Mrs Brown you've got a Lovely Daughter

[charliesmum]

This morning I caught the end of a 1968 'Rock N Roll' movie starring Herman's Hermits! Called, wait for it, Mrs Brown You've Got a Lovely Daughter. In a surprising twist, the Mrs Brown in question was a dog. I don't know, it was the 60's, what do you expect?

The bit I caught included this song called "The World is for the Young", and I found to be a rather touching little ditty, especially since I've been feeling my age a bit lately.

The song is sung by "Gloria" who was Herman's Grandmother or something. He called her Gloria, but the otehr lads called her Gran, so I was a bit confused. Tulip is the blond next-door who I suppose had an unrequited crush on Herman, and Mr and Mrs Brown...well, I am not sure what their role was in the movie, but they were comfortably middle aged people in a posh house.

Anywhoodle, here are the song lyrics: Gloria: Looking in the mirror last night,
my grey hair turned to black.
looking in the mirror last night
pleasant memories came back.
Why, I remember back when I was seventeen
and all the things I wanted to do
the world was new.

Tulip: The world is for the young
c'mon, we're on our way.
it’s a wonderful place.
what we done and what we're going to do.
then we'll have changed its face.

Mr Brown: Searching through some papers last night
a sweet scent filled the air.
it came from the letter I found
and a lock of dark hair.
It belonged to a girl who was in love with me.
and she written that without me, she'd die.

Mrs Brown: I wonder why?
*laughs*

Mrs Brown: Looking through an album last night
I came across a snap.
That showed a handsome youth
with a girl sitting on his lap.
"Valentino?" I thought, with his sleeked black hair,
and Mary Pickford was on his knee.
But it was me!
*laughs*

Mr & Mrs: The world is for the young
but they'll soon find out
when they come to explore,
the strange new lands of experience.
but we've been there before.

Mr: Trying to recapture the past
only makes me regret.
the passing of an age and all the people that I’ve met.

Gloria: A ride on a tram on the upper deck,
with a boy with a Fairbanks mustache.
We were so rash.

All: The world is for the young
it was always so.

Mr, Mrs, Gloria: It's not ours anymore
But, they'll find out when they follow us.
'cause we've been there before.

And now the people who wrote that song are the elders looking back on their own youth, hopefully with a nostalgic smile rather than longing and regret.

I keep wanting to do a book of stories of people who live where my parents live - it's one of those active adult communities, and whenever my mom and dad talk about their friends, I think about how many stories they must have, and how easy it is to forget that old people were young and stupid once, too. I'd call the book 'Well Seasoned' (because the place they live is called The Four Seasons...get it?) and I thought I could break it down into sections - dating, first jobs, unusual accomplishments, embarrassing memories, etc.

I'm just not sure how to go about it. I'd like to get a publisher or someone interested first, so I could tell people it was actually happening, because they'd be more apt to talk if they thought it was actually going to be a book, rather than a pipe dream.

Meanwhile, I've got Herman's Hermit songs stuck in my head now.

Comments

[finmagik.livejournal.com]

Cute song.

[lietya.livejournal.com]

That sounds like a great book idea! I wish I worked for the kind of publisher where I could be helpful. :)

[carlanime.livejournal.com]

That sounds like an amazing project. (And I love your title).

[wolfma.livejournal.com]

That is a wonderful idea. I know nothing about publishers, though.

[slammerkinbabe.livejournal.com]

Awww, what a neat idea for a book!

λ's old roommate was an ex-AAer and, like so many AAers, her apartment was plastered with cards and posters of hokey little sayings and aphorisms. One that I actually really liked, though, was "Remember that everyone you meet has loved something, is afraid of something, and has lost something." Too often we dismiss the people around us - particularly, I think, those we don't relate to easily because the externals of their lives differ from our own, such as the elderly - as not having a life that goes any deeper than what we see on the surface. I guess we just don't think about it. I think it's really neat to remember that everyone has a story, and I love the idea of collecting stories from the elderly.

[zelle999.livejournal.com]

What a great song and a GREAT idea for a book. Make it a reality. I think any publisher would snap up a book like that, especially with your writing style, it could be a big hit. Even if publishers didn't take it, you could always publish it yourself!

[sierram.livejournal.com]

I am old enough to remember Mrs Brown You've Got a Lovely Daughter when it was actually popular!!

[halcyon-sting.livejournal.com]

I have SO wanted to do that for the longest time. Even to the point of considering going from nursing home to nursing home in search of wonderful things that people need to know. There are so many things to learn from the older generations, and every day we lose a little more of those lessons. They have wonderful stories. I've only asked family members so far - my husband's grandmother was a Canadian war bride who hailed from England. She's 84 already, and there's much left to tell. I also have an accounting of her husband's years in the military, which was hand-written for me by my father-in-law. Keeper! :)

I've also thought of going to the Veteran's homes to get stories recorded. You know those boys have a lot to tell. So do the women! I've just been lazy about actually DOING it - mostly because I have no clue how to start.

[valis2.livejournal.com]

With nonfiction, you need not have the book written. Just an outline, a sample chapter, and a good proposal are what you need to submit something like this.

I must warn you, though, that it won't be an easy sell. :) Then again, that's just my opinion, after working in bookstores for years.

[lunarlake.livejournal.com]

That does sound like it'd be an interesting book. A couple of decades ago, I interviewed my grandparents to the same end. Still have the tapes. Which reminds me, I need to copy them for my mom...