Released May 9, 2005 Genre Country Label DreamWorks Nashville | Recorded 2004-2005 Length 3:49 | |
Writer(s) Toby Keith
Scotty Emerick | ||
"As Good as I Once Was" is a song co-written and recorded by American country music singer Toby Keith that reached the top of the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. This song and his 2003 single "Beer for My Horses" 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. Keith wrote the song with Scotty Emerick.
Contents
The song appears on the game Karaoke Revolution Country.
The song was named BMI's song of the Year for 2006.
Content
The narrator is put into situations that test his masculinity, including a bar fight. He claims that he is not "as good as [he] once was", but that he can still hold his own occasionally; hence the fact that the video shows several other events, and the lyrics explain several different things.
Music video
The music video was directed by Michael Salomon and premiered on May 16, 2005.
We see Toby in a tavern with his best friend, Dave. A couple of rednecks grab him and start a riot in the tavern. At one point, one of the people in the tavern bump into Toby and his beer starts sloshing. He starts yelling in slow-motion. Near the end, Toby comes face-to-face with a taller man, who punches him. We then see Toby being carried to an ambulance with the people at the tavern waving good-bye at him. The video ends with the ambulance driving off into the night.
Reception
Matt Bjorke writing for About.com 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 declared the song was "wonderfully self-depreciating".
Kevin John Coyne, reviewing the song for Country Universe, gave it a negative rating. He said that "does anybody believe, unless they knew the size of his bank account, that two hot twins would approach Toby in a crowded bar and request a threesome?"
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.