Tugboat Jackson - Good Ol' Days

 Tugboat Jackson's latest has him singing about The Good Ol' Days, a phrase that is used by many and in reference to many things. But Tugboat can explain it better than we can:

I wrote this song to express my feeling that reminiscing about the past to excess is not necessarily a good thing, at least for me. There is much in modern life that can remind us of the past. Look at all the old television shows that play on a ton of different stations. The cable TV and streaming advances have provided ample chances to watch TV shows from the 1960's and even earlier. A good example how modern technology allows people to live in the past! I confess to watching some of these, as well as old movies. And I admit a certain amount of disconnect with the modern world. Too much is happening too fast for me. I try to keep up with current events and issues, but it can be overwhelming at times. 

To make my point further, take the 1950's as an example. I remember the late 1950's, and I remember the terrors I felt with nuclear bomb frills we did in school. Roll under your desk into a ball, etc. Knowing what I know now, Rolling under a school test offered no protection in  case of nuclear attack. About the most it could do was concentrate your ashes in one spot, if there were any ashes. I remember walking to school and worrying about Khrushchev 'burying me' as I saw him say the USSR would bury the USA on TV as he pounded his shoe on the table. I remember some kids at school that had to wear a brace after their bout with polio, and a few that never came back to school because of it. And taking the polio vaccine on a sugar cube. 

There's something inside of me that always brings the negative to mind when nostalgia comes to the fore.  I try to keep it to myself. If folks want to miss the way things were, the positive things of the way things were, they've got the right.

Tugboat is a very thoughtful musician, and he still has the moves on the guitar to be able to support a song with just his voice and guitar, something that not every musician can do. He is our leading artist, and shows no sign of slowing down.  By the way, the picture on the video and in this post is Tugboat himself as a child,  with his mother and father.

I hear a lot of people my age 

People in their senior years 

Talk about The Good Ol' Days 

They wish to turn back all the years

 

 Natural to miss things from the past 

I do it myself time to time 

But nostalgia only takes you so far 

You'll forget to live in your own time 

 

The Good Ol' days are now 

No matter how bad it seems 

To want to go back many years

 Is just a convoluted dream 

 

One thing I know for sure 

Memory can be a fickle thing 

What I thought was so good

 Was really not a good thing 

 

 Advances in medicine, for one 

Makes life better and long 

Go back 30 years and check 

You'll see more people were dyin' young 

 

The Good Ol' days are now 

No matter how bad it seems

To want to go back many years

 Is just a convoluted dream 

 

Humans are a sentimental lot 

There's bound to be talk of the past 

It can be fun to reminisce 'bout years ago 

Before so many you know had past 

 

That's the hard part for me 

Reminiscing brings the ones who are gone 

That so many I loved have past 

That's the toughest part of livin' so long 

 

The Good Ol' days are now 

Make some new memories today 

For the ones that will keep goin' on 

After you've had your stay