Posted on 09/29/2016 5:44:39 PM PDT by SamAdams76
C.W. McCall had a number 1 hit in 1975 called Convoy.
But he wasn't just a one-hit wonder. He had other more minor hits too and this was one of them. A little ditty called "Crispy Critters" which made it to #32 on the Country Charts back in 1976.
This performance is from the TV show "Hee Haw" which sure does bring back some childhood memories for me.
Cow Patti would approve.
As for C.W. McCall (nee: Bill Fries), a.k.a. The Rubber Duck, he's still alive and kicking today at the age of 87.
Who knows what I will post next on the Free Republic!
In the meantime, I'm going to back on out of here, so keep the bugs off your glass and the bears off your tail. I'll catch you on the flip-flop. This here's the Rubber Duck and I ain't going to pay no toll.
Watched it, it was awful. That is OK, from another era, but good stuff transcends eras.
Old Home Filler-Up An' Keep On A-Truckin' Café
Now we've been everywhere between here and South Sioux,
And we've seen us a truckstop waitress or two.
But this gal's built like a burlap full of bobcats,
She's got it too-gether.
It was but a time capsule from an America that will never be again.
A version better audio
https://youtu.be/vrmUkq0jXYA
Thanks for the link. I loved C.W. McCall’s music back in the day. I was just a 12 or 13 year old kid and my father bought a CB radio from Radio Shack that we used in the house. The CB craze was HUGE during the mid 1970s. My brother and I would be having conversations with truckers from who knew where. It was a fun time. Way before there was any such thing as an Internet or a cell phone. We thought it was the coolest thing.
I loved Convoy. No telling how many CB radios he helped sell. I hope he made millions. That was a much better time.
Same here. When I travel west of the Delaware River I still find a lot of remnants of those days gone by.
Searching the FR archives, I saw that Freeper bigbob posted "Convoy" by CW McCall back on June 6. Link here.
The Millennials would be heading for their safe spaces if they heard any of that.
I was thinking the same thing!
As I recall the story, Bill Fries was a copywriter or an Omaha ad agency. One of their clients was the Old Home bread company in Sioux City.
Fries wrote the jingle and created a pool of commercials around it -- featuring two characters: C.W. McCall, who drove a bread truck, and Mavis, the cafe waitress.
Wisely, he retained commercial rights to the song -- which he recorded, using the C.W. McCall pseudonym...and a career was born.
I remember hearing somewhere that he turned some of these jingles into real songs after word got back from some Midwestern radio stations that listeners were actually calling the stations requesting the commercials as if they were regular radio hits!
In Vietnam whenever F-4’s rolled hot with napalm on NVAs in the open, they announced “Crispy Critters!” on the radio.
Things on the ground got real quiet after that. Almost miss those times.
Holy crap this made me look up the SEQUEL to CONVOY he did. SO messed uo…it’s called AROUND THE WORLD with the rubber duck…it bombed. So bad but funny. The convoy last seen reading for the Jersey shore now goes across the ATLANTIC! “Like snakes on glass”….some trucks “Lost at sea” WTF?
In the ad business, if the music is contracted out, the contractor naturally retains the rights. But, if the music is written by an employee of the ad agency, the rights are presumed to belong to the client. The client, after all, paid for it and the writer was acting as the client's agent.
Under the circumstances, it's evident that Fries sensed what he had.
Brings back memories, Bobby Bare, T Graham Brown, Jean Sheppard, Jeannie C Riley, Whispering Bill. I think my favorite from C W was Roses for Mama https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mq0XhuFOOXU
We just lost Jean Shepard a few days ago.
Duane Eddy Rebel Rouser https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nS_hFfucAAs
Agreed, Sam
It is a glimpse into a culture, an ethos, and a sensibility that no longer exists. It is Americana.
It was purposely destroyed.
YouTube has Convoy GB by Laurie Lingo and the Dipsticks, a British answer record. Of course the name is aka “lorry lingo” as in truck driver talk
https://m.youtube.com/?#/watch?v=N-FZZ7ye7h8
CW kinda looks like a cross between little longhaired songwriter Paul Williams, and Billy Carter.CW seems to rap more than sing. I jokingly call such songs CountryRap, or CRap. Though some aren’t bad, like Convoy or Johnny Cash’s One Piece at a Time (Johnny does sing parts of it) or Charlie Daniels’ Uneasy Rider
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.