Poem: Godspeed to Tweed by Asa Pinch
What ever happened to the jacket and tie?
No longer do men don a proper attire.
Now its ‘track shoes and jeans;’ tweed blazers, goodbye!
My dad, in his day, would just as soon die
as to step from the house looking less than a squire.
What ever happened to the jacket and tie?
A fedora of grey, his chin held up high,
striding upright, tall —as if walking a wire.
Now its ‘track shoes and jeans;’ tweed blazers, goodbye!
At work or at leisure, or when friends would drop by,
all day one stayed tidy ’till it was time to retire.
What ever happened to the jacket and tie?
Even men at a ballgame would readily comply
with all that decorum (and pride!) would require.
What ever happened to the jacket and tie?
“Yes, dapper is dead,’ said I with a sigh,
“—yet, might it return?” Again, I inquire:
What ever happened to the jacket and tie?
Now its ‘track shoes and jeans;’ tweed blazers, goodbye!
“Even men at a ballgame would readily comply”
This line reminded me of watching a baseball documentary from the 1930’s or ‘40’s with my father who brought to my attention that almost all, if not all of men in the stands were wearing suits. He said that’s how it was then. People got dressed up when they went out. My dad believed firmly that dressing up had in itself a restraining and civilizing influence, and that we’d have a more civil society if people made a practice of dressing up.
Thank you for the poem. Here is a little article about a few Scotts still trying to preserve something good from their history. Yes, yes backward, rigid, reactionary types … all that of course but I wish them luck and may take them up on their good intentions, might order a Harris Tweed to feed my cattle in this winter like the Highland Shepherds or add a tie with it for the office like Prince Albert.
https://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/history-and-civilisation/2021/01/how-tweed-became-a-symbol-of-scottish-culture
The editor owes the poet an apology for printing his villanelle with a stanza missing. He wondered if we had created a new verse form, a “villanette.” I have inserted the fourth missing stznza.