To my kids: Jill, Jay & Jennifer (and grand kids I guess-if interested)
"The Way It Was In 51'"
Sixty-six was still a narrow two-lane highway
Harry Truman was the man who ran the show
The bad Korean war was just beginning
And I was just three years too young to go
Country music hadn't gone to New York City yet
And a service man was proud of what he'd done
And Hank and Lefty crowded every jukebox
That's the way it was in 51'
There's so much about the good old day I'd love to tell
And there's folks around I know, still remember well
Slow dancin' close together when a ballad played
'Cause a thing called, Rock and Roll was yet to come
It was a big year for a drive-in rest'rant, Carhop
And that's the way it was in 51'
There's so much about the good old day I'd love to tell
And there's folks around I know, still remember well
Slow dancin' close together when a ballad played
'Cause a thing called, Rock and Roll was yet to come
It was a big year for a drive-in rest'rant, Carhop
And that's the way it was in 51'
Hank and Lefty crowded every jukebox
Oh Lord, that's the way it was in 51'
(Merle Haggard)
The 51 that is 1951. Your dad was nine years old. About the age of his grandson Luke. Sixty-six, that was the major highway from Chicago to Los Angles. A few years later your grandparents and your dad would drive that highway to southern California to visit your Uncle Daren and his family. Did so about 5 or 6 times over the coming years. Truman. Well that was President Harry Truman. In my personal opinion one of the best President's we ever had. His word was his bond. My how the country could use a man in the White House like him today. The Korean War, well your uncle Daren he wasn't too young (18) to go and at that time he was in Korea. In the Air Force station in Pusan, Korea for a year. I walked to our rural mailbox and almost everyday would find a letter from him and also placing one in the box for the carrier to pick up and be mailed to him. He and your grandparents exchanged many letters. No emails or texting back then.
Country music, true, it hadn't gone Hollywood yet. The Hank and Lefty well that was Hank Williams, Sr and lefty Frizzell. They did crowd most jukeboxes, or the one that I remember at Bert and Finn's truck stop south on highway 41. Sadly Hank Williams would be dead at age 29. He died in the back seat of a Cadillac on New Year's Eve 1951 on the way to a show in Canton, Ohio. Frizzell would live on to years later, but seemed each year he lived, problems came his way. I often see his brother, David perform around town now.
Yes there are some folks around I know that remember those days well, but they like me are aging and leaving us much too soon. Now rock n' roll, true it had yet to really come on the scene. For most of us rock n' roll came on about 1954-55. Many from my time associate that music with Sun Records, and folks like Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and Cash, Johnny. Drive-in restaurants, one of the first I can remember was what we called a root-beer stand. It was located on the north side of Sullivan. There were car-hops and the jukebox played really loud. You could get a cold mug of root beer there for a nickel.
Yes there is so much good about those days that I could tell you. It was a special time to be a kid, growing up in Indiana. Truly music and basketball had captured me by this time. That's kinda the way it was in 51'. What will you tell your kids about your "1951?" Sometime share with them what it was like for you when you were a kid. They might even have a bit of trouble believing you ever once were a kid. If they have a hard time believing you were ever a kid, tell them to go talk to their Pop Pop. He does remember....
To non family if you remember what it was like in 51', have you told your kids...what it was like?
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Keep on, Larry Adamson