Good old days

{{Short description|Era considered better than the present}} {{Redirect|Good Old Days||Good Old Days (disambiguation)}} [[File:"Lets Dance" (44400104694).jpg|thumb|Goodwood Revival festival]] '''Good old days''' – commonly stylized as "'''good ol' days'''" – is a cliché in popular culture used to reference a time considered by the speaker to be better than the current era. It is a form of nostalgia that can reflect homesickness or yearning for long-gone moments.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/nostalgic|title=Nostalgic|website= www.vocabulary.com |accessdate=September 16, 2018}}</ref>

There is a predisposition, caused by cognitive biases such as rosy retrospection, a form of survivorship bias, for people to view the past more favourably and the future more negatively.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=rZk6DwAAQBAJ&dq=Oxford%20declinist&pg=PA90 ''The Oxford Dictionary of American Political Slang''] edited by Grant Barrett, p. 90.</ref><ref name="The Guardian">{{cite news|last1=Etchells|first1=Pete|title=Declinism: is the world actually getting worse?|url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/head-quarters/2015/jan/16/declinism-is-the-world-actually-getting-worse|access-date=20 December 2016|newspaper=The Guardian|date=January 16, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{citation |url=https://edge.org/response-detail/26669 |title=The State Of The World Isn't Nearly As Bad As You Think |author=Steven R. Quartz |publisher=Edge Foundation, Inc. |access-date=2016-02-17}}</ref>

==Notable uses== ===In literature=== In Ecclesiastes 7:10 of the Hebrew Bible, the belief in a better, past age is criticized. In the New International Version translation, it reads, "Do not say, 'Why were the old days better than these?' For it is not wise to ask such questions."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://biblehub.com/ecclesiastes/7-10.htm |title=Ecclesiastes 7:10 |website=biblehub.com |access-date=July 4, 2025}}</ref>

In 1726, John Henley used this phrase in his book ''The Primitive Liturgy'': "to all honest Admirers of the good old Days of their best and wisest Fore-fathers, this first Part of the Primitive Liturgy Is most humbly dedicated".<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=Primitive liturgy : for the use of the oratory. part 1. being a form of morning and evening.|last=Multiple.|first=Contributors|date=2010|publisher=Gale Ecco, Print Editions|isbn=9781170253939|location=[Place of publication not identified]|oclc=945379031}}</ref>

In 1727, Daniel Defoe wrote in ''The Complete English Tradesman'': "In the good old days of Trade, which our Fore-fathers plodded on in."<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Complete English Tradesman|last=Defoe|first=Daniel|publisher=BiblioLife|year=2008|isbn=978-0554343099|location=Charleston, South Carolina|pages=156–157}}</ref> In this part of his book, Defoe talks about how in 'the good old days' tradesmen were better off than in Defoe's time.

===In music=== In 2015, musical duo Twenty One Pilots released "Stressed Out", a song that pinpointed the return to the 'good old days'. It won the Grammy for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance in February 2017.<ref>{{Cite web |title=2016 Grammy Winners |url=https://www.grammy.com/awards/59th-annual-grammy-awards |access-date=April 29, 2024 |website=The Recording Academy}}</ref> As of August 2025, the official music video on YouTube has been viewed 3.1 billion times.<ref>{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXRviuL6vMY |title=twenty one pilots: Stressed Out (Official Video) |access-date=August 12, 2025 |via=YouTube}}</ref>

In 2022, The Reklaws released the studio album ''Good Ol' Days''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://entertainment-focus.com/2022/11/04/the-reklaws-good-ol-days-review/|title=The Reklaws – 'Good Ol' Days' Review|first=James|last=Daykin|date=November 4, 2022|work=Entertainment Focus|access-date=July 28, 2023}}</ref>

Popular Bluegrass music songs such as "Blue Railroad Train" and "Blue Ridge Cabin Home" use phrases like 'good old days' and 'days gone by' to evoke nostalgic ideas of the past.

In his 1983 song "Keeping the Faith", Billy Joel appears to subtly caution against this view, reminding the listener that "[T]he good ol' days weren't always good/And tomorrow ain't as bad as it seems".

==References== {{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Good Old Days}} Category:Metanarratives Category:Nostalgia Category:Phrases Category:Social change Category:Theories of history