[2] In June 2014, Rolling Stone magazine ranked "Old Hippie" 95th in their list of the 100 greatest country songs.
[3] The song is about the unnamed title character, an aging hippie who uses marijuana, listens to the Woodstock-influenced rock music of the late 1960s, mourns the Murder of John Lennon in 1980, and for years refuses to let go of his lifestyle, despite societal changes around him.
Afterward, he began waiting for something good to happen in his life, before adopting his lifestyle.
Eventually, the man does change, taking up such interests as jogging while staying away from parties and nightclubs.
"He still thinks about the crazy days but thanks his God above / that he traded in the love-ins for a greater kind of love."