Boomer Manifesto – the Musical - If I Had A Hammer

1962

   If 1960 was The Musical Age of Reckoning for the 1946 boomers who turned 14, then 1962 was The Sexual Age of Reckoning as the 1946 boomers turned 16.  Entering high school, getting a driver’s license, going on car dates, parking and maybe ‘scoring’ were now possibilities within reach rather than dreams you shared with your friends. And the music of the times?  As if raging hormones weren’t enough of a push, the lyrics from some of the top hits of 1962 stopped short of saying, “Just Do It”:

Sheila, by Tommy Roe

Me and Sheila go for a ride
Oh-oh-oh-oh, I feel all funny inside

Playboy, the Marvelettes

Playboy get away from my door
I heard about the lovers you had before

She Cried, Jay and The Americans

Come a little bit closer
You're my kind of man
So big and so strong
Come a little bit closer

Many of the songs from 1962 were mostly about breaking up, making up, doing the twist or the Duke of Earl. But after weeding through all the love songs, the clear choice for the third song of our boomer manifesto was an easy one:

If I Had a Hammer, Peter, Paul and Mary

If I had a hammer

I'd hammer in the morning

I'd hammer in the evening

All over this land

I'd hammer out danger

I'd hammer out a warning

I'd hammer out love between my brothers and my sisters

All over this land

   In 1962, John F. Kennedy used his President of the United States hammer and almost started a nuclear war. He was hammering on Russia and Cuba because a U-2 flight over Cuba verified Soviet nuclear weapons being installed.  The Beatles were hammering on drummer Pete Best as they replaced him with Ringo Starr. California hammered on Richard Nixon as he loses the governor’s race. 

   The hammer that Baby Boomers can yield is a symbolically huge one both individually and collectively due to our sheer numbers. Our voting power, our dollars and our voices are all hammers that we can use to improve our community and our country either by helping to eradicate social injustices or by promoting politicians and organizations that are like minded toward issues important to us.  According to Steve Gillon’s 2004 book, Boomer Nation: The Largest and Richest Generation Ever, Free Press, "Introduction", ISBN 0-7432-2947-9: Boomers often are associated with the civil rights movement, the feminist cause in the 1970s, gay rights, handicapped rights, and the right to privacy.  

   That was then.  This is now and we have new causes that we can support. Child prostitution, homelessness, illegal immigration, pollution, veterans and so on are all causes that we can ‘hitch a ride on’ by speaking out and sharing our beliefs with others, by contacting our representatives and demand that they support our agenda, by donating to charitable organizations that are aligned with supporting the causes we promote and by voting for the person that has the same or similar value system as we do. 

Each person must live their life as a model for others. - Rosa Parks

How are you going to use your hammer?

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