Rocker Sammy Hagar picked a Merle Haggard song to ponder life after the death of Charlie Kirk.
The Red Rocker took to social media to sing a slightly adjusted version of the chorus of Haggard’s “Are the Good Times Really Over,” a hit from 1982. It’s a song that relies on themes of moral decay and sociopolitics.
- Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk was shot and killed on Wednesday (Sept. 10) during an event in Utah.
- On Friday (Sept. 12) authorities arrested a suspect named Tyler Robinson.
- Hagar is one of dozens from the music community who’ve questioned American values after the killing.
Related: Country Community Mourns Charlie Kirk
Haggard’s song tapped into the zeitgeist of American culture with his Top 5 hit. This was just a decade removed from the end of the Vietnam War and President Richard Nixon lying about the Watergate scandal, and both were mentioned.
He also wonders if American motor companies are producing the same kind of quality and if blue-collar Americans are willing to work.
“Are the good times really over for good / Are we rollin’ down hill like a snowball headed for hell / With no kind of chance for the flag or the Liberty Bell / I wish a Ford and a Chevy would still last ten years like they should / Is the best of the free life behind us now / And are the good times really over for good,” he sings at the chorus.
Hagar changes very little aside from the start, where he pleads for Americans to “stop” rolling down hill and points out that there’s no time spent considering the flag and the Liberty Bell.
The tie back to Kirk is in tagging the 31-year-old. “This is not a political statement this is a question,” Hagar captions.
At the very end of the video, he says he hopes the good times aren’t really over for good. His followers were supportive of the cover and the sentiment at first, but as often happens on social media the discourse devolved into an argument about blame and politics.
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Gallery Credit: Billy Dukes
