way before rap,
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Woody Guthrie spread the news
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He told it straight, let us relate
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This Talking Union Blues:
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Well if you want higher wages, let me tell you what to do
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You've got to talk to the workers in the shop with you
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You got to build you a union, got to make it strong
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But if you all stick together, boys, it won't be long
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You get shorter hours, better working conditions
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Vacations with pay, take the kids to the seashore
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Well I remember I was seventeen
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I was a Birmingham High School rock and roll king
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The paper talked about how I'd strut my stuff
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I'd like to read it, but my arms aren't long enough
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I kinda like my new senior status
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I don't even care what the latest fad is
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My g-generation's rediscovered me
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And now I'm on the cover of modern maturity
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OLD ENOUGH (Ode to An Aging Rocker)
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| Peter, Paul & Mary |
