Back seat smooching steaming up
windows in a 1950 Chevy with
"Imitation of Life" on the big
screen Friday date night at the
Bellevue Drive In after leaving
our South Side High School
football game win against our
rival Central High for such were
those vibrant days of our youth
never to grow old and frail

Sometimes his Daddy's borrowed
1947 red Ford pickup truck
straight from the Friday fish
market day in the bed a load
of frozen fish to Saturday peddle,
but to never mind we went home
before a chance of melting came
packed in dry ice

On special occasions we got his
Mother's 1953 green and yellow
Buick Special...perhaps "Giant"
was playing on the screen that
very night

We were the rebels of the
fifties "with a cause" for having
fun at our favorite hang out
eating a Leonard's barbeque and
bean pot on any given weekend as
those were the days, my friend...
to laugh and play into great things
yet to come

(c) Those Were the Days,
My Friend
05May2012
Vivian L Dawson

~Special Acknowledgement to~
The music of Charles Strouse
that has touched the life of
almost every American in the
last half century. His song
"Those Were the Days"
launched over 200 episodes of
All in the Family and continues
to reach new generations of
television audiences in syndication.

~Accolades also belong to~
Mary Hopkin for her rendition
of the song that became very
popular here in the US. This
song is originally a russian song,
and the English lyrics were
wrote by Gene Raskin.