Are the Good Times Really Over
1982 · Epic 14-02894 · New York City, New York
- Artist
- Merle Haggard
- Title
- Are the Good Times Really Over
- Release
- Are the Good Times Really Over / I Always Get Lucky With You
- Year
- 1982
- Label
- Epic # 14-02894
- Format
- 7" · Single
- Language
- English
- Country
- New York City, New York, USA
- Genre
- Country · Bakersfield Sound
- Primary theme
- Post-War
Annotation
Are the Good Times Really Over (Haggard, Merle) On the album Big City. Country. Minor Vietnam War reference. Also note the Richard Nixon / Watergate reference. # 2 in Billboard Country 100, 7 August 1982.12 I wish a buck was still silver It was back when the country was strong Back before Elvis Before the Vietnam war came along Before The Beatles and 'Yesterday' When a man could still work, still would 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 TV... Are we rolling down hill Like a snowball headed for Hell? With no kind of chance For the Flag or the Liberty Bell...Sources1Billboard, 7 August 1982↩2Billboard, 7 August 1982↩
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Notes
Epic 14-02894, matrix ZSS 168978, stereo, 45 RPM, dark label with Epic logo, ℗ 1981 CBS Inc.; "Are the Good Times Really Over (I Wish a Buck Was Still Silver)", Merle Haggard, intro :11, time 4:12; produced by Merle Haggard and Lewis Talley. [From the record sleeve and labels]
About the artist
Born 6 April 1937, Oildale, California, USA. Country singer-songwriter and pioneer of the Bakersfield Sound (Okie from Muskogee, The Fightin' Side of Me). Died 6 April 2016 at his home in Palo Cedro, California, USA. [Source: Wikipedia]