SMOKE GETS IN MY EYES

They asked me how I knew
My true love was true
Oh, I of course replied
Something here inside cannot be denied

They said someday you'll find
All who love are blind
Oh, when your heart's on fire
You must realize
Smoke gets in your eyes

So I chaffed them and I gaily laughed
To think they could doubt my love
Yet today my love has flown away
I am without my love

Now laughing friends deride
Tears I can not hide
Oh, so I smile and say
When a lovely flame dies
Smoke gets in your eyes
Smoke gets in your eyes

If it weren’t for Hollywood and the Native Americans (#1 Son, notice I didn’t say Indians, redskins or injins?) the smoking epidemic would not be that bad today. Of course the; advertising and TV and Radio industries had a lot to do with that too.



I am a big fan of old movies, and I think it is because I miss the good old days, wish I could have experienced the early part of the last century and even the later part where I was much younger. But in the old movies, with their black and white appeal, stylish 30’s and 40’s women, smoking was a symbol of one being sophisticated. So of course all the leading men and women smoked in most of their scenes.

Then when I turned the ripe old age of 11, my good buddy introduced me to cigarettes, which I smoked until I was about 45 years old, when I suddenly stopped cold-turkey. I had to psych myself into thinking about the logic of not smoking and the cost of smoking side by side. On the eve of New Year’s Day, 1989, I had my last cigarette. Ironically, I had it with my Dad, who would die of lung cancer the next year!



I had a baby son back in ‘90, and the cost of cigarettes was climbing rapidly. I knew it wasn’t good for me, and I decided, I was also making some rich man richer by buying his product, and killing myself in the meantime. This made me angry at myself and I wasn’t smoking anymore.

I was influenced by not only Hollywood and advertising, but my Dad! I had fallen victim to the same madness that everyone else had! I could remember as a little kid, my dad lighting up, and that initial aroma was a bit enticing to me, just as a freshly opened can of coffee!



I see people I love that smoke, and I get anxious for them, want to take the butt away from them, but even more than smoking, I hated when people chastised me for it, and how inferior it made me feel.