TODAY! ... Jim Gleason's Little People - Part 2 - And World Premier of Eric Brace & Peter Cooper's new album

From WWR

Trivia, story behind the song, etc.

George Wirth wrote this song about his mother, a German immigrant.

Lyrics

Eisenhower Summer, 1952

Saturday morning, 10:00 AM, she’s walking out the door

Her old man is still in bed sleeping off the night before

She’s heading up to Main Street, on this warm July

Off to see another side of life go marching by

A thousand forty-eight star flags are waving up and down the street

Cops in full dress uniform out in the morning heat

There’s hot dog stands and marching bands and it’s all red white blue

It’s an Eisenhower summer, 1952

Old folks are lined along the curb parked in folding chairs

Kids are climbing lamp posts and running everywhere

It’s a symphony of sight and sound on a perfect summer day

The crowd down here lets out a cheer as the band begins to play

Xylophones and snare drums set the rhythm and the rhyme

Majorettes spin steel batons and step in perfect time

And the highschool band is wailing, man, they’re just about in tune

They’ll be playing in the park tonight beneath that summer moon

Here comes the new Miss Reingold in a brand new Cadillac

She’s waving at the people and they’re all waving back

And she looks just like her picture up on that billboard sign

Five foot two, eyes of blue, lips like cherry wine

There’s that brand new fire truck, an adolescents dream

The chrome is polished up so bright it makes it hard to see

And the driver makes that siren sing with a face that’s filled with pride

Kids are lining up around the block to take her for a ride

Now the boys from the VFW march by with new recruits

In uniforms that fit too tight and worn out combat boots

And some of them are looking back, and some look straight ahead

And some look like they’d rather be somewhere else instead

Jaycees and Young Republicans are marching to the beat

Democrats for Stevenson are staring at their feet

When even little kids sing “I like Ike ” there’s not much left to lose

In an Eisenhower summer, 1952

Everybody gathers in the square once they all get downtown

There’s nothing left but speeches then things start winding down

And she doesn’t speak much English but she stays until the end

Then she heads back down Grove Avenue on that long walk home again

On Monday she’ll be back at work at the factory down the street

Hands burning from the acid wash, standing all day on her feet

And she’ll close her eyes and visualize a sky of perfect blue

From an Eisenhower summer day, 1952

©2005 George Wirth

Listener comments about Eisenhower Summer, 1952 (100400)

Tags

Request it

Folk 6,003 items

Guy With Guitar 1,126 items

Storytelling 158 items

Acoustic Guitar 9,975 items

Nostalgic 69 items

Reflective 311 items

Gotta Listen To The Lyrics 115 items

4th Of July 10 items

Summer 46 items

Love 328 items

Solo vocalist 11,960 items

Acoustic 10,060 items

Immigrant 6 items