Mark H. sends in this Geezer Alert. “The vintage on “This Ole House” is 1954 and “Que Sera Sera” is 1956. It’s not clear that either Arlo or Janis was born then (I picture them as in their mid 60’s now).”
I was confused by Mark H.’s comment until I saw the next day’s comic; the link he sent in was one day off for me when I clicked on it. Here’s the comic Mark H. intended. Treat either or both comics as confusing.
Comics I Don't Understand 
I think the first one (about the hammer) is the old “I can’t remember why I came into this room” bit. He walked into the kitchen, forgot why he was there, and decided he probably came in there to make lunch. Same with the others.
Not quite.
He can’t remember where he left his hammer, so he is recreating recent perambulations, visiting the places he might have left it.
I understand why Janis is annoyed by Arlo singing “This Ole House” (whose message is “I don’t want to do home repairs anymore because I’m going to die soon”) but not why she is annoyed by “Que Sera, Sera.”
Huh, I took the first one as procrastinating on doing chores. Maybe that says something about me?!
Que Sera, Sera is about just letting things happen and not worrying about preparing for the future. They are in the middle of preparing for a big move, so maybe not an attitude Janis wants Arlo to have.
I agree with both Lost and Joshua. I don’t think it’s odd that Arlo knows older songs though. I know lots of songs from before my time, including Que Sera Sera (despite never having seen the movie). Don’t most people know popular songs from before they were born?
Some comics characters never age, some age along with the rest of us. Arlo and Janis do age, but more slowly. Their son Gene was about 8 years old when the strip started (1985), got his driver’s license in 2003, had high school graduation in 2007, and married in 2012. Gene’s stepdaughter Meg has aged maybe 7-8 years since then.
This aging rate has been a major discussion at times in The Phantom‘s commenting community. The strip began in 1936 with Kit about 20 years old, and he’s now probably early 40s. (His twins, born in 1978, are 17 now.)
I think I’m a peer to Arlo (mid 60’s), but I knew both of these songs. My parents had “this Old House” on 78rpm. I remember playing it in my elementary school years. “Que Sera Sera” was used as the theme song for Doris Day’s TV show from the late 60’s, that’s where I remember it from.
Oh, well. C’est la vie
Robert and I both grew up in families who held music as something very important. One of the things which drew us together was a similar love of 1940s music as well as a shared love of movies – old and new.
As a young teenager I remember being with dad and my younger sisters at a rock and roll concert (free in the county park). Youngest of the three of us (sisters) was baby sister sitting on dad’s knee – she was being bobbed up and down by dad bouncing his knee to the music. He would joke about how terrible the rock and roll music was – but we knew he loved it and even had early 1950s rock and roll records.
Now, one big difference is that his dad was a musician (played on and off with small local bands) who would play the music for the family to listen to. On the other hand, I grew up in a family of “listeners” – while we would all enthusiastically sing along – no one really wanted us to do so. To this day I cannot carry a tune in a bucket!
I know this love of this sort of music was passed along to my nieces and nephews – my older nephew has had music ability passed down in his dad’s family and plays with a couple bands on and off, but I am not sure it has been passed along to husband’s nieces as, while we are odd, his sister is weird..