Great Truckin' Songs!

Subject: Great Truckin' Songs!
From: Little Hawk
Date: 12 Dec 09 - 12:00 AM

It's hard to beat this one. Del Reeves singing "Girl On The Billboard".

Girl On The Billboard

Subject: RE: BS: Great Truckin' Songs!
From: Little Hawk
Date: 12 Dec 09 - 12:00 AM

Damn! I should have posted it in the upper section. Please move it there, somebody?

Subject: RE: BS: Great Truckin' Songs!
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 12 Dec 09 - 12:03 AM

... and then "Keep On Truckin'"

Subject: RE: BS: Great Truckin' Songs!
From: catspaw49
Date: 12 Dec 09 - 02:00 AM

You really need help here Hawk..............

Dave Dudley and "Six Days on the Road"

The Late and Great Jerry Reed...."Eastbound and Down"

C.W.McCall doing "Convoy"

Merle Haggard......"Movin' On" (TV show theme)

The Flying Burrito Bros......"White Line Fever"

And then there are the 567,204 Red Sovine fuckers that I ain't gonna' link.......


Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Great Truckin' Songs!
From: wilbyhillbilly
Date: 12 Dec 09 - 04:01 AM

One of the biggest tear jerkers of Red must be Teddy Bear!

Subject: RE: BS: Great Truckin' Songs!
From: Little Hawk
Date: 12 Dec 09 - 06:45 AM

"Six Days on the Road" occurred to me immediately too, Spaw, but I thought I'd start with "Girl On The Billboard" instead and let others take it from there.

Subject: RE: BS: Great Truckin' Songs!
From: GUEST
Date: 12 Dec 09 - 08:25 AM

'willing' by Lttle Feat?
Ifor

Subject: RE: BS: Great Truckin' Songs!
From: Bobert
Date: 12 Dec 09 - 08:49 AM

"Belly Full of Tennesee" by John Stewart... Tad more obscure but heck of a good truckin' song...

"Hot Rod Lincoln", Johnny Bond in 1960 and Commander Cody in the 70's is the truckin' song of all truckin' songs... Well, except "8 Days on the Road"

"Phantom 409", sorry but can't remember who did that song...

Thems is starters... I'll come up with more later...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Great Truckin' Songs!
From: Little Hawk
Date: 12 Dec 09 - 08:55 AM

Yeah! That's another one I was thinking of.

"Willin'" by Little Feat

And here's an incredible rendition of it by:

Linda Ronstadt

Subject: RE: BS: Great Truckin' Songs!
From: catspaw49
Date: 12 Dec 09 - 09:57 AM

Bobertz......Phantom409 is yet another Red Sovine piece of shit. I get physically ill just thinking about Red Sovine songs..................

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Great Truckin' Songs!
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 12 Dec 09 - 11:24 AM

Who?

Subject: RE: BS: Great Truckin' Songs!
From: Little Hawk
Date: 12 Dec 09 - 12:02 PM

I happen to have an old vinyl double album of K-Tel's issue of Red Sovine's 30 Greatest Hits here, including his classic song "Little Rosa". I got it in a garage sale for 25 cents. Guess who it's gonna be mailed to this Christmas.... ;-)

Subject: RE: BS: Great Truckin' Songs!
From: Bobert
Date: 12 Dec 09 - 12:07 PM

Yeah, that's right Spawz... It was Red Sovine's song... Hey, I thought it was a purdy good song... Little smaltzy but, hey, I like a good smaltzy song now and then... No, not "Honey"... There's where I draw the line...

BTW, ya'll... Anyone remember the John Stewart song I mentioned??? It can be rockified out to a purdy good drivin'ass country rock song...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Great Truckin' Songs!
From: GUEST
Date: 12 Dec 09 - 12:17 PM

"Water In The Fuel" - Fred Eaglesmith (but Casey Chambers does a better cover)

"Truckin'" - Grateful Dead

Subject: Lyr Add: HONEY (parody)
From: catspaw49
Date: 12 Dec 09 - 01:22 PM

Dammit Bobertz......I told you before that I hated "Honey" even more, THEN I wrote my own lyrics and made it all better!


