Can't You Read the Sign?

Thanks to my sweet sister - in - law - in - law Nancy
for the following nostalgic throw - back:

Peace, Love and Smiles

My siblings and I joined in, quoting our favorite lines to this long - ago protest song that we all remembered from our youthful radio days.

Just when I was congratulating myself on our generation's ability to rise above any number of nonsensical, judgmental rules, we heard the disheartening story that some of our favorite servers had their fashion choices criticized by an ill - meaning, judgy customer. What?

I wish I had been there at the time, in order to hand him a copy of John Updike's oft - anthologized 1962 story "A & P" about the girls in the grocery store. Apparently, he never had to read this story in high school or college, let alone sing along for fun and consciousness - raising with the Five Man Electrical Band:

Signs
And the sign said
"Long-haired freaky people
Need not apply"
So I tucked my hair up under my hat
And I went in to ask him why
He said, "You look like a fine upstandin' young man
I think you'll do"
So I took off my hat and said, "Imagine that
Huh, me workin' for you"

Whoa
Sign, sign
Everywhere a sign
Blockin' out the scenery
Breakin' my mind
Do this, don't do that
Can't you read the sign?

And the sign said
"Anybody caught trespassin'
Will be shot on sight"
So I jumped on the fence and I yelled at the house
"Hey! What gives you the right
To put up a fence to keep me out
But to keep Mother Nature in?
If God was here, he'd tell you to your face
'Man, you're some kind of sinner'"

Sign, sign
Everywhere a sign
Blockin' out the scenery
Breakin' my mind
Do this, don't do that
Can't you read the sign?

Now, hey you, mister, can't you read?
You got to have a shirt and tie to get a seat
You can't even watch, no, you can't eat
You ain't supposed to be here

The sign said, "You've got to have a membership card
To get inside"
Uh

And the sign said
"Everybody welcome
Come in, kneel down and pray"
But when they passed around the plate at the end of it all
I didn't have a penny to pay So I got me a pen and a paper
And I made up my own little sign
I said, "Thank you, Lord, for thinkin' 'bout me
I'm alive and doin' fine"

Woo!
Sign, sign
Everywhere a sign
Blockin' out the scenery
Breakin' my mind
Do this, don't do that
Can't you read the sign?
Sign, sign
Everywhere a sign
Sign

Lyrics by Les Emmerson ~ 1971

"Hey Kids: what you look like to the cigarette industry!"

Billboard seen in New Jersey

A couple more cool sign songs. . .

1. A Sign of the Times ~ Petula Clark ~ 1966
"It's a sign of the times
That your love for me
is getting so much stronger . . . "

2. Superstitious ~ Stevie Wonder ~ 1972
"Very superstitious,
Writing's on the wall,
Very superstitious . . . "
When you believe in things
That you don't understand,
Then you suffer,
Superstition ain't the way,
No, no, no . . .