Ten-four, Rubber Ducky. This morning’s CarTune is not just a song, it’s a genuine cultural artifact: the runaway hit of 1975, “Convoy” by C.W. McCall.
You kids today may have trouble sorting all this out. In 1975, the country was seized by two huge fads: the short-lived Citizen’s Band radio craze and our equally brief fascination with long-haul trucking. “Convoy” is a rip-roaring celebration of both, a trucker’s fantasy in which 18-wheelers take over the nation’s Interstates. In the wake of Watergate and Vietnam, rebellion was in the air.
C.W. McCall, the song’s truck-driving narrative voice with the CB handle Rubber Duck, was in fact the creation of Omaha adman Bill Fries. He created the character for a television campaign for Old Home Bread, but the popularity of the commercials inspired a series of novelty AM radio singles. One of them, “Convoy,” struck gold, hitting number one on both the pop and country charts in the USA and Canada. There was even a movie spinoff in 1978, directed by Sam Peckinpah (!) and starring Kris Kristofferson and Ali McGraw.
You old-timers will recall the wacky CB lingo in the lyrics: Shakytown is Los Angeles; 10-9 means repeat the message; and a swindle sheet is a truck driver’s logbook. Now put the hammer down and watch your back door for bears.
Thanks, MCG, didn’t expect that so soon. I was a trucker for 35 years, and believe it or not, it was songs and movies like that , that convinced me to go into trucking. Smokey and the Bandit, Movin’ On, B.J. and the Bear, all fueled it for me. I wanted to “be that guy”, no office for me. That’s pretty much how it was, well, I don’t remember the army part, but we would all run together, had a lot of good friends, we’d help each other out. The CB radio was, by far, THE most important part of your truck. Without it , one was lost. Where are the cops, what are those “chicken coops” doing, OPEN, dang, anybody know how to “get around them”?
Unfortunately, things have changed, a lot. Cell phones replaced CB’s, so called “smart scales” emerged, law enforcement can track where you are going, what you are hauling, how long you have been driving, all with a push of a button. Government regulations, all sucked the “fun” out of it, not to mention peoples distracted driving now a days. But make no mistake, back in the day, it was a great way to make a living, and I loved it.