"HONEY".......(revised edition)

See the tree,
How big its grown
And now you're dead
I can't get blown
I've got an itch.
When you were alive
It cost twenty-five
Why did you always charge so much
You fuckin' bitch

Our tree grew large,
It fell on you
Now you're gone,
My balls are blue
I can't get laid.
So now I've started shagging sheep
And sometimes chickens in their sleep
But they want paid.


Oh Honey I miss you
Cause when you were alive
I could at least get a hand job
For a buck fifty-five.


Spaw

Subject: RE: Great Truckin' Songs!
From: Ed T
Date: 12 Dec 09 - 01:32 PM

One of my favourites:


Dick Curless: TOMBSTONE EVERY MILE

Subject: RE: Great Truckin' Songs!
From: Ed T
Date: 12 Dec 09 - 01:38 PM

If you'r a Canadian....you cant rule this one out:
Stompin' Tom Connors: BUD THE SPUD

Subject: RE: Great Truckin' Songs!
From: Ed T
Date: 12 Dec 09 - 01:44 PM

Wouldn't call it great, but there was a lways something about this one that makes me recall it, not sure what it is....maybe the music:
Red Sovine: TRUCK DRIVIN' SON OF A GUN

Subject: Lyr Add: TRUCK STOP GIRL (Lowell George)
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 12 Dec 09 - 02:15 PM

Lowell George's Truck Stop Girl has always been one of my favorites.

Tailights flickering as he pulled in to the truckstop
The same old crowd was hangin' out again tonight
He said, "Fill up my tank while I go check my load
It feels like it's shifting all around"

He was the kind of man to do all he could
Above all he had integrity
But he was so young
And on a ten city run
In love with a truck stop girl

As he went inside, he was merrily greeted
By the girl with whom he was in love
She held out a glass and said, "Have another
This is the last time we can meet"

With her hair piled up high and a look in her eye
That would turn any good man's blood to wine
All his eyes could see, well all his eyes could see
Was the stare from all those around him

He ran out to the lot, and climbed into his rig
And drove off without tightening down
It was a terrible thing, to see what remained
Of the rig that poor Danny was in

And he was so young and on a ten city run
In love with a truck stop girl
But he was so young, and on a ten city run
In love with a truck stop girl

Subject: RE: Great Truckin' Songs!
From: GUEST,bankley
Date: 12 Dec 09 - 02:34 PM

Lowell G. was great...

okay... on oldie by Dick Curliss "Tombstone Every Mile"

and the more recent "Home to Houston" by Steve Earle

   "When I pulled out of Basra, they all wished me luck
    Just like they always did before
    With a bulletproof screen on the hood of my truck
    And a Bradley on my back door
    I wound her up and shifted her down
    And I offered this prayer to my Lord
    I said 'God, get me back home to Houston alive
    And I won't drive a truck anymore"........

Subject: RE: Great Truckin' Songs!
From: Bobert
Date: 12 Dec 09 - 02:57 PM

Ain't exactly, ahhhhhhh, a "truckin" song there, Spawzer... Think ya'
need to put yer glasses on, son...

And didn't I tell that would make ya' go blind???

Subject: RE: Great Truckin' Songs!
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 12 Dec 09 - 03:13 PM

How about White Freight Liner? That song kicks butt at every bluegrass jam I've been to.

Subject: RE: Great Truckin' Songs!
From: catspaw49
Date: 12 Dec 09 - 03:27 PM

AW Bobertz I was just trying to remove "Honey" from your schmaltzy song list.

Spaw

Subject: RE: Great Truckin' Songs!
From: GUEST,number 6
Date: 12 Dec 09 - 04:52 PM

Cannonball

biLL

Subject: RE: Great Truckin' Songs!
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 12 Dec 09 - 04:54 PM

Don't you come a knockin' if'n you see my rig a-rockin'

Subject: RE: Great Truckin' Songs!
From: Ed T
Date: 12 Dec 09 - 04:59 PM

Truckin'....from another perspective:
t:

Melinda Schneider: MEN IN TRUCKS

Subject: RE: Great Truckin' Songs!
From: GUEST,number 6
Date: 12 Dec 09 - 05:05 PM

Here's a very good one from the late great Townes Van Zandt

White Freightliner Blues

biLL

Subject: RE: Great Truckin' Songs!
From: Ed T
Date: 12 Dec 09 - 05:10 PM

It's worth looking down under....for a fine song that could show us where truck'in may be goining here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ap2Lv6hv2EM

