It’s a feeling everyone knows: We may not be able to party like we did in college, but we can still have fun. Toby Keith’s honky-tonk hit “As Good as I Once Was” captures that feeling perfectly, an anthem about getting back out there. Read all about its meaning below.
What Toby Keith’s “As Good as I Once Was” is about
In classic country style, the song tells a story. Actually, several stories. In the first verse, the singer goes to a bar and is offered a night of fun by a girl and her twin sister. He warns her, “There was a time, back in my prime, when I could really let it rip,” but he doesn’t say no. He adds optimistically, “If you need some lovin’ tonight, I might have just enough.”
In the second verse, Dave, the singer’s friend, gets into a bar fight, and the pattern repeats itself: the singer is no longer the tough guy he once was, but he’s still got a round or two left in him.
In the bridge, he muses, “I used to be a real devil of a man…Now my body says, ‘You can’t do it, boy’…But my pride says, ‘Oh yes, you can.'” The clever title line presents the exception to age: “Maybe I’m not as good as I used to be, but I’m as good as I used to be,” implying that even today, if the singer really tries, he can perform just as well as he did in his prime.
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“As Good as I Once Was” was a hit for Toby Keith
Released in 2005, the single became one of Keith’s best known hits, going triple platinum and remaining at the top of the Hot Country Songs chart for five weeks following its release in July. Billboard. After Keith’s death in early 2024, it re-entered the charts.
Sarah Grant from Rolling Stone wrote of the self-deprecating song: “Think of it as ‘Piano Man’ by Toby Keith… ‘As Good as I Once Was,’ co-written with his trusty songwriting partner Scotty Emerick, was another huge hit for Keith in the 2000s and probably the only time a song dealing with erectile dysfunction was ever named BMI’s ‘Song of the Year.'”
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Toby Keith: American icon will air on NBC on Wednesday, August 28 at 9 p.m. ET/PT. The special will honor the country superstar’s legacy with performances from his peers.
