Remember those "Truck Driving " tunes of the 70's ?

Skip T · Post by **Skip T** » 26 Sep 2000 10:19 am

Just heard an good "oldie" - - "Giddy-Up Go"
Sure had some pretty "steel" crying in the background. Who might that be ? Skip

Smiley Roberts · Post by **Smiley Roberts** » 26 Sep 2000 10:40 am

If it was done by Red Sovine,it was on Starday Records &,most likely,Pete Drake.

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MALCOLM KIRBY · Post by **MALCOLM KIRBY** » 26 Sep 2000 11:41 am

I always liked "Semi-Truck" by Commander Cody and The Lost Planet Airmen

[This message was edited by MALCOLM KIRBY on 26 September 2000 at 12:42 PM.]

Ray Jenkins · Post by **Ray Jenkins** » 26 Sep 2000 1:23 pm

Just heard "Hello I'm a Truck" yesterday on wsm.

Ray

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Steeling is still legal in Arizona

David Pennybaker · Post by **David Pennybaker** » 26 Sep 2000 1:29 pm

"Hello I'm a Truck"

ROTFLMAO! Sorry, but that brings back memories. I had brought home a tape of "truck songs", and was playing it out in the shop with my dad. That song started up (it starts with the spoken line "Hello, I'm a Truck"), and my dad turned to me and said "That's HIS problem, not mine".

I can't believe nobody's mentioned the classic "Convoy": (. . . this here's the Rubber Duck, we just ain't a gonna pay no toll - so we crashed the gate through at 98 . . .)

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ebb · Post by **ebb** » 26 Sep 2000 3:14 pm

my fav was the politically incorrect cb savage

erik · Post by **erik** » 26 Sep 2000 3:39 pm

Seeing how this is now the homogenous group i'll mention Breaker Breaker by the Outlaws (rock group).

This CB trucker thing also fostered the tv show BJ And The Bear. Then it became BJ And The Seven Lady Truckers.

David Pennybaker · Post by **David Pennybaker** » 26 Sep 2000 4:48 pm

the politically incorrect cb savage

I remember the title. But I can't remember the song.

Words?

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The Unofficial Photographer of The Wilkinsons

JB Arnold · Post by **JB Arnold** » 26 Sep 2000 4:54 pm

The whole album "Hot Licks, Cold Steel and Truckers Favorites" by the Commander. Great stuff!

John

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Peter Dollard · Post by **Peter Dollard** » 26 Sep 2000 5:28 pm

Best trucking song I ever heard...Laurence Hammond and the Whiplash Band;"Truckers Nightmare". Available only on vinyl came out 77 or 78.

Don Olson · Post by **Don Olson** » 26 Sep 2000 5:56 pm

What tune got the trucker thing going?I think either Six Days on the Road or Truck Drivin Man.Ray Jenkins, I will be in Apache Jct. for the winter, are you playing some where close?I always like to meet fellow steel guitar players.
Zum Steel Forever

Tim Rowley · Post by **Tim Rowley** » 26 Sep 2000 8:30 pm

Babs Mandrell had a great truckin' tune in "Tonight My Baby's Comin' Home". How about "Roll On Big Mama" by Joe Stampley? Merle Haggard of course had "Big Wheels Rollin' Movin On". "Roll Truck Roll" was another dandy of the 70's. As JB Arnold mentioned, who could forget the ever-popular Commander Cody cult favorite "Mama Hated Diesels" (as Bill Kirchen used to say, "Every single word of that song is true, friends!"). Yep.

But way before these you had "Gimme Forty Acres (And I'll Turn This Rig Around)" and "Diesel On My Tail" which were at the start of the truck driving songs in the 60's. Both of these were Willis Bros. tunes weren't they? "Truck Drivin' Man" definitely came out in the 60's, a good many of Red Sovine's and Dick Curless's truck driving songs came out in the 60's, Del Reeves had "Girl On The Billboard" and "Lookin' At The World Thru A Windshield" both in the 60's and there were a bunch more. To my thinking, most of the best truck driving songs actually came out in the 60's, definitely pre-CB-craze, back in the days when most trucks were still hot in the summer, cold in the winter, dusty, drafty, slow, hard to shift, hard to steer, dog-gone hard to stop, and so noisy in the cab that you really had to have a good LOUD roof-mount AM radio (generally a Motorola) to pull in those clear channels like WWL and WBAP late at night! Listen, when I was much younger I put in some long hours in a 1965 Diamond T, 5 and 2, 6-71 Detroit a-hammerin', no sleeper of course...well you get the picture I'm sure.

