Portuguese Colonial War and political rights, corruption, poverty, inequality, and failed central planning eroded the initial revolutionary zeal. A level of social order and economic development comparable to what had existed under Portuguese rule, including during the period of the Colonial War, became the goal of the independent territories. The former Portuguese territories in Africa became sovereign states, with Agostinho Neto in Angola, Samora Machel in Mozambique, Luís Cabral in Guinea-Bissau, Manuel Pinto da Costa in São Tomé and Príncipe, and Aristides Pereira in Cape Verde as the heads of state. When the Portuguese began trading on the west coast of Africa, in
As Good as I Once Was has since become one of Keith's signature songs, as well as one of his most successful. The narrator, a man approaching or in middle age and apparently sitting in a bar, is put into situations that test his masculinity. Having outlived his glory days, he insists he now is no longer "as good as (he) once was" in his younger days, but although he no longer has the stamina to do what he used to do all the time, he can still be "as good, once, as (he) ever was." Examples given include a set of twins who want to