"As Good as I Once Was" is a song co-written and recorded by American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

singer

Toby Keith Toby Keith Covel (born July 8, 1961), known professionally as Toby Keith, is an American country music singer, songwriter, actor, and record producer. He released his first four studio albums—1993's ''Toby Keith'', 1994's ''Boomtown'', 1996' ...

that reached the top of the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sal ...

chart. This song and his 2003 single "

Beer for My Horses "Beer for My Horses" is a song recorded by American country music artists Toby Keith and Willie Nelson. It was written by Keith and Scotty Emerick for Keith's seventh studio album, ''Unleashed''. The song was released as the album's fourth and fi ...

" are both his longest-running number one hits, each having spent six weeks at number one. "As Good as I Once Was" was released in May 2005 as the second single from Keith's album ''

Honkytonk University ''Honkytonk University'' is the ninth studio album by American country music artist Toby Keith, released on May 17, 2005 by DreamWorks Records. The album has been certified 1× Platinum for sales of in excess of 1 million units. "Honkytonk U" was ...

''. Keith wrote the song with

Scotty Emerick Walter Scott Emerick (born July 11, 1973, in Hollywood, Florida) is an American country music artist, known primarily for his work with Toby Keith. In addition to penning several of Keith's singles, Emerick has also written for Sawyer Brown, Geo ...

. The song was named BMI's Song of the Year for 2006. It has since become one of Keith's signature songs, as well as one of his most successful.

Content

The narrator, a man approaching or in

middle age In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

and apparently sitting in a bar, is put into situations that test his masculinity. Having outlived his glory days, he insists he now is no longer "as good as (he) once was" in his younger days, but although he no longer has the stamina to do what he used to do all the time, he can still be "as good, once, as (he) ever was." Examples given include a set of twins who want to draw him into a

threesome In human sexuality, a threesome is commonly understood as "a sexual interaction between three people whereby at least one engages in physical sexual behaviour with both the other individuals". Though ''threesome'' most commonly refers to sexua ...

and a fight against two rednecks and a "big fat biker man" to bail his buddy, Dave, out of a botched

pool Pool may refer to: Water pool * Swimming pool, usually an artificial structure containing a large body of water intended for swimming * Reflecting pool, a shallow pool designed to reflect a structure and its surroundings * Tide pool, a rocky pool ...

hustle.

Music video

The music video was directed by

Michael Salomon Michael Salomon (born in Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin, United States) is an American music video/film director, who has directed many music videos, including many of Toby Keith's music videos. He directed the video for Metallica's " One", which was no ...

and premiered on CMT on May 16, 2005. It follows the narrative of the song and features Annie Sorrell and Alicia Loren as the frisky twins. At the beginning of the video, Keith is sat at the bar where he meets Bobbie Jo who invites him "for a rodeo" with her twin sister Betty Lou. Then, in another bar, Keith's best friend Dave gets into a fight with a "couple of redneck boys", the beer starts sloshing, causing the music to fail, Keith yells in slow motion before the chorus resumes. As he goes to help Dave, Keith gets punched in the face by a tall bouncer. In the next shot, Keith was in an ambulance with a broken nose, as well as an intravenous drip. At the end of video, the ambulance drives off into the night.

Critical reception

Matt Bjorke writing for

About.com Dotdash Meredith (formerly About.com) is an American digital media company based in New York City. The company publishes online articles and videos about various subjects across categories including health, home, food, finance, tech, beauty, l ...

stated "the song is a good one, so good that it rivals anything off of Toby's "How Do You Like Me Now?!" album. It's a fun track about getting older, and how we don't have as much "energy" as we once had." ''Sputnik Music'' called it "a testament to how much old age sucks" while

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

declared the song was "wonderfully self-depreciating".

Chart performance

"As Good as I Once Was" debuted at number 37 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot Country Singles & Tracks for the week of May 21, 2005.

Year-end charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:As Good As I Once Was 2005 singles 2005 songs Toby Keith songs Songs about old age Songs written by Scotty Emerick Songs written by Toby Keith Song recordings produced by James Stroud DreamWorks Records singles Music videos directed by Michael Salomon