Subject: RE: Great Truckin' Songs!
From: Ed T
Date: 12 Dec 09 - 05:18 PM

I encourage you to go to you tube and check out a few Slim Dusty songs...refreshing from our commercial type songs

Subject: RE: Great Truckin' Songs!
From: GUEST,number 6
Date: 12 Dec 09 - 05:22 PM

"Knights of the Road" by Fairport Convention

from their album Rosie.


biLL

Subject: RE: Great Truckin' Songs!
From: Ed T
Date: 12 Dec 09 - 05:30 PM

A Slim song, with Cajun hints:
Slim Dusty: LIGHTS ON THE HILL

Subject: RE: Great Truckin' Songs!
From: bankley
Date: 12 Dec 09 - 10:19 PM

"18 Wheels and a Dozen Roses".... a hit for Kathy Mattea

Subject: Lyr Add: BIG WHEEL (Jim Croce)
From: catspaw49
Date: 12 Dec 09 - 10:29 PM

Jim Croce actually drove truck for awhile and he had a couple of pretty good songs. One was "Speedball Tucker" and the other was......

Big Wheel......Jim Croce

Chorus:
Big wheel, don't you roll
Big diesel, don't you whine
Through the night as I'm runnin' down the road
Big semi, don't you stop, 'cause if you do I'm not
Gonna make it back to Baltimore with my load

Well, the truckstop's warm and friendly
And the coffee keeps me up
And the waitress there would like to waste my time
But I'll have to pass it by
As it's down the road I fly
Just a racin' with that pocket watch of mine

Chorus

Smoke a-puffin', tires a-hummin'
Burnin' up the road
Countin' road signs and the miles to Baltimore
One eye out for weighin' stations
One for radar traps
They can't stop me, 'cause my plans don't call for that


Spaw

Subject: RE: Great Truckin' Songs!
From: Charley Noble
Date: 12 Dec 09 - 10:47 PM

No trucking songs about Diamond Reos?

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Great Truckin' Songs!
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 13 Dec 09 - 04:13 AM

Richard Shindell's 'Next Best Western' and 'Kenworth Of My Dreams'.

Subject: RE: Great Truckin' Songs!
From: kendall
Date: 13 Dec 09 - 05:14 AM

My friend, Joan Sprung wrote a good trucking song which goes partly like:

Out on the highway driving all alone
Talking out loud to my radio
Gotta move a little faster so I can make my run
Then I'll be looking for some place to go.

I sell my soul to the Devil every night
He's hiding in a bottle waiting there
Another drink of whiskey gonna make it alright
Gonna make the lonely feeling disappear.

There's more if you want it.

I offered this to my friend, Dick Curless but he wouldn't touch it. Said he was done with the booze in any form.

Subject: RE: Great Truckin' Songs!
From: GUEST,bankley
Date: 13 Dec 09 - 11:39 AM

Hey Kendall, you knew Dick Curless aka The Baron ?
He's one of my favorite singers, my cousin Dougie Trinner played guitar for him way back around the time of 'Duke and the Swingbillies' in Maine... that's how I came to appreciate his voice

yeah, I'd like to see the rest of that song.... thanks... R

Subject: RE: Great Truckin' Songs!
From: Phot
Date: 13 Dec 09 - 11:49 AM

Sorry Spaw, I quite like Phantom...........*g*

C W McAll's Convoy has to be the best though. Did you know that big Bad Ass Mack is still rolling? She's on U Tube somewhere, and has her own website!

This side of the pond its a little different, if this link works!............ Scania

Wassail!! Chris

Subject: RE: Great Truckin' Songs!
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 13 Dec 09 - 12:02 PM

That was trucking good fun Chris

Subject: RE: Great Truckin' Songs!
From: GUEST,Kendall
Date: 13 Dec 09 - 03:42 PM

Yes I knew Dick back when he was the Tumbleweed Kid. He was about 18 at the time and I got one of his photos. Handsome and what a voice!
I'll have to get Joan's permission to post that song here.

Subject: RE: Great Truckin' Songs!
From: Ed T
Date: 13 Dec 09 - 03:49 PM

Weird As likely captures first in the best alternative trucking song:

Weird Al Yankovic: TRUCK DRIVIN' SONG

Subject: Lyr Add: DEVIL IN A BOTTLE (J. Sprung)
From: kendall
Date: 13 Dec 09 - 04:58 PM

Here 'tis.

