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.
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.