Posted on 10/05/2014 10:09:41 PM PDT by Impala64ssa
In 1973, the Citizens Band radio (aka the CB radio, aka a collection of short-distance radio communications) grew so popular that it attracted millions of people throughout the entire decade — not at all unlike the way social media attracts users today. This weekend, ’70s on 7 pays tribute to the fad by welcoming American country singer C.W. McCall, who is best known for his ’75 chart topper, Convoy, a hit song Rolling Stone recently included in its 100 Greatest Country Songs Of All Time list. On writing Convoy, McCall reminisced: “When we wrote the song, we went out and bought a couple of CB radios. It had all of these wonderful handles. There was Rubber Duck and there was Sidebuster… So we decided we’d have a handle. We went in the studio and I wrote down this imaginary vision of a convoy that went clear across the country.”
On life after Convoy, McCall remarked that, come 1982, he just wasn’t into how time-consuming promotional work can be. He adds jokingly, “I’m getting too old for this business… maybe Willie Nelson can do it, but not me!” McCall ended up retiring to Ouray, Colorado, where he ran for mayor, helping restore city hall. “There’s a lot of history here, and I enjoy it.”
On whether or not he still uses a CB, McCall concedes, “I don’t use a CB anymore. Everything is cell phones now, as you might know.” But Convoy’s hit status follows McCall wherever he goes. “I remember one time when I was in my motor home in the late ’70s, and it was snowing. …I got on the CB and said, ‘Breaker… how’s the weather on top of the pass?’ And they answered me, and somebody says ‘Yeah, hey, who’s this?’ I said, ‘It’s Rubber Duck.’ By the time I got on top of the pass, there were dozens of semis waiting for me. Everybody wanted me to sign their records and all of that stuff. It was amazing.”
In addition to Convoy, McCall has written countless other country songs, most notably Old Home Filler-Up an’ Keep on A-Truckin’ Cafe and Round The World With A Rubber Duck. But Convoy will always be McCall’s most recognized single. The country singer urges that not only did Convoy become a staple to the CB trend back then, but ultimately “it has become the trucker’s anthem.”
BTTT!
Bump
[On the CB]
Ah, breaker one-nine, this here’s the Rubber Duck. You gotta copy on me, Pig Pen, c’mon?
Ah, yeah, 10-4, Pig Pen, fer shure, fer shure. By golly, it’s clean clear to Flag Town, c’mon.
Yeah, that’s a big 10-4 there, Pig Pen, yeah, we definitely got the front door, good buddy. Mercy sakes alive, looks like we got us a convoy!
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 is headin’ for bear on I-one-oh
‘Bout a mile outta Shaky Town
I says, “Pig Pen, this here’s the Rubber Duck.
“And I’m about to put the hammer down.”
[Chorus]
Cause we got a little convoy
Rockin’ through the night.
Yeah, we got a little convoy,
Ain’t she a beautiful sight?
Come on and join our convoy
Ain’t nothin’ gonna get in our way.
We gonna roll this truckin’ convoy
‘Cross the U-S-A.
Convoy!
[On the CB]
Ah, breaker, Pig Pen, this here’s the Duck. And, you wanna back off them hogs?
Yeah, 10-4, ‘bout five mile or so. Ten, roger. Them hogs is gettin’ intense up here.
By the time we got into Tulsa Town,
We had eighty-five trucks in all.
But they’s a roadblock up on the cloverleaf,
And them bears was wall-to-wall.
Yeah, them Smokies is thick as bugs on a bumper;
They even had a bear in the air!
I says, “Callin’ all trucks, this here’s the Duck.
“We about to go a-huntin’ bear.”
[Chorus]
[On the CB]
Ah, you wanna give me a 10-9 on that, Pig Pen?
Negatory, Pig Pen; you’re still too close. Yeah, them hogs is startin’ to close up my sinuses. Mercy sakes, you better back off another ten.
Well, we rolled up Interstate 44
Like a rocket sled on rails.
We tore up all of our swindle sheets,
And left ‘em settin’ on the scales.
By the time we hit that Chi-town,
Them bears was a-gettin’ smart:
They’d brought up some reinforcements
From the Illinois National Guard.
There’s armored cars, and tanks, and jeeps,
And rigs of ev’ry size.
Yeah, them chicken coops was full’a bears
And choppers filled the skies.
Well, we shot the line and we went for broke
With a thousand screamin’ trucks
An’ eleven long-haired Friends a’ Jesus
In a chartreuse Micro-bus.
[On the CB]
Ah, Rubber Duck to Sodbuster, come over. Yeah, 10-4, Sodbuster? Listen, you wanna put that Micro-bus in behind that suicide jockey?
Yeah, he’s haulin’ dynamite, and he needs all the help he can get.
Well, we laid a strip for the Jersey shore
And prepared to cross the line
I could see the bridge was lined with bears
But I didn’t have a dog-goned dime.
I says, “Pig Pen, this here’s the Rubber Duck.
“We just ain’t a-gonna pay no toll.”
So we crashed the gate doing ninety-eight
I says “Let them truckers roll, 10-4.”
[Chorus]
Convoy! Ah, 10-4, Pig Pen, what’s your twenty?
Convoy! OMAHA? Well, they oughta know what to do with them hogs out there fer shure. Well, mercy
Convoy! sakes, good buddy, we gonna back on outta here, so keep the bugs off your glass and the bears off your
Convoy! Tail. We’ll catch you on the flip-flop. This here’s the Rubber Duck on the side.
Convoy! We gone. ‘Bye,’bye.
Didn’t keep quite as busy as Chip Davis, the Convoy co-writer.
I was a CB base unit geek in 7th grade well before this was a fad.
Ole Chip turned his CB handle in for international fame of the Steamroller kind, and I've a stack of CDs plus even some cassettes of his that I never tire of hearing, especially at Christmas!
Yep. No argument here.
I remember a song about a cop that pretended to be a homo on the cb and it distracted the truckers and they started speeding and then he pulled them over. Can’t remember the name of the song.
I like Crispy critters because it perfectly describes smelly dirty hippies
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrmUkq0jXYA
You ‘bout gave me a heart attack with that photo!
My recent ex is a truck driver and at first glance, I thought it was him. Unless he had his tattoo removed from his left shoulder, I’m certain it isn’t him.
Who is that btw??
Thats Kris Kristofferson
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