The Backroads: ‘Are the Good Times Really Over’?
An analysis of a timeless song by Merle Haggard

By Sean Hart
Sunday, September 6, 2009 1:40 AM PDT

“Rolling downhill like a snowball headed for hell.” — it was 1982 when those words penned by Merle Haggard were first heard on the radio.

The song, “Are the Good Times Really Over (I Wish a Buck Was Still Silver),” reached No. 2 on Billboard’s Hot Country Singles chart before I was even born in 1984. Despite the generation gap, I have always liked the song.

I guess I’ve always liked The Hag (whom I’ve seen live) and, for that matter, all of his “outlaw country” buddies — Willie, Waylon, Johnny, Bocephus, Kris Kristofferson — who do seem, however, a bit less conservative than Merle.

This song truly traverses any political divide, though, by intelligently embodying the American ideal, and I think it’s as relevant today as it was more than 25 years ago.

“Are The Good Times Really Over” is an existential examination of a nation in decline — at least one perceived to be. It asks if there is a chance for the flag or the Liberty Bell and “Is the best of the free life behind us now, and are the good times really over for good?”

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The song mentions Nixon lying, men not working, girls not cooking, drugs permeating popular culture, Elvis, the Beatles and Vietnam — and harkens to a better time before these things, “when the country was strong.” I don’t necessarily see the problem with all of the complaints the country legend voiced in the song — I’m a rock ’n’ roll fan, and I’m all for women’s rights — but any American could, and still can, empathize with something in it.

Like the line, “I wish a Ford and Chevy would still last 10 years like they should.” I think we all want American craftsmanship — the products we buy — to be reliable. Right now, I can’t help but wonder if Ford and Chevy — the companies, not their vehicles — will even last 10 years, but I’m sure I’m not the only one who hopes to see domestically manufactured vehicles on the road long after the day my generation has to enroll in AARP safe-driving courses.

And we all want “the best of the free life” — “the good times.” And I think we can all wonder whether the nation is “rolling downhill.”

Much like Haggard-era Vietnam, we are caught up in a costly war — in dollars and in lives — with no end in sight. Politicians still lie. And the aforementioned automobile conundrum needs no further explanation.

I wonder what a modern verse added to the song would contain. “I wish a buck was still worth more than a peso?” “I wish a house was worth more than its mortgage?” “I wish I had a job?”

There are so many issues we can all agree on that still go unresolved.

Health care costs have skyrocketed, and insurance company profits are still strong, while so many people cannot even afford to insure themselves and are not eligible to join group plans — like those through employers and associations — which are less expensive because of the lessened probability of medical calamity befalling an entire group of individuals, as opposed to the probability of one person enduring a medical calamity.

Further, civil liberties have been revoked. Constitutional amendments have been stomped upon. Patriotism and camaraderie have been lost amid a deluge of rhetoric-filled politics. But there is hope.

“Are the Good Times Really Over” even ends with Merle telling everyone to come together and rally around their country, that the best is yet to come despite a seemingly desperate situation.

So, let’s follow The Hag’s advice. Let’s “stand up for the flag,” for our country. Let’s fix the problems. “Let’s all ring the liberty bell.” Let’s “stop rolling downhill like a snowball headed for hell.”

Let’s — let us — do it. Together, we can.

“Because the best of the free life is still yet to come, and the good times ain’t over for good.”

Have something to say? Voice your opinions in the blog below this story. Lifestyle Editor Sean Hart can be contacted at SeanH@argusobserver.com.