"Old Hippie" is a single by American country music duo The Bellamy Brothers. Released in April 1985, it was the first single from their album Howard & David.

The song reached No. 2 on the Billboard

Billboard (magazine)

Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...

Hot Country Singles

Hot Country Songs

Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales...

 chart in July 1985 and No. 1 on the RPM

RPM (magazine)

RPM was a Canadian music industry publication that featured song and album charts for Canada. The publication was founded by Walt Grealis in February 1964, supported through its existence by record label owner Stan Klees. RPM ceased publication in November 2000.RPM stood for "Records, Promotion,...

Country Tracks chart in Canada.

Song background

The title "Old Hippie" refers to the unnamed title character, an aging hippie who uses marijuana, listens to the Woodstock

Woodstock Festival

Woodstock Music & Art Fair was a music festival, billed as "An Aquarian Exposition: 3 Days of Peace & Music". It was held at Max Yasgur's 600-acre dairy farm in the Catskills near the hamlet of White Lake in the town of Bethel, New York, from August 15 to August 18, 1969...

-influenced rock music of the late 1960s and for years refuses to let go of his lifestyle, despite societal changes around him. It is also explained that, sometime prior to Woodstock, he was drafted to Vietnam and forced to "become a man while he was still a boy." Afterward, he began waiting in for something good to happen in his life, before adopting his way of life. Eventually, the man does change, taking up such interests as jogging while staying away from parties and nightclubs.

The song's lyrics reference the Woodstock Music & Art Fair, which had taken place in August 1969, and the December 1980 shooting death of John Lennon.

Two versions of the song exist. In addition to a slightly different guitar lick at the end, the major difference comes at the line "He's got young friends in the new wave ... ". One version uses the line, "but he's just too damn old", the other replaces the word "damn" with the word "friggin'."

Sequel

A decade after the song's release, the brothers recorded a sequel song titled "Old Hippie (The Sequel)". The song follows the same, unnamed title character 10 years after the original. Just as with "Old Hippie," the sequel sees the man -- now with a thinning hairline -- continuing to struggle with his memories of Vietnam and changes in society, only with updated references. In the song's final verse, it is alluded that he has married and has started a family, and with an optimistic eye to the future has taken on more conservative values.

The lyrics make references to President Clinton

Bill Clinton

William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...

, country music singers including Merle Haggard

Merle Haggard

Merle Ronald Haggard is an American country music singer, guitarist, fiddler, instrumentalist, and songwriter. Along with Buck Owens, Haggard and his band The Strangers helped create the Bakersfield sound, which is characterized by the unique twang of Fender Telecaster guitars, vocal harmonies,...

, George Jones

George Jones

George Glenn Jones is an American country music singer known for his long list of hit records, his distinctive voice and phrasing, and his marriage to Tammy Wynette....

, Billy Ray Cyrus

Billy Ray Cyrus

William "Billy" Ray Cyrus is an American country music singer, songwriter, actor and philanthropist, who helped make country music a worldwide phenomenon...

 and Garth Brooks

Garth Brooks

Troyal Garth Brooks , best known as Garth Brooks, is an American country music artist who helped make country music a worldwide phenomenon. His eponymous first album was released in 1989 and peaked at number 2 in the US country album chart while climbing to number 13 on the Billboard 200 album chart...

; and Woodstock '94

Woodstock '94

Woodstock '94, often called the "commercial Woodstock" or "Mudstock", was a music festival organized to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the original Woodstock Festival of 1969...

.

"Old Hippie (The Sequel)" appeared on the album Sons of Beaches/Native American. Released in early 1996, the song failed to chart on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart.

Chart performance

Chart (1985)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles	2
Canadian RPM Country Tracks	1