Devil in a Bottle
J. Sprung 1903

Out on the highway, drivin' all alone
Talking out loud to my radio
Gotta move a little faster so that I can make my run
Then I'll be looking for someplace to go...(where I can)

Cho:
Sell my soul to the devil every night
He's hidin' in a bottle waitin' there
Another drink o' whiskey gonna make it all right;
Gonna make the lonely feelin' disappear.

Today is just like yesterday, tomorrow be the same,
I'm just another rig out on the endless road
And anywhere I travel no one ever knows my name
Or cares if I pull a heavy load...(so I)

Wish I had a woman of my own, somewhere;
All dressed up in sweet perfume and welcome smiles
And when I'm gone away, she'll be waitin' for me there,
Heaven at the end of all the miles...(but now I)

I look for a tavern in every town I pass
And a whiskey on the bar to set me almost free
And when I find my name at the bottom of the glass
That'll be the last drink for me...(I)

Subject: RE: Great Truckin' Songs!
From: Ed T
Date: 13 Dec 09 - 06:17 PM

There is always Harry Chapin's 30,000 Pounds of Bananas to consider.

Subject: RE: Great Truckin' Songs!
From: deadfrett
Date: 13 Dec 09 - 09:45 PM

How about Jim & Jesse's "Diesel on my tail"? Any one heard the "The Phantom Wind Breaker"? Dave

Subject: RE: Great Truckin' Songs!
From: fumblefingers
Date: 14 Dec 09 - 12:10 AM

Dick Curless "Drag'em off the Interstate, sock it to 'em JP Blues"

John Anderson "Chicken Truck"

Subject: RE: Great Truckin' Songs!
From: Sandy Mc Lean
Date: 14 Dec 09 - 12:41 AM

At one point in my life I was a driver of the big rigs. One song that I related to was Curles' "Tombstone Every Mile" which has already been posted. Another was the Willis Brothers "Give Me Forty Acres". I think both relate strongly to the sheer terror of when I was a greenhorn driver.

Give Me Forty Acres

Subject: RE: Great Truckin' Songs!
From: GUEST,Roger Knowles
Date: 14 Dec 09 - 02:46 AM

How about 'Mama Hated Diesels' & 'Truck Drivin' Queen' ? I always liked those two.

Subject: RE: Great Truckin' Songs!
From: Cluin
Date: 14 Dec 09 - 02:59 AM

Terry Fell's Truck Drivin' Man, covered by many.

Subject: RE: Great Truckin' Songs!
From: melodeonboy
Date: 14 Dec 09 - 03:02 AM

Commander Cody did quite a few - "Truck Drivin' Man", "18 Wheels", "Semi-Truck", "Tina Louise", "Lookin' At The World Through a Windshield", "Truckin, ****in'" as well as some of those mentioned above.

Subject: RE: Great Truckin' Songs!
From: mkebenn
Date: 14 Dec 09 - 05:21 AM

Bobert. Yea, I know "Bellyfull",Never thought of it as a trucking song, though.Are you familiar with Stewart's "Eighteen Wheels"? From "Fire in the Wind" I belive.
has one of the greatest verses ever. IMHO


Chevrolet burnin' in the left hand lane,

me, I'm lookin' down thru the window pane

Behind's layin with her head in his lap

I don't believe she's takin' a nap
but I ain't got time tonight      Mike

Subject: RE: Great Truckin' Songs!
From: bankley
Date: 14 Dec 09 - 05:31 AM

thanks Kendall... I like the lyric... any music to it ? R.

Subject: RE: Great Truckin' Songs!
From: GUEST,Brian Daniels
Date: 14 Dec 09 - 11:37 AM

Also from the Commander Cody "cannon":

From The Womb to The Tomb
Truck Stop Rock
Truck Stop At The End Of The World

Subject: RE: Great Truckin' Songs!
From: GUEST,TJ in San Diego
Date: 14 Dec 09 - 12:04 PM

One of Gordon Lightfoot's more obscure songs is "Long Thin Dawn," a rhythmic driving number about cross country trucking. Another is John Stewart's "July, You're A Woman" aka "Saint of San Joaquin." I come from the San Joaquin Valley, but that's not why I like the song.

