Songfacts®:

• "Don't Let the Old Man In" is a song written and performed by Toby Keith. The lyrics speak of the importance of living life to the fullest and not letting age get the best of you. The ballad was released as a single in 2019, peaking at #45 on the Country chart. It was included on his album Greatest Hits: The Show Dog Years.
• Keith wrote "Don't Let the Old Man" for Clint Eastwood's 2018 film The Mule and it featured in its trailer. The country star told Billboard he was inspired to write the song after a conversation he had with the 88-year-old Eastwood while the two played golf.
  
  When Eastwood told him he was about to start working on a new movie called The Mule, Keith asked him, "How do you do it, man?" Eastwood responded, "I just get up every morning and go out. And I don't let the old man in."
• Keith immediately started writing around Eastwood's "don't let the old man in" line and what he knew about his character in the movie. The day he recorded the demo for Eastwood, he was sick with a bad cold. "I gave it the best vocal I could that day, and I sent it off," he recalled. "It's a real raspy, sleepy, tired, sick vocal. I said, 'Well now you've got a reference, and I'll go back and put a vocal on it for you.'"
  
  Eastwood liked the recording because Keith's raspy delivery fit the movie. "He wanted it sick and tired and dark like that," said Keith.
  
  Eastwood didn't want Keith to change his vocal and used that version for the movie.
• Many moons I've lived
  My body's weathered and worn
  Ask yourself how old you'd be if you didn't know the day you were born?
  
  The chorus was inspired by a story about the grandmother of Keith's 65-year-old friend. The grandmother never had a birth certificate and didn't know her age, but she was always full of life and energy.
• The Mule tells the true story of a World War II veteran in his 80s becoming a drug courier. "I didn't try to take what he told me about the movie," Keith said. "I tried to take the character he told me about and look through his eyes and think that maybe if you were 40 and found out the cartel is putting drugs in your pecans you might say, 'Whoa, I don't want to do this because I don't want to spend 40 years in prison.'"
  
  "But if you're 85? What's a life sentence at 85? I got the chance to make tens of thousands of dollars." he added. "I might try it at 85."
• Willie Nelson covered "Don't Let the Old Man In" for his 2020 album First Rose of Spring.
• Keith sang "Don't Let the Old Man In" at the 2023 People's Choice Country Awards after being awarded the Country Icon award. The performance on September 28, 2023 was his first time back on red carpets and television after his diagnosis of stomach cancer the previous year. Keith said he chose the ballad because it inspires those who've been touched by his cancer journey.
  
  Following his moving delivery, "Don't Let the Old Man In" rose to #1 on the iTunes Country chart.