As Good As I Once Was

by

Toby Keith

Album: Honkytonk University      Released: 2005

US Chart: 28     

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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 on a TV show, and Toby's dad used it often. Scotty saw the episode, after the song had become a hit, while watching Nick At Night. He says, "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."

Toby says on his Web site that this song is "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 songwriting duo of Toby Keith and Scotty Emerick has enjoyed enormous success, having written over 100 songs together and scoring several #1 Country hits. 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 2 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." (Thanks to Scotty Emerick for speaking with us about this song. Learn more in his full interview or at his website.)

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