It Seemed So Good The Way We Had It…

Every now and then a song will catch my attention, and express exactly how I feel.  The other day, I was watching GAC, when the music video of the song Automatic by Miranda Lambert began playing.  I hadn’t heard the song or seen the video before, and it stopped me dead in my tracks!

There was Miranda, in the attic of an old house, digging through an old trunk.  As she pulled out various things, she sang about things of the past.

Since I’ve recently been sorting through closets, chests, cabinets, and drawers at my late mother-in-law’s house, the song was especially poignant to me.  I’ve definitely been taking more than a few strolls down ‘memory lane’ lately!

Automatic

Quarter in a pay phone; Drying laundry on the line

Watching sun tea in the window; Pocket watch, tellin’ time

Seems like only yesterday, I’d get a blank cassette

Record the country countdown, cause I couldn’t buy it yet

 

If we drove all the way to Dallas, just to buy an Easter dress

We’d take along a Rand McNally, stand in line to pay for gas

God knows that shifting gears, ain’t what it used to be

I learned to drive that ’55  just like a queen, three on a tree

 

Hey what ever happened to waiting your turn?

Doing it all by hand,

cause when everything is handed to you

It’s only worth as much as the time put in

It all just seems so good the way we had it

Back before everything became automatic

 

If you had something to say, you’d write it on a piece of paper

Then you put a stamp on it, and they’d get it three days later

Boys would call the girls, and girls would turn them down

Staying married was the only way 

to work your problems out

 

Hey what ever happened to waiting your turn?

Doing it all by hand,

cause when everything is handed to you

It’s only worth as much as the time put in

It all just seems so good the way we had it

Back before everything became automatic

 

Let’s put the windows down; Windows with the crank

Come on let’s take a picture; The kind you gotta shake

 

Hey what ever happened to waiting your turn?

Doing it all by hand,

cause when everything is handed to you

It’s only worth as much as the time put in

It all just seems so good the way we had it

Back before everything became automatic

Yep, Miranda and her co-writers have captured exactly what I’ve been feeling lately!  Whatever did happen to waiting your turn?  What ever happened to doing things by hand?  Now a days, we rely on machines to do everything!  Heck, cars will even park themselves now!

These days, things are so easy and freely given, people don’t really appreciate them any more.  People drawing government checks right and left… Children getting new stuff all of the time, instead of just on special occasions, like we did…   Kids with ipods, smart phones, or the latest and greatest new gadgets…  Teenagers all driving cars of their own–sometimes getting the car before they’re even old enough to drive! We’ve become an ‘entitlement society’.  Enough already!

As for the memories Miranda shares in her song, I can definitely relate to those, except I think I can remember when a phone call was only a dime!  Oops, is my age showing again?  My grandchildren will never know what a phone booth was, but they’ll know what a cell phone is!

Among the items I found while sorting through my late mother-in-law’s things:  some very old (78?) records, some cassette tapes, a ragged Rand McNally road atlas, lots of Polaroid pictures, and dozens of cards she’d received in the mail throughout the years!  Oh, and I also found a clothespin bag!  Those were the days, weren’t they?  If only life was still so uncomplicated!

To quote the chorus of the song, “It all just seems so good the way we had it, back before everything became automatic!”