What Toby Keith's Cheeky Hit "As Good as I Once Was" Is Actually About
t's a feeling everyone can relate to: We can't party like we did in college, but we can still have a good time. Toby Keith's honky tonk hit "As Good as I Once Was" captures that sentiment perfectly, an anthem for getting back out there. Read all about its meaning below.
What Toby Keith's "As Good as I Once Was" is about
How to Watch
Watch Toby Keith: American Icon on Peacock.
In classic country fashion, the song tells a story. Actually, a few stories. In the first verse, the singer goes to a local bar and is propositioned by a girl and her twin sister for a night of fun. He cautions her that "There was a time, back in my prime, when I could really lay it down," but he's not saying no. Optimistically, he adds, "If you need some love tonight, then I might have just enough."
In the second verse, the singer's friend Dave gets into a bar fight, and the pattern repeats: The singer isn't the tough guy he used to be, but he's got a round or two left in him.
In the bridge, he reflects, "I used to be hell on wheels...Now my body says, 'You can't do this boy'...But my pride says, 'Oh yes, you can.'" The clever titular line sets up the exception to age: "May not be good as I once was, but I'm as good once, as I ever was," meaning that even now, if he really tries, the singer can perform as well as he did in his prime
Toby Keith performs onstage during the 2021 iHeartCountry Festival Presented By Capital One at The Frank Erwin Center on October 30, 2021 in Austin, Texas.
Photo: Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for iHeartMedia"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 staying at the top of the Hot Country Songs chart for the five weeks following its July release, per Billboard. It re-entered the charts following Keith's death in early 2024.
May you like
Sarah Grant of Rolling Stone wrote of the self-deprecating song, "Consider this Toby Keith’s 'Piano Man'...Co-written with his steadfast writing partner Scotty Emerick, 'As Good as I Once Was' was another massive 2000s hit for Keith, and probably the only time a song that contemplates erectile dysfunction will ever be named a BMI 'Song of the Year.
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.
-
The title of this song is a phrase that Toby Keith grew up with. According to his good friend and songwriting partner Scotty Emerick, it was a phrase that was coined by Burt Reynolds when he was a guest on a talk show, and Toby's dad used it often. Scotty saw the episode after the song had become a hit while watching Nick At Night.
Emerick told Songfacts: "Burt Reynolds came and he sat down and said, 'You know, I'm not as good as I once was, but I'm as good once as I ever was.' That was on a rerun of a show from the '80s or something. I think that saying has been around a little bit. Which is cool, because we had never heard of it as a country song. But I had never heard of it that way, so that was Toby's idea." - Like many of Toby Keith's songs, this one is set in a bar. He's slowing down, but in the first verse is still up for a threesome when the opportunity presents itself (with the help of Viagra). The second verse finds him sitting out a bar fight until hubris takes over and he enters the fray. Bad move: as portrayed in the video, he gets knocked out cold.
-
Toby Keith and Scotty Emerick wrote over 100 songs together, including several #1 Country hits, including "Beer For My Horses" and "I Love This Bar." Emerick credits Keith with the ideas for most of those hits, but clearly he deserves half the credit.
"We really enjoy writing songs, and really enjoy good songs," says Scotty. "It's not an easy thing to do, or everybody would do it. It's kind of a constant thing. For example, I was up at two in the morning last night with a buddy of mine trying to figure something out. It's a lot of work. But it's all out of passion, it's a labor of love. Because once you finally finish a song that's all yours, and it's really good, and it'll always be there, long after we're all gone. That's kind of cool. That's the priceless thing about it, you can't put a price on stuff like that. Plus, I never did it to get rich or to make money, anyway. I always had a dream to make a living doing it, but as long as I was doing it, it didn't matter."
Even with the success of his music, Scotty's feet are still firmly on the ground. Some things have gone way beyond his expectations, and then "some things have gone short of my expectations," he says. "So it gives me a good perspective from both sides." - "As Good As I Once Was" was the second single from Toby Keith's 2005 album Honkytonk University. He said on his website that it's "Probably my favorite song on the album. If I hadn't come out of the box with 'Honkytonk U' I'd have come with this one. It didn't matter what order, they were going to be singles one and two. I can always tell when I've got a special one as soon as I get done. My dad used to say this line some. The first verse is about being with a woman, two is about fighting, and three is saying don't sell me short because I'll surprise you."
-
The were an odd couple politically and ideologically, but Toby Keith and Stephen Colbert became good friends after Keith appeared on Colbert's show, The Colbert Report, for the first time in 2006. "As Good As I Once Was" was one of Colbert's favorites, and in 2015 when Keith was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, Colbert gave the induction speech and also performed the song in tribute.
When Toby Keith died in 2024, Colbert said on his show, "One of my greatest honors was when I was asked to induct him into Songwriters Hall of Fame where I got to sing 'As Good As I Once Was,' a song I used to listen to every night before going on stage. I think he enjoyed how unlikely a pair we seemed. I sure did. You know, like when people are excited when a duck and a horse are friends? For the record, I was the duck."
