Songfacts®:

• Keith penned this song about an old timer giving guidance to younger folk with his frequent collaborator, Nashville singer-songwriter Bobby Pinson. It was inspired by something that Pinson said. Keith explained: "That's exactly how Bobby talks. We were at dinner one night and he dropped his fork on the floor. When he bent down to pick it up he had plumber's crack. Everybody at the table saw and his wife started laughing. She makes as much fun of him as anybody. He knew what everybody was laughing about and said, 'Sorry, everybody. My jeans quit being jeans before my ass quit being an ass.'
  
  Everything he says is that funky," he continued "So when he came out with, 'Sometimes you get it and sometimes you get got,' we just started in on the idea. We tried to come up with as many pieces of advice as an old man can give you. It's a well-crafted song and everything you kind of expect to achieve when you start out with a great idea like that."