Songfacts®:

• Rather than targeting one individual, Howard Bellamy wrote this song as a paean to the generation defined by a mandatory draft into the war in Vietnam, and the aftereffects visited upon those who were lucky enough to make it back home. In a Songfacts interview with Bellamy, he said: "It was a specific generation, I think, more so than a person. There were several people we knew like that over the years. Our generation. I think that was why it was such a big song. That generation really identified with that record, because it was right in the Boomer generation that happened."
• "It's a sad song," says Bellamy, "because it's an accurate portrayal of that fear. It's a true song, and a lot of times truth is sad. Just like our situation today (2007). We stay optimistic, but you really take an honest look and it's a pretty sad situation we're in."
• This song was re-recorded with Montgomery Gentry for the Bellamy Brothers 2006 Angels and Outlaws album.
• In 1995, the Bellamy Brothers released a kind of update, called "Old Hippie (the Sequel)", which appeared on the 1995 album Native American. Here we meet the old hippie as a 45-year-old. In 2007, the Bellamys released "Old Hippie 3" on the album Jesus Is Coming. This time he is 55 years old and has become a Jesus fan. (lyrics for the sequels are available here).