Millennials waxing nostalgic

Posted On August 7, 2014

A friend told me about the new Miranda Lambert tune and it made me chuckle. At the ripe old age of 30 years, Lambert is a Millennial. Yet here she is singing about the good old days of hard work and paying your dues. And I did my homework with good ol’ Google – Lambert isn’t just singing a lyric written by a Nashville old-timer; she wrote it.

The chorus is especially amusing for someone who was only 15 when the Internet went mainstream:

Hey, whatever happened to waitin’ your turn
Doing it all by hand,
‘Cause when everything is handed to you
It’s only worth as much as the time put in
It all just seemed so good the way we had it
Back before everything became automatic

 Though the song is clearly about life in general, not the workplace, it absolutely suggests a work ethic that resonates with Boomers. Perhaps Lambert is an “old soul” or maybe a cusper – one who was born in one generation but identifies more closely with the characteristics of another. Either way, the song is a reminder that almost everyone looks back on their youth with a sense of nostalgia…even those that many would consider to still be in their youth.

Categories: Generation Y / Millennials, Workplace