Credits
PERFORMING ARTISTS
Juanita Hall
Performer
Keye Luke
Performer
Salvatore Dell'Isola
Performer
COMPOSITION & LYRICS
Richard Rodgers
Composer
Oscar Hammerstein II
Composer
PRODUCTION & ENGINEERING
Goddard Lieberson
Producer
Lyrics
I am puzzled by the attitude
Of children over here
They are often disobedient
They seem to have no fear
Of the father
They come home when they are tired out
Or when they want to eat
And they act as if their coming home
Were quite a special treat
For the father
My older son at twenty-one
Has just discovered love
A complicated subject
He knows very little of
Your younger son confuses me
The way he uses words
He tells me I am "cukey"
And "something for the birds"
What are we going to do about
The other generation?
How will we ever communicate
Without communication?
You don't know where they go or what they do—
Ah ya
And what peculiar thoughts they think
They never reveal to you
A very discouraging problem is
The other generation
They want to lead a life that's all their own
Perhaps we ought to let them
Forsake them and forget them
But then we'd only find ourselves alone
With one another
I don't believe we'd like to be alone!
When you speak from your experience
You meet with cool disdain
Every child is born with knowledge
Beyond the puny brain
Of a father
Every child is born with confidence
A parent can't achieve
And the kind of intuition
That compels him to believe
What he'd rather
My older son has chosen a daughter-in-law for me
A dancer in a nightclub is my daughter-in-law to be
She dances and undresses 'til she's naked as a flea
And everyone can look at—
What he alone should see!
What are we going to do about
The other generation?
How will we ever communicate
Without communication?
They never take the blame for one mistake—
Oh, no!
Their parents are responsible
For every mistake they make!
A very discouraging problem is
The other generation
And soon there'll be another one as well
And when our out-of-hand sons
Are bringing up our grandsons
I hope our grandsons give their fathers hell!
Can't wait to see it
I hope our grandsons give their fathers hell!
Written by: Oscar Hammerstein II, Richard Rodgers
