The Good Old Days 681 by Angela Lansbury

 In the good old days, yes, the good old days!

Were there really any good old days?

Or was there only one, when I had fun?

When restaurants and hotels had someone who got things done?

When I was single, I stayed home alone

And wanted to find a husband

And I looked everywhere, in a city of millions

But I found none, not even one

In the good old days, yes, the good old days

We started schooldays with songs of praise

We didn't know that three religions were certain God was one

And another group of millions said many more, and one said none

In the good old days, when were the good old days?

The days when life was simple and I was young

Heaven was in the sky, everyone went there

There was no hell, no-one would die, nor tell a lie

In the good old days, my mother said

You did not know what others thought

You only knew what you were taught

Sundays the shops were closed, yet no-one was bored nor fraught

My mother told me when she was young

Before she saw the news, before the war

The War was world war two, the other one was world war one

Paper was thick and heavy, Churchill and the British won

We did not know that France, Canada and the USA

All thought that they had made the difference

And won in Europe, or in Asia, which celebrated on another day

We thought that Jesus was alive, born everywhere, since he died, only on December 25

After the good old days, everything changed

We learned the calendar was run by the sun

Or by the moon, one year everyone lost a year,

The year without a sun, then everyone was really glum

Christmas could be the 26th, January 5th or 6th,

 Jesus could be born another year, another day

Or never born at all, some thought that way

And other people believed in conspiracy

That nobody had landed on the moon

You did not need a band, just one singer to croon

You had real strawberries! Only in June,

Then enlightenment, one's personal middle ages, came too soon

Some thought that the whole world was a myth

A dream, others debated philosophy

And said they thought therefore they were

But they never thought of you and me

In the good old days, people thought the world was flat

(It's really round, but), some people still think that

In the good old days, monsters were below your bed

Monsters grew, like migraines, and nightmares, only inside your head

You believed all that was said, and didn't know

That all the people in the history books told lies, and were dead

And most people fondly quoted never said 

What you thought (and everyone said) that they had said

The good old days, yes, the good old days

The days when innocent little children sang songs of praise

Children did not throw stones, and no-one lived alone

Then nobody had strikes, and everyone had bikes

Maybe the good old days will come again

When all our friends will be old men

And we'll talk about the good old days

Use computers, mobile phones, and watches to call our friends

And wonder how we coped, back then.

-ends-