So, up until about five years ago, I didn't really consider myself a "Boomer." I have older brothers and a sister that I did think of as a different generation from me.
My oldest brother was 14 when The Beatles first appeared on live The Ed Sullivan Show, I was 6 years old. I am a major Beatles fan, at 6, yes, I loved their music, of course, my brother who was in his teens was a Real Beatles Fan back then (he still is).
When I was 14, I was into John Denver, Roberta Flack, Alice Cooper, Bread, Olivia Newton John, just to name a few.
The Beatles were HUGE, they were unique, there will never be another group like them, one reason is because there will never be another time like 1964.
Just as there will never be a time like 1972, when I was 14,
Think about it, when you were 14, then think about someone 8-10 years younger or older than you when they were that age. A lot different, right? Your music, your style, technology ....
I wonder when someone says "Boomer" if they even know what it means. Well, after WWII was over, there was an major increase in births when couples were reunited, and so the "Baby Boom" generation was born.
Now, Baby Boomers had it hard enough hearing our parents' generation called "The Greatest Generataion." (Do you know where that came from? Well, we have Tom Brokav, an NBC nightly news anchor came up with the term, even writing a book with the same name.
In reality, that generation's name is the G.I. Generation or simply WWII Generation. How would your generation like to have to follow the "Greatest Generation.?"
My parents have been gone for some time. They'd probably kind of laugh at the label of their generation.
I see "OK Boomer" all over social media, created as an insult to those of the generation I am grouped in .... I have never thought about getting online and knocking the crap out of their generation, whether they're here or not. As the old song says "every generation blames the one before"
For anyone posting #OKBOOMER or following it, reading it, you may want to learn a little bit about those of us grouped into that generation.
Maybe focus on generational similiarities, no matter what generation we may be grouped in, we'd see we're not that different.
If nothing else, I highly recommend reading the following lyrics, hey, maybe even listening to the song.
Living Years
Every generation
Blames the one before
And all of their frustrations
Come beating on your door
I know that I'm a prisoner
To all my Father held so dear
I know that I'm a hostage
To all his hopes and fears
I just wish I could have told him in the living years
Oh, crumpled bits of paper
Filled with imperfect thought
Stilted conversations
I'm afraid that's all we've got
You say you just don't see it
He says it's perfect sense
You just can't get agreement
In this present tense
We all talk a different language
Talking in defence
Say it loud (say it loud), say it clear (oh say it clear)
You can listen as well as you hear
It's too late (it's too late) when we die (oh when we die)
To admit we don't see eye to eye
So we open up a quarrel
Between the present and the past
We only sacrifice the future
It's the bitterness that lasts
So don't yield to the fortunes
You sometimes see as fate
It may have a new perspective
On a different day
And if you don't give up, and don't give in
You may just be okay
So say it loud, say it clear (oh say it clear)
You can listen as well as you hear
Because it's too late, it's too late (it's too late) when we die (oh when we die)
To admit we don't see eye to eye
I wasn't there that morning
When my Father passed away
I didn't get to tell him
All the things I had to say
I think I caught his spirit
Later that same year
I'm sure I heard his echo
In my baby's new born tears
I just wish I could have told him in the living years
Say it loud, say it clear (oh say it clear)
You can listen as well as you hear
It's too late (it's too late) when we die (it's too late when we die)
To admit we don't see eye to eye
So say it, say it, say it loud (say it loud)
Say it clear (come on say it clear)
Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: B.A. Robertson / Mike Rutherford (gb)
The Living Years lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Concord Music Publishing LLC