I still enjoy a good truck driving song!

Tim R.

Richard Bass · Post by **Richard Bass** » 26 Sep 2000 9:46 pm

Back in 67-70 I played lead for Dave Dudley( Six Days On The Road). We worked our tails off. Truck driving music was good for us. Last I heard Dave was semi retired and living in Arizona. In 1970 or 1971 I worked about 6 Months with Red Sovine, a perfect gentleman, probably the nicest artist I ever worked with.Richard[This message was edited by Richard Bass on 26 September 2000 at 10:51 PM.]

Jude James Shiels · Post by **Jude James Shiels** » 27 Sep 2000 1:39 am

Didn't Merle Haggard also have White Line Fever? I loved the trucker road movies from the 70's too, you had Jerry Reed in Smokey and the Bandit, Kris Kristofferson in Convoy, I bet there were lots of others, anyone remember?

Chip Fossa · Post by **Chip Fossa** » 27 Sep 2000 3:59 am

"Willin'".....by Little Feet. Not an uptempo or actually trucker-style song, but it WAS about pickin' up your bootstraps and movin' on, when things got askew.

Robert Williams · Post by **Robert Williams** » 27 Sep 2000 4:43 am

Here's a few more you may remember:
White line fever
Diesel smoke
The only shoulder a trucker can cry on
Alcohol and #2 diesel
Ode to big Joe
Big wheels turnin
White lines and roadside signs
Soft shoulders and dangerous curves
Truck drivers blues
Highway Patrol
Blazing smokestack
Big Daddy [Alabamy bound]

Neil Hilton · Post by **Neil Hilton** » 27 Sep 2000 7:17 am

A great collection of truck-drivin songs written and recorded as a focused album on the topic - Dale Watson's "The Truckin' Sessions" from just a couple of years ago. Great songwriting and bare-bones drivin honky-tonk with great steel work from Ricky Davis!!!

from DW -
"my eyes are burning from the sweat of my brow from the last hundred miles I've made,
I just got to stop off at the next T/A to grab a quick shower-and-shave,
and my head is aching from squintin my eyes a-looking West into the sun -
I got to get home to my baby, just got to get home"

RickRichtmyer · Post by **RickRichtmyer** » 27 Sep 2000 7:36 am

I once heard Chip Davis of Mannheim Steamroller say in an interview that he was also C. W. McCall of Convoy fame.

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Rick Richtmyer
Good News

Pat Burns · Post by **Pat Burns** » 27 Sep 2000 1:44 pm

My favorite truck driving song...Harry Chapin's "30,000 Pounds of Bananas"...It was just after dark when the truck started down, the hill that leads into Scranton, Pennsylvania...carrying 30,000 pounds...of bananas"..and "it was then he lost his head, not to mention an arm or two before he stopped"..

The truck driving song that makes me want to heave every time I hear it...the one with the crippled kid on the CB radio, I think his handle is Teddy Bear, whose Dad died and his mom works 24 hours a day cleaning up after waitresses so every trucker west of the Potomac lines up to give him a ride around the block...Raaaaalllph.

Ric Epperle · Post by **Ric Epperle** » 27 Sep 2000 1:56 pm

Oh Pat oh Pat oh Pat oh Pat...

George Rozak · Post by **George Rozak** » 27 Sep 2000 9:32 pm

My favorite was Red Sovine's "Hitch Hikin' Girl" about a truck driver who picks up a female hitch hiker.

To quote a line:

When I woke up at dawn, my wallet was gone... And so was my hitch hikin' girl...

