OK, let me say right off that I'm not a huge country music fan—especially not of the manufactured pabulum that passes for most of today's C&W.
But there are a few authentic artists, and a few classic tracks, that simply ring true. Today I'd like to tip my cowboy hat to Merle Haggard, the patriarch (along with Buck Owens) of Bakersfield (sometimes called "Nashville West") and specifically to his 1981 song "Are The Good Times Really Over?"
Haggard's life is the stuff of legends: born to a family of economic refugees from Oklahoma in the Depression, raised in a boxcar, first got serious about his music while serving time in San Quentin (and eventually pardoned by Governor Ronald Reagan). Join us on the flip for the inspired and prophetic lyrics to his masterpiece…
Are The Good Times Really Over?
I wish a buck was still silver
It was back when the country was strong
Back before Elvis and before the Vietnam War came along
Before the Beatles and "Yesterday"
When a man could still work and still would
Is the best of the free life behind us now
And are the good times really over for good?
Are we rolling downhill
Like a snowball headed for Hell?
With no kind of chance for the flag or the Liberty Bell
I wish a Ford and a Chevy
Would still last ten years like they should
Is the best of the free life behind us now
Are the good times really over for good?
I wish coke was still cola
And a joint was a bad place to be
It was back before Nixon lied to us all on TV
Before microwave ovens
When a girl could still cook and still would
Is the best of the free life behind us now
And are the good times really over for good?
Are we rolling downhill
Like a snowball headed for Hell?
With no kind of chance for the flag or the Liberty Bell
I wish a Ford and a Chevy
Would still last ten years like they should
Is the best of the free life behind us now
Are the good times really over for good?
Stop rolling downhill
Like a snowball headed for Hell!
Stand up for the flag and let's all ring the Liberty Bell
Let's make a Ford and a Chevy
That'll still last ten years like they should
'Cause the best of the free life is still yet to come
And the good times ain't over for good
While Haggard had a number of other hits characterized by redneck flag-waving ("Okie from Muskogee" being perhaps the best known), he comes across as troubled and ambivalent in this tune: equally disappointed by both Nixon and his war on the right and the liberalizing culture on the left.
Let's stipulate that his attitude toward the role of women could be more enlightened, but remember he was an unschooled bumpkin. And yet he managed, in a few words, to make incisive comments about:
—America's economic decline
—Job outsourcing and the loss of American manufacturing's preeminence
—The government's futile militaristic adventures
—The lack of honesty and transparency in government
—The emptiness of our "microwave" consumer culture
—The rise of the escapist drug culture
—The loss of our freedoms
—Our loss of national optimism and pride
The song is also notable for its production, which, uncharacteristically for a country song, includes French horns and tubas that reinforce Haggard's tone of sadness, nostalgia, and even desperation. Haggard tries to end the song on an optimistic note, but to me it's unconvincing, sort of like a bogus happy ending tacked onto a movie because that's what audiences like.
Hope you enjoyed this tribute to a national icon who diagnosed many of today's troubles 27 years ago.