Uploaded July 2024 | Updated September 2026, 1 hour ago

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A Brill Building-style pop song about nostalgia! Nostalgia: It's great for music, terrible for making public policy! It's the opening number from my comedy special The American Songbook: Redacted!

Here's the album on bandcamp! robprocks.bandcamp.com/album/the-american-songbook-redacted

Here's the special!
youtu.be/aYJd-r3awzo

Lyrics:
Let’s go back to mid-century
An era like no other
Everyone (asterisk) was happy and free
As the kids all learned to duck and cover
Every family TV show
Had a wholesome daddy and mommy
It was illegal to be gay
And you could lose your job
if someone called you a commie
(they didn’t even any need proof!)

Were those really the days
That were so great we wanna
go back to those ways?
Or is denial on display
As we take all the bad things
and wish them away?

Everyone knew their neighbor’s name
And people were so kind
Until a court case integrated the schools
And everybody lost their freakin’ minds
If you were a woman at work
The glass ceiling held you down
You couldn’t get a mortgage
And you wouldn’t get hired
if you dared to frown
(cuz you’re so much prettier when you smile! What, it’s a compliment!)

Were those really the days
That were so great
you give ’em unconditional praise?
Or are you just wiping the past away
So we’ll go along with whatever you say?

Are we just building a myth
To bully people with?
Creating a national lore
Fabricating the way things were before
And complaining that they’re not that way anymore
Because of all the infidels at your door!
(WE MUST RECLAIM OUR IMAGINED PAST!)

Were those really the days
That are worth inspiring
an authoritarian craze?
Or is this just a power play
hidden in a nostalgic haze?

Were those really the days?
Were those really the days?
Were those really the days?
Were those really the days?
Were those really the days?