10/14/2025
The Beat Goes on:
Today is the birthday of my oldest friend, Greg W. I was just four when we first met, he was just three.
Today he's 74; that means we've known each other about 71 years.
We grew up in Spokane, WA, home to Fairchild AFB and about 140 nuclear gravity bombs.
We would play, like all kids on our swing as the NORAD, North American Aerospace Defense Command jets flew overhead, they protected
Canada, 'our friends' then, and the US from an attack by the USSR.
Occasionally we'd hear a sonic booms, as the jets broke the sound barrier. No big deal, we'd giggle and continue to play. Not much different than the boom boxes in cars today.
One day Greg and I were riding our bikes when we met a man selling bomb shelters. He told us about nukes and radiation. There were no solar generators or automatic wespons then.
Greg and I loved space exploration, starting with Sputnik; the first satellite of the USSR. They later launched the first human; we followed with Alan Shepard in 1961.
We were in a race for space and were fighting a cold war too. It was scary for both of us.
Today, we remain friends through all these years; a new Cold War seems to be a brewing again.
China and a few other countries are planning to go to the moon: we were there a long time ago.
Qatar is building airforce bases in Idaho.
Sonny and Cher said it best, (excuse my paraphrasing):
The beat goes on, the beat goes on
Drums keep pounding a rhythm to the brain
La-de-da-de-de, la-de-da-de-da
The Twist was once the rage, ah-huh
History is being rewritten, turned the page, things never happen as we once knew, ah-huh
The miniskirt's again the current thing, ah-huh
Teenyboppers now
use AI, it is all the rage , ah-huh
And the beat goes on, the beat goes on
Drums keep pounding a rhythm to the brain
La-de-da-de-de, la-de-da-de-da
The grocery store's the super mart going out of business, home delivery is the thing, ah-huh
Little girls looking maturer sooner, ah-huh
And men and women still keep on marching off to war in the Middle East
Electrically, they will call baseball strikes soon
And the beat goes on, the beat goes on
Drums keep pounding a rhythm to the brain
La-de-da-de-de, la-de-da-de-da
We two old men reminisce, maybe one last time, who knows, we are running out of timr, but my pacemaker hears the beat
Boys now chase the girls electronicly to get a virtual kiss they hope
The cars are EVs going faster all the time
Poor single mothers cry, "Hey buddy, have you got ten dollars, need to feed the kids?"
And the beat goes on, the beat goes on
Drums keep pounding a rhythm to the brain
La-de-da-de-de, la-de-da-de-da
And the beat goes on (yes, the beat goes on)
And the beat goes on (and the beat goes on, on, on, on, on)
The beat goes on
And the beat goes on....
Happy birthday ole buddy; seems like old times again.
Source: Musixmatch
Songwriters: Sonny Bono
The Beat Goes On lyrics © Cotillion Music Inc., Chris-marc Music, Chris Marc Music