Subject: RE: Great Truckin' Songs!
From: GUEST,Kendall
Date: 14 Dec 09 - 02:40 PM

Yes, bankley, I'll see if I can get it up but I really don't know how to do that techy stuff.

Subject: RE: Great Truckin' Songs!
From: fumblefingers
Date: 14 Dec 09 - 09:33 PM

Curtis Leach 1964 - Highway Man

Subject: RE: Great Truckin' Songs!
From: Clifton53
Date: 14 Dec 09 - 11:02 PM

An obscure tune from Alvin Crow and The Pleasant Valley Boys called "Dynamite Diana" comes to mind, as well as 'Champion At Keepin Them Rollin", I think that's the title, by The Dubliners.

Also, by Ritchie Kavanagh, a song called " Juggernaut "

Subject: RE: Great Truckin' Songs!
From: fumblefingers
Date: 15 Dec 09 - 12:50 AM

Jimmy Martin - Widow Maker

Subject: RE: Great Truckin' Songs!
From: Suffet
Date: 15 Dec 09 - 11:58 AM

Dead and Gone -- the tragic but swinging story of Truckstop Sal and Cowboy John.

Enjoy!

--- Steve

Subject: RE: Great Truckin' Songs!
From: Joe_F
Date: 15 Dec 09 - 08:22 PM

"Champion at Keeping 'em Rolling" is by Ewan MacColl.

One might also mention "The Belle of Avenue A" by The Fugs, tho it is only about a trucker, not about trucking.

Does "Trucking the Blues Away" count?

Subject: RE: Great Truckin' Songs!
From: GUEST,Jake
Date: 17 Dec 09 - 08:21 PM

Real song -
Lights on the hill -- Slim Dusty

Subject: RE: Great Truckin' Songs!
From: GUEST,999
Date: 17 Dec 09 - 09:01 PM

Someone has to say it: "Convoy".

Subject: RE: Great Truckin' Songs!
From: evansakes
Date: 18 Dec 09 - 03:36 AM

Someone already HAS said it (three or four times!) Mercy sakes alive :-)

Also mentioned above a couple of times but in my opinion the greatest ever truckdriving song as well as the saddest (probably one of the saddest songs of any kind in fact) 'Mama Hated Diesels'. Take a bow, Mr Blackie Farrell.

"Now it's me and the local preacher
Standing in the graveyard grass
Staring down at the highway
Watching those big rigs pass
Well he laid his hand upon me
And he prayed for quite some time
But I could barely understand the words he said
Behind that highway's whine

Then he handed me a faded photograph
He said he found it in my mama's hand
He said "Son I'm afraid that you and this picture
Were the best your Mama ever had"
Well I looked down at that picture
It was Mama and some guy
Standing in front of a semi-truck
"Just Married" painted on the side"

Bill Kirchen still does it like he did with the Commander way back when....

It's filmed in a bar so you have to try to ignore the drunken eejits talking and fighting throughout Mama Hated Diesels

There's also a pretty good (and slightly surreal) truckdriving song by the late great Dave Carter (sung here with Tracy Grammer)

Little Liza Jane

Subject: RE: Great Truckin' Songs!
From: GUEST,Bob in San Francisco
Date: 10 Feb 10 - 11:41 PM

As a rabid Bill Kirchen fan, I loved it yesterday when the DJ at Outlaw Country on sat radio played "Freightliner Fever", followed by "Truckstop at the End of the World" (which I never realized are the exact same tune with different lyrics!), and then completed the hat trick with Kirchen's rendition of "Mama Hated Diesels".

They play a great mix on that station.

Subject: RE: Great Truckin' Songs!
From: GUEST
Date: 10 Feb 10 - 11:45 PM

Thanks, TwickFolk. You have NO idea how much I disliked that song ("Convoy"). It ranked right up there beside "Horse With No Name".

'We got ourselves a horse with no name' . . . .

Subject: RE: Great Truckin' Songs!
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 11 Feb 10 - 08:28 PM

White Line Fever. I was estranged from Merle in the sixties and seventies, but now I can appreciate him, like your Uncle with the tattoos and the prison record. Just steer clear when he gets to drinkin.