Breaker, breaker: Recalling the monster hit “Convoy”
By David Menzies for MSN Autos
I can’t remember the station I was listening to on my beloved Sirius XM radio (must-have technology for any road warrior craving superb sonic substance trying to survive those long commutes, by the way). But on came a former number-one-with-a-bullet hit tune that I hadn’t heard for more than 35 years: “Convoy.” And memories of a very oddball fad during a somewhat oddball era instantly came rushing back.
“Convoy” starts off with some strange C.B. radio slang (at least for those who are not long-haulers) and then the trucker jargon-laced lyrics really shift into overdrive:
“It was the dark of the moon on the sixth of June
In a Kenworth pullin’ logs
Cab over Pete with a reefer on
And a Jimmy haulin’ hogs
We's headed for bear on eye-one-oh
About a mile outta Shakeytown
I says Pigpen, this here's the Rubber Duck
And I'm about to put the hammer down.”
No kidding folks – those are indeed the opening verses of a chart-popper from yester-decade.
Granted, hit songs about automotive culture come and go (although, alas, there does seem to be a dearth of car songs these days – that’s a rant for another time.) Yet, the thing about “Convoy” is that it wasn’t “just” a car song but was also the high-water point of what was surely one of the most inexplicable fads in recent memory: the trucking/C.B. radio craze of the mid-’70s.
By way of plot, “Convoy” celebrated the exploits of a rebellious trucker with a reckless disregard for highway toll booths and speed limits. The storyline is completely preposterous – at one point the National Guard is brought in to shutdown that ever-growing caravan of big speeding rigs – yet it does have a catchy beat.
As well, “Convoy” gave the gravelly-voiced C.W. McCall his biggest hit song ever. (Although it should be noted that “C.W. McCall” was in reality Bill Fries, an Omaha-based advertising executive, not a trucker.)
Still, as History.com notes, Fries had a keen ear for esoteric dialogue. And he most certainly had his finger on the pulse of that trucker/C.B. radio fad.
In fact, “Convoy” actually marked the summit of a trucking/C.B. radio craze that had millions creating “handles” for themselves a la “Rubber Ducky” and lining up to see trucker-themed movies such as Smokey and the Bandit and B.J. and the Bear. (In our defence, there was no such thing as the Internet and the Xbox.)
And a true albeit embarrassing confession: in 1976, due to “Convoy”, I very nearly drained my bank account in order to buy a C.B. radio. I was marooned in Newfoundland at the time; looking back, I have no idea what I would’ve done with a C.B. radio given that I didn’t own a vehicle or even possess a driver’s licence. But such was indeed the power of that crazy trucker/C.B. fad and this once-awesome song some 37 years ago...
Justin Couture
Mark Atkinson
John LeBlanc
Posted by: Breaker! Breaker! | 2013-01-11 9:45:53 AM
Thanks for bringing those of us old enough back to that time.
I still have my C.B. radio, but if I dust it off to use in our family van, my kids look at me like I have two heads !
"Why don't you just text." "Do you have WiFi on that thing?" "Who are you talking to, Aliens?"
For the record, Human Beings are able to communicate verbally using language.
On a longer distance trip, it still has great value in helping the miles go by.
It also helps that my business serves trucking, so it's good to be out there on the road with the Knights of the Road.
While we remember this movie and this song as being "Over the Top", let's take a moment to recognize that the modern Truck Driver is a Professional Driver and their behaviours for the most part match that role. In serving today's Trucking Industry, I have met some of the hardest working, most principled Canadians.
So while the movie and the song brings a smile to our face, let's recognize the hard working modern day trucker who works to bring us the majority of all the consumer goods that we enjoy !