Timeline – 1975 Part 3

Hi and Lois Sunday page color proof, November 2, 1975.

This Sunday page reminds me of a saying I often see printed on T-shirts and bumper stickers:  “Life sucks and then you die.”

A band called The Fools recorded a song with this title in 1985.  Here are some of the lyrics.

People say that life is good,
Give thanks for what you have.
When all you have is nothin’,
Nothin’ makes you glad.
People say that life is fun,
But I don’t know why.
As far as I can tell,
LIFE SUCKS, then you die.

The Washington Post reported in 1982 that a fifteen-year old boy they interviewed came up with the phrase, “Life’s a bitch, and then you die.”

No one knows who said this first but in 1922 Hoyt’s New Cyclopedia of Practical Quotations printed part of a poem by Edmund Vance Cooke that had a similar sentiment.

This life’s a hollow bubble, Don’t you know?
Just a painted piece of trouble, Don’t you know?
We come to earth to cry,
We grow older and we sigh,
Older still, and then we die!
Don’t you know?

In the Sunday page above, all the members of the Flagston family are complaining about their boringly repetitive lives – except Trixie. Her attitude is not so gloomy. Life doesn’t suck. Every new day presents fresh and exciting possibilities.  Life is wonderful!

Next week will be the last installment from 1975 in our Timeline series.  Be sure to check back here to see another classic episode.

– Brian Walker