Hey Judas
Are The Good Times Really Over For Good?
“Are we rolling downhill like a snowball headed for hell?” - Merle Haggard
So sang Merle Haggard on his 1981 album, Big City.
The Hag believed the “good times” could be found somewhere in America’s past - “when a Coke was still cola, and a joint was a bad place to be”.
I must have heard my Dad, Al Corey, sing this song a thousand times when I was growing up. As a young boy, I always noticed the snowball line. I didn’t understand it at all, really, but it certainly sounded menacing.
But in my mid-80’s teenage bubble, all seemed right with the world. Sure, we had acid rain, and a hole in the ozone layer, but those problems were clearly fixable, and a general sense of optimism pervaded my thoughts about the future.
“It’s getting better all the time”, sings McCartney.
Lennon’s retort, “couldn't get much worse”.
As I’ve discussed in previous posts, I’m a McCartney guy. Macca’s sunny optimism made sense to me. I related to the hopefulness and levity of Paul’s songs. Things seemed like they would continue, “getting better, better, better!”
An end to war, hunger, poverty and discrimination. It may sound quaint, or naive, now, but believe me when I say that teenage me sincerely expected all of those problems to be solved during my lifetime. I can’t confirm that everyone felt that way, but it was absolutely the pervasive sentiment. And I fully expected that I, and many others, would be directly involved with creating solutions. Solving the problems of our day. Making the world an even better place.
Fast forward to 2025…
Climate change, authoritarianism, AI. Boy, do I miss the 80’s.
Developing a relatively more pessimistic outlook is not something I expected. Not that I have given up hope, or abandoned optimism altogether. But the reality of the challenges we face has caused me to lose a little steam. And I don’t think I’m alone.
So, what is to be done?
I have no idea.
It’s a blow to my confidence as an activist, an empathetic individual, someone who cares about future generations. Perhaps my faith in the inevitability of progress was foolhardy. Maybe I overestimated our problem-solving abilities, as a species. I’m at a loss, when it comes right down to it.
And that is what I’m trying to process in my new song, Those Times Are Through.
The song doesn’t provide sophisticated analysis. It doesn’t offer solutions. Because I have none, at the moment. I’m honestly worried, alarmed, and perplexed at the state of our world.
It’s humbling.
As I wrote,
There was a time when I was certain
There was a time I thought I knew
There was a time I had it all figured out
I guess those times are through
It’s hard to admit that you don’t know what to do. Especially in the face of such profound existential crises.
McCartney famously wrote, “take a sad song and make it better”. Sunny thoughts that, in many ways, defined a generation. In my heart of hearts, I still believe that, “the love you make is equal to the love you take”. That’s what I was trying to express in Wharfbound when I wrote, “life is filled with all the love we make, pictures of the things we give and take”.
So, perhaps I can be excused for feeling less like Hey Jude, and more like Hey Judas, as I betray my role as a true McCartney fanboy.
I’m sorry, Mr. McCartney. But please rest assured, I still see beauty in the world. It’s everywhere. I continue to enjoy the company of others, and often marvel at people’s kindness and overall loveliness. Good beer, good music, good friends. All is not lost. I hope.
Are “the good times really over for good”? I don’t know. But I saw a robin this morning, and he was still hop hop hopping along. So…I can still smile.
Those Times Are Through
Written by Shawn Corey
Produced by Peter Hicks
Out now, everywhere.