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I Saw It On T.V. Lyrics
They sent us home to watch the show comin on the little screen;
A man named ike was in the white house, big black limousine;
There were many shows to follow, from hooter to doodyville,
Though I saw them all, I cant recall which cartoon was real.
The coon-skin caps, yankee bats, the hound dog mans big start;
The a-bomb fears, annette had ears, I lusted in my heart.
A young man from boston set sail the new frontier,
And we watched the dream dead-end in dallas,
They buried innocence that year.
I know its true, oh so true, cause I saw it on tv.
We gathered round to hear the sound comin on the little screen,
The grief had passed, the old men laughed, and all the girls screamed
cause four guys from england took us all by the hand,
It was time to laugh, time to sing, time to join the band.
But all too soon, we hit the moon, and covered up the sky;
They built their bombs, and aimed their guns, and still I dont know why
The dominoes tumbled and big business roared;
Every night at six, they showed the pictures and counted up the score.
I know its true, oh so true, cause I saw it on tv.
The old man rocks among his dreams, a prisoner of the porch;
The light, he says at the end of the tunnel,
Was nothin but a burglars torch.
And them that was caught in the cover are all rich and free,
But they chained my mind to an endless tomb
When they took my only son from me.
I know its true, oh so true, cause I saw it on tv.
I know its true, oh so true, cause I saw it on tv.
A man named ike was in the white house, big black limousine;
There were many shows to follow, from hooter to doodyville,
Though I saw them all, I cant recall which cartoon was real.
The a-bomb fears, annette had ears, I lusted in my heart.
A young man from boston set sail the new frontier,
And we watched the dream dead-end in dallas,
They buried innocence that year.
The grief had passed, the old men laughed, and all the girls screamed
cause four guys from england took us all by the hand,
It was time to laugh, time to sing, time to join the band.
They built their bombs, and aimed their guns, and still I dont know why
The dominoes tumbled and big business roared;
Every night at six, they showed the pictures and counted up the score.
The light, he says at the end of the tunnel,
Was nothin but a burglars torch.
And them that was caught in the cover are all rich and free,
But they chained my mind to an endless tomb
When they took my only son from me.
I know its true, oh so true, cause I saw it on tv.
Song Info
Submitted by
jon4ford On Nov 24, 2008
More John Fogerty
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Add your song meanings, interpretations, facts, memories & more to the community.
A song about the '60's and growing up with TV showing us all. eg. "And we watched the dream dead-end in dallas, They buried innocence that year." is about JFK's assassination.
The ending guitar riff borrows from "Who'll Stop The Rain" a Vietnam-war era themed song.
The song describes the effect of television in the American society and how the Baby Boomers lost their innocence and faith.
The original TV sets were small. "Ike" refers to President Dwight D. Eisenhower. "Hooter" and "Howdy Doody" were early children's shows, and the nuclear paranoia was a thing of the 1950s. "Coon-skin caps" refers to Davy Crockett and "Yankee bats" to baseball games. "Hound Dog Man" is, of course, Elvis Presley. "Anette" was Anette Funicello, one of the original Mickey Mouse club members. Finally, a young man from Boston - John Fitzgerald Kennedy - became president, and he was murdered in Dallas in direct broadcast in 1963.
"Four guys from England" were the Beatles, which meant rock and roll revival and the English Invasion with Rolling Stones and other British bands. "All too soon we hit the Moon " was 1969 and covering up the sky means bombing the North Vietnam. The rest of the second verse is about the Viernam War and "domino theory" of communism, which proved false. Walter Cronkite listed each night the "body count" of killed enemies.
Finally in the third verse we arrive to 1970s and the Watergate breach and scandal. All innocence, all faith and all optimism was lost. And like Chrisb1 says, the song ends in "Who'll stop the rain" -like riff - insisting the "rain" (politicians lying to the public) still continues as ever.