Doug Beaumier · Post by **Doug Beaumier** » 27 Sep 2000 10:21 pm

Ya gotta love TEDDY BEAR by Red Sovine:

I was on the outskirts of a little southern town
Tryin' to reach my destination before the sun went down
The old CB was blarin' away on channel 1-9!
When there came a little boy's voice on the radio line

And he said: "Breaker 1-9! Is anyone there?
Come on back, truckers and talk to Teddy Bear!"
Well, I keyed the mike and said: "You got it, Teddy Bear!"
And a little boy's voice came back on the air

"'Preciate the break, Who we got on that end?"
I told him my handle, and, then he began:
"Now, I'm not supposed to bother you fellows out there
Mom says you're busy and for me to stay off the air

But you see, I get lonely and it helps to talk
'Cause that's about all I can do, I'm crippled, and, I can't walk!"
I came back and told him to fire up that mike
And I'd talk to 'im, as long as he liked

"This was my dad's radio", the little boy said
"But I guess it's mine and mom's now, 'cause my daddy's dead!"
"Dad had a wreck about a month ago
He was trying to get home in a blindin' snow

Mom has to work now, to make ends meet
And I'm not much help, with my two crippled feet!"
"She says not to worry that we'll make it alright
But, I hear her crying, sometimes late at night

You know there's just one thing I want more than anything else to see
Aw, I know you guys are too busy to bother with me!"
"But, you see, my dad used to take me for rides when he was home
But, I guess that's all over now, since my daddy's gone

Not one breaker came on the old CB
As that little crippled boy talked with me
I tried hard to swallow a lump that just wouldn't stay down
As I thought about my boy back in Greenville Town

"Dad was going to take mom and me with him later on this year, Why,
l remember 'im saying: 'Someday this old truck will be yours, Teddy Bear!'
But, I know I'll never get to ride an 18-wheeler again
But, this old base will keep me in touch with all my trucker friends!"

"Teddy Bear's gonna back on out now and leave you alone
'Cause it's about time for mom to come home
But, you give me a shout when you're passin' through
And I'll sure be happy to come back to you!"

Well, I came back and I said: uh! "Before you go 10-10
What's your home 20, little CB friend?"
Well, he gave me his address and I didn't once hesitate
'Cause this hot load of freight was just gonna have to wait

I turned that truck around on a dime
And headed straight for Jackson Street, 229
And as I rounded the corner, oh, I got one heck of a shock
l8 wheelers were lined up for three city blocks!

Why, I guess every driver for miles around had caught Teddy Bear's call
And that little crippled boy was having a ball
For as fast as one driver would carry him in
Another would carry him to his truck and take off again

Well, you better believe I took my turn at riding Teddy Bear
And then I carried him back in and put him down in his chair
And buddy if I never live to see happiness again
I want you to know I saw it that day, in the face of that little man

We took up a collection for him before his mama got home
And each driver said goodbye and then they all were gone
He shook my hand with a mile-long grin
And said: "So long, trucker I'll catch ya again!"

Well, I hit the Interstate with tears in my eyes
I turned on the radio and I got another surprise
"Breaker 1-9!" Came a voice on the air
"Just one word of thanks from Mama Teddy Bear!"

"We wish each and every one, a special prayer for you
'Cause, You just made my little boy's dream come true
I'll sign off now, before, I start to cry
May God ride with you, 10-4, and goodbye."

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www.dougbsteel.com

Pat Burns · Post by **Pat Burns** » 28 Sep 2000 1:22 am

..RRRRAAAAAAAAAALLPHHH!

Ron Castle · Post by **Ron Castle** » 28 Sep 2000 3:56 am

My favorites : Fanthom 309, White line fever
and Six Days on the road (bit older than the 70's)

RickRichtmyer · Post by **RickRichtmyer** » 28 Sep 2000 4:58 am

I always liked John Anderson's Chicken Truck.

For more truckin' songs than you could ever want, honk here.

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Rick Richtmyer
Good News

[This message was edited by RickRichtmyer on 28 September 2000 at 05:59 AM.]