Baby Boom Che
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You wanna know what happened to Elvis?
I'll tell you what happened
I oughta know man, I was one of his army
I mean man, I was on his side
He made us feel alright
We were the first wave in the post-war baby boom
The generation before had just come out
Of the Great Depression and World War II
You know, heavy vibes for people to wear
So much heaviness, like some kind of voiding of the emotions
Their music, you know the songs life always carries
You know every culture has songs
Well anyway, their music was restrained emotion
You know like, you didn't want to dance if you didn't know how
Which says something strange
Well anyway, Elvis came along about ten years after the Nuke
When the only generals America had and the only army she had
Were Ike and Mac, and stupor hung over the land
A plague where everyone tried to materially free themselves
Still too shell-shocked to understand, to feel what was happening
Everything was getting hopeless
Then when Elvis started to rock, the roll just picked up
I mean, "Ravenous the Beaver" showed
Us could only be a foretold future
Who wanted to be warred in June?
And I mean father never did know best
He was still crazy from surviving the war
Like there was this psychotic fall so
Widespread as to be assumed normal
Heavy man, you know, really
Anyway, Elvis showed us an outlet
You know he showed every boy a man and every girl a woman
There's something good in feeling good
Like a prophet for every boy, every
Girl when someone's mom and dad lied
Something about him told us to be sensual is really okay
Someone's mom and dad waltzed us around
Every girl wasn't supposed to enjoy it
If she did, she was bad
And every boy, well boys will be boys
Don't feel anything
Take what you can, marry a decent girl when the fun's done
Like no matter what we did, we all were guilty
Maybe someone's mom and dad resented what they missed
And while they were trying to pass it on us
We heard Elvis' song, and for the first time we made up our own mind
The first wave rebelled
I mean we danced even if we didn't know how
I mean Elvis made us move
Instead of standing mute, he raised our voice
And when we heard ourselves, something was changing
You know like for the first time we made
A collective decision about choices
America hurriedly made Pat Boone a
General in the army they wanted us to join
But most of us held fast to Elvis and the commandants around him
Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly
Little Richard, Bo Diddley, Gene Vincent
You know like a different civil war all over again
I mean you take "Don't Be Cruel," "I Want You
I Need You, I Love You" and "Jailhouse Rock"
Or you take Pat in his white bucks singing love letters in the sand
Hell man, what's real here?
I mean Pat at the beach in his white bucks
His ears getting sunburned told us something about old wave delusion
I mean wanting and needing and imprisonment
We all been to those places
But what did white bucks at the beach understand
Other than more straight line dancing?
You know what I mean?
Anyway man, for a while we had a breather of fresh energy
To keep us from falling into the big sleep
Then before long Elvis got assassinated and all the fame
Taking a long time to die
Others seized control while Elvis rode the needle out
Never understanding what he done
It's like we were the baby boom because life needed a fresher start
I mean, two world wars in a row is really crazy, man
And Elvis, even though he didn't know
He said it, he showed it to us anyway
And even though we didn't know we heard it, we heard it anyway
Man, like he woke us up
And now they're trying to put us back to sleep
So we'll see how it goes
Anyway, look at the record, man
Rock 'n' roll is based on revolutions
Going way past thirty-three and thirty
You gotta understand, man
He was America's baby boom Che
I oughta know, man
I was in his army