Harpur College Alumni Reunion
 October 2005 for Classes of 1964, 1965 & 1966
Tom Friedman's Page

Containing the Lyrics to two Songs

I: Harpur 40th Reunion Blues
II: I'm Old

Poet & Songwriter Tom Friedman accepts
commissions to prepare "songs of occasion"
in honor of festivities, celebrations and
other rites of passage.
Contact Tom at

Tom Performing at Harpur Reunion 2005

Harpur 40th Reunion Blues

© 2005 By Tom Friedman

I never thought I’d see this day
40 years have raced away
we were young scholars eating spiedies and hoagies
now we’re back as a bunch of old fogies.

Well cataracts have clouded my eyes
and fatty tissue has flabbed my thighs
and what I find to be much worse
when I gawk at co-eds I’m considered perverse.

I oughta be thinkin’ ‘bout matters of the spirit
But when I try I can’t get near it
I’m still caught up in the sins of the flesh
Though sins don’t satisfy like when I was young and fresh.

Well it feels kinda natural to be back at the source
Of my liberal education and my early divorce
Still outraged by social ills
And sill seduced by hedonistic thrills.

I’m glad to see we’re alive and kickin’
though our hair falls out and our ankles thicken
and I’m not sure I dare to eat a peach
and I stay covered up when I hit the beach.

But I’m definitely not a poet or a sage
though I was here in the golden age
in fact I should get a failing grade
for the global mess my generation’s made.

'cause the 60’s are a fading sight
of peace and love and civil rights
and it looks like we’re heading for a time of repression
forgive this little political digression.

I ought to trust the eternal wheel
but I know for sure my anxiety’s real
my parents made it into the middle class
and I’m being booted out on my fat old ass.

My golden years are a time of frustration
so much for the value of a Harpur education
it gave me vision of what I can’t control
and I grow discontented as I head toward old.

I see my generation turn to God above
and I used to think all you need is love
but God hasn’t done us as bit of good
maybe we should worship Robin Hood.

Well Robin could rob from Halliburton
and give it back to folks who are hurtin’
A little redistribution of wealth
could help to pay for national health.

As long as it doesn’t include abortion
I’ll warn my daughter to proceed with caution
‘cause that’s a right that’s about to be wrong
when the right-wing court comes on young and strong.

I never thought I’d see this day
40 years have raced away
and here I’m singing a call to action
as if those years had never happened.

So the poor get babies and the rich just thrive
and where is the legacy of ’65?
Between golf and cruises let’s make a push
To start a movement to stop Jeb Bush!

I'm Old
© 2004 By Tom Friedman 

1) On the fifth of January
1944
my mother was in labor
the country was at war. 

2) I poked my head into the world
and said what do I see?
I see an old man down the line
and that old man is me. 

CHORUS)
And I’m old.
Truer words have never been told.
They say I’m in the years of gold
and I reply with fading eye
I’m old. 

3) Now I am the father
of a girl almost 18
and husband of a woman
whose match I’ve never seen. 

4) And as I look back through the years
to all the things I’ve done
I can’t recall just what they were
I hope that they were fun. 

CHORUS)
But now I’m old.
More poignant truthful words never been told.
They say I’m in the years of gold
and I reply with fading eye
I’m old.

5) My feet are always kinda cold
my skin is awful dry
my bowel and bladder habits
are enough to make you cry.

CHORUS)
I’m OY.
I’m surprisingly quickly
and much too sickly old.
They say I’m in the years of gold
and I reply with fading eye
I’m old.

6) And now I’ve got my spectacles
and my prescription meds
and when I finish this event
I’ll shuffle home to bed.

7) And all you people out there
who came from quite afar
I’d like to thank you each by name
but can’t remember who you are.

CHORUS)
Because I’m old.
It’s a garsh-darned crying shame
but I’m afraid I’m old--I’m awful old.
They say I’m in the years of gold
and I reply with fading eye
I’m old.

CHORUS)
I’m old--
Shockingly, mockingly, flaccid-cockingly old.
They say I’m in the years of gold
and I reply with fading eye
--I forget.

Page prepared by Robert Baron
Robert's Home Page
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