Open Letter to the Older Generation

Annotation

The track "Open Letter to the Older Generation" (Dunhill Records # D-4112) was narrated by Dick Clark, a well known American television personality. He hosted the famous American Bandstand from 1956-1989, in which teenagers danced to a top 40 hit on television.1 Perhaps this association to teenagers led him to releasing this answer to Lundberg's "An Open Letter to My Teenage Son". It does not express a pro or anti war stance, although is clearly a protest song. It calls on the older generation to show a greater understanding for the youth of America, and to stop knocking them, because they "do their thing quite well". The narration makes references to teen culture, drugs, the draftboard, and kids fighting in the army. Clark sarcastically notes "riots at the draftboard, blame it on the kids", while highlighting the importance of free speech in a democracy: "they are not afraid to protest, free speech begs they should".Sources1Wikipedia: American Bandstand↩

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Lyrics

English: The music that you are hearing is the sound of the teens... / What I've learned from my life spent with teens and their songs is when they ask what's right, we just tell them what's wrong / Since there is no common tongue for adults and teens we can't understand what our teenager means / All we do is give thanks that it isn't our child when we read the scare headline / That some kids have gone wild, selling grass in schoolyards... / Riots at the draftboard, blame it on the kids... / Blame the kids for acid, blame the kids for pot... / Blame the kids for hippies and bummer trips... / Now lets just stop for a moment and think about the kids we know / You couldn't really call them bad because it isn't so... / They fall in love, out of love, and into love again... / Our kids all seem to do their thing quite well / So how come we keep hearing that our youth as gone to hell? / Who is so afraid of them that we hear this big lie?... / It is you and I / They scare us with their questions with what they want to know... / They search for their solution... / They are not afraid to protest / Free speech begs they should / When they shout that 'war is bad', and we shout that 'no, it's good' we cry unpatriotic... / And then they go and fight and die and leave blood in foreign pools... / Embrace your sons and daughters now America, be proud

Notes

Dunhill D-4112 (45-01156), black label; "Open Letter to the Older Generation" (words by Roy Freeman, music by George Tipton), 3:10, Claridge Music, Inc. (ASCAP); arranged and conducted by George Tipton, producers Frank Slay and Dick Clark. "Dist. by A.B.C.-Paramount Records, Inc.", made in U.S.A. [From the record sleeve and labels]

About the artist

Born 30 November 1929, Mount Vernon, New York, USA. Died 18 April 2012, Santa Monica, California, USA

Themes

Anti-War · Draft · Answer to Open Letter

In collections

Lundberg's "An Open Letter" & Answer Songs · Draft Songs · Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs [War Years]