Are the Good Times Really Over

Listening to some classic country this afternoon. Merle wrote and recorded this song the year after I graduated from college in 1981. Even then, it resonated with me, as the world I was facing as a newly minted college grad was already significantly different from my childhood in the '60s.

Haggard is optimistic in the final chorus, believing that things were going to get better, not worse. He passed away in early 2016 - late enough to realize that the good times were, indeed, over for good.

I wish a buck was still silver
It was back when the country was strong
Back before Elvis, before 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?

And are we rolling downhill like a snowball headed for hell
With no kinda chance for the flag or the liberty bell?
Wish a Ford and a Chevy
Would still last ten years like they should
Is the best of the free life behind us now
And 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 T.V.
Before microwave ovens when a girl could still cook, and still would
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 would 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