"A Child of the Fifties" is a song written by Don Reid, and recorded by American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

group

The Statler Brothers The Statler Brothers (sometimes simply referred to as The Statlers) were an American country music, gospel, and vocal group. The quartet was formed in 1955 performing locally, and from 1964 to 1972, they sang as opening act and backup singers fo ...

. It was released in September 1982 as the second single from the album '' The Legend Goes On''. The song reached #17 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

Hot Country Singles & Tracks Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sal ...

chart.

Content

Much like many of the Statler Brothers' songs, the song mixes a relationship with nostalgia and contemporary references. The song is a young man's somewhat bittersweet look back at his youth, the then still-relatively recent 1950s in which he grew up, and muses as the carefree days of his youth gave way to early adulthood, in which he lived through the 1960s and 1970s and now, as a father of three living in the (then) early 1980s, he looks back with no regrets. The song also drops hints of a possibly failed marriage in the refrain. Historic and cultural references mentioned included early television and

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from Africa ...

, ''

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'', ''

The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin ''The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin'' is an American children's television series in the Western genre that aired from October 1954 to May 1959 on the ABC television network. In all, 164 episodes aired. The show starred Lee Aaker as Rusty, a boy orph ...

'', the

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, the Apollo 11 Moon landing,

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, Democrats making gains in the Senate and House of Representatives during the 1974 midterm elections and the death of Elvis Presley.

Background

"A Child of the Fifties" was the final top 20 hit featuring vocals by

Lew DeWitt Lewis “Lew” Calvin DeWitt Jr. (March 12, 1938 – August 15, 1990) was an American country music singer, guitarist, and composer. He was a founding member of The Statler Brothers and the group's original tenor. Biography For most of his care ...

. Recorded in 1981, a year prior to his retirement due to his health, DeWitt performed solo vocals on the third verse (''The seventies were ten years of rerun'' … ); as was the case with several other Statler Brothers' songs, each member takes a solo turn singing a verse or portion of the song.

Chart performance

References

Songs about nostalgia 1983 singles The Statler Brothers songs Songs written by Don Reid (singer) Song recordings produced by Jerry Kennedy Mercury Records singles 1982 songs {{1982-country-song-stub