“Is the best of the free life behind us now, And are the good times really over for good?”
Merle was onto something when he released “Are the Good Times Really Over (I Wish a Buck Was Still Silver)” back in 1982, and now nearly 40 years later, it couldn’t be more relevant.
“And are we rolling downhill like a snowball headed for hell”
It feels like 2020 has been a waste of a year for almost everyone, so as always, let’s look to country music for a little inspiration when we need it most.
Merle… he’s has been through some shit. Five marriages, a hell of a lot of drug and alcohol abuse, and a handful of arrests, one of which landed him a fifteen-year sentence at San Quentin Prison.
But often times, our struggles make us better people. For the Hag, he was lucky enough to see The Man in Black himself, the great Johnny Cash, perform at San Quentin Prison during his time, and that moment turned into some life-altering inspiration. When Merle got released after serving only two years of his sentence (thanks to a pardon from Ronald Regan), he immediately put the inspiration into action and began his music career. And the rest was history.
So as awful as this year has been, let’s take a lesson from the Hag…
