Story Behind The Song

As a kid I was taught to "duck and cover" in case a nuclear bomb was dropped on our school. But what were parents of that era really worried about - the fear that their children would be vaporized in a nuclear holocaust? No! They were afraid of Elvis!

Song Description

This is really two songs that juxtapose good and evil. For example, they juxtapose the innocence of the 1950s with the reality that nuclear holocaust was a distinct possibility, and the goodness of flower power with the evil of the Viet Nam War.

Lyrics

Well they taught her how to tuck and duck at a tender age
So she wondered why it scared them so when Elvis took the stage
And when she took the bus to Jacksonville to hear that gone-cat sing
Had no idea the trouble that her uncrowned king would bring

I just came to hear the first rock-n-roll song
I just came to be here and belong
Kids were cool didn't see nothin' goin' wrong
We just came to hear that first rockin' song

Well he started out at Davidson pledgin' Sigma Nu
But Uncle Sam had another plan, and his college days were through
They said, "Take it north to Canada; take it on the lam"
But he took it with the other grunts down in jungle land

That's when Charlie heard the first rock-n-roll-song
From the Marble Mountain to the boats on the Mekong
Tell the Spartans that these boys won't be here long
Charlie didn't like that first rockin' song

Where have all the flowers gone? When was the summer of love?
When the bombers turned to butterflies, in the skies above
But 60,000 dead in Viet Nam, that number is obscene
'Cause when Elvis took the stage, my friend, he gave it to us clean

Let's all play again that first rock-n-roll song
Slap-back echo of a feeling that is real gone
The innocence of that age didn't last long
We should have listened to that first rockin' song
That first rockin' song
That first rockin' song