FIRST TIME HEARING | C.W. McCall - Convoy 

What people aren't saying is that there was a bit of a battle between truckers and police at the time. The interstate speed limit had been cut from 70mph to 55, making it hard for truckers to make a living. Back then truckers drove as many hours and miles as they could with the help of coffee and amphetamines. The more they drove, the more they could earn, and they were critical for getting products from one place to another. To get the job done, they often pushed past what rules existed. To some they were folk heroes and to others they were almost outlaws. Of course, police tended to go with the outlaw opinion. Some might say that truckers in that era were the last cowboys. They tended to be on the road for anywhere from days to weeks before they were home again, drop a load, pick up another, and just keep rolling. Six Days on the Road by Dave Dudley (an ex trucker) is a classic (not the remake by Sawyer Brown). Teddy Bear by Red Sovine catches the softer side of truckers and will likely make you cry. Sovine's earlier hit, "Phantom 309" is a classic eerie tale that's actually before the CB craze. Can't give away more, but expect chills. There's a lot more, but the key to the 70s trucker stories is often understanding just how wild and tense things were between truckers and police. Some saw it as a fight between the law and lawbreakers, others as a fight for freedom against too many rules, and there have always been police who took things too far. One of the most common images of the 70s was a facist Southern sheriff wearing mirrored sunglasses. For the classic comedic look at that side of things, listen to The White Knight by Cledus Maggard. You can find various listings of cb slang on the internet if you want to understand more.

This was back in the CB radio days when truckers used the CBs to communicate. Some still do. There was a whole language around it. There was a movie "Convoy" made from this song. I believe the movie is here on RU-vid for free. It was awesome.

C. W. McCall is a Country singer. Truck drivers used C.B. radios. They became were very popular in the 1970's with people using them in their cars & homes. He did another C.B. song called, "Round the world with the rubber duck" Trucking songs were huge in classic country music. Other songs by C.W. "Wolf creek pass," "Classified" "Old home, filler-up an' keep on a-truckin' cafe," "Crispy critters," "There won't be no Country Music, There won't be no rock an roll." You need to listen to Red Sovine, "Teddy Bear." or "Giddy-up Go." Warning, you may need some tissues. There are tons of truck driving songs. Merle Haggard, "Movin' On" A silly, cute song Called, "The Shirley and Squirrely song"

Bear is trucker lingo for cops. This came out when the C.B. radio was big. Ppl, including in my family had one in their homes. This was the title song for a movie by the same name

In the mid-70s there was a popular craze for CB radio. This was a result of that.

People should take into account your age and remember when they were young, maybe then they would cut you more slack! A convoy of semi-trucks is something to see, he's talking to them on a C.B. (citizens band) radio. If you really want to know what this is all about you should check out the movie "Convoy". Great music and lots of truckin' fun!

CB radios were very popular for men who drove big rigs in the 70's and 80's. Everyone had a "handle" or User ID, if you will, that they used to identify themselves instead of using their real names. My husband owned a pickup truck that was a dark blue called Midnight Blue and he used this as his CB handle. I took Midnight Lady as my handle. We didn't drive 18 wheelers but we had a radio in our house and we mostly talked skip. Talking skip means you are talking to people a long distance away. We lived in Nashville and it was not uncommon for us to talk to people in Ireland or Australia because late at night the signal was incredible and you could reach pretty much anywhere on earth. Truck drivers called state troopers "bears". Someone would come on the channel and ask if anyone had seen any bears and someone would come back and say, "Yes. I saw a bear at mile marker 220 or No, there are no bears in sight." When he said "they had a bear in the air" he meant that they had a state trooper in a helicopter monitoring traffic and this was their way of warning other truckers not to speed. This was back in the days before cellphones, so CB Radios were also a lifeline for truckers. If they had engine problem or their truck broke down or they were having some sort of health crisis, they would go to Channel 19 which was the standard trucker's channel and put out a distress signal and give their location (their "20") and explain what kind of trouble they were having and if any other truckers were in that vicinity they would go help them and if they weren't where they could get to them they would send someone else to help them so CB Radios literally may have saved people's lives. But even if they never had any sort of problem, truckers used their CB Radio to help them stay awake. Getting to their destination in a timely fashion meant more money for them so there was a strong incentive to keep driving and not stop to sleep and talking to other truckers kept them from falling asleep behind the wheel. C. W. McCall had a lot of songs about the trucker culture. Convoy was perhaps his best known one but he also had a song called Teddy Bear that was a real tearjerker that was very well known also.

OMG this takes me back. We had CB radios in our vehicles back in the 1970's. Gotta watch Burt Reynolds in Smoky and the Bandit -

This was before cell phones, GPS and radar detectors. It's like listening to a different language - country through and through.

Great song to react to...albeit understandably confusing to someone that wasn't around back then. As already mentioned this was before cell phones and once kids were old enough to drive it was an ideal way for families when the Dad, Mom, and each teenager had their own car, job and activities to keep tabs on each other. My Dad's C.B. handle (name) was Big Cat, my Mom's was Wampus Kitty, my brother's was Bear Cat and because I was the only one without a CB radio and was always on the go, they all referred to me as Stray Kitty! Everyone in the area knew each other and conversed while driving to/from work or school or anywhere else. And the neat thing about this song was when it mentioned your town (we lived in "Tulsa Town" and we all knew exactly where he was talking about when he talked about the "cloverleaf" there) it made it feel more personal. Others have mentioned the problems that truckers had when the national speed limit dropped to 55mph due to the OPEC oil embargo which sparked the U.S.Oil/Energy Crisis of the 1970's, and made a tough job even harder for the truckers. Like you said, in a lot of the songs of the 60's/70's understanding the context of those times can make a huge difference! I always enjoy your reaction videos and I look forward to seeing more.

Great movie to Ck out -- Convoy

"Wolf Creek Pass" is a hilarious story song by CW McCall... It's basically country rap from the 70's..

Your reactions are priceless! lol My husband had a CB, he was King Cobra.

Watch the movie CONVOY, starred Chris Kristofferson, they made the movie in tribute to the truckers protesting unfair wages and taxes. Yup, there really was a convoy!! Almost everone had CB Radios, we could talk to other people, ask about the road conditions and keep in touch with everyone on hhe road. It was also a great way to let each other know about stops for food etc... When we moved back to Florida from PA, there were three cars......my Mom in a 64 1/2 cherry red mustang, my sister and I in her AMC Matador, Daddy was driving a big Oldsmobile, pulling our boat. I was 16! It was fun and we got to hear all the chatter. This is "Daddy's Baby" .....Signing off

Welcome to the 70's and the world of CB radios. Convoy is a a bunch of trucks and truckers driving together that's why he says 85 trucks in all flying down the road one after another.

This, John Denver, Hee Haw, Lawrence Welk, and the Muppets. Damn its good to be alive

The whole C W McCall phenom started with commercials for Metz baking company that made "Old Home Bread." I LOVED those ads and so did just about everybody else. "McCall" was actually an advertising executive named Bill Fries, and he came up with the idea of a trucker named C W (as in Country western?) McCall and a waitress named Mavis at the "Old Home Fill 'er Up and Keep on Truckin' Cafe." The commercials were classics; that's back when commercials were either 60 seconds or 30 seconds, long enough to make each one a little vignette, and they won a Clio award. And towards the end he says "Omaha???"-- an inside joke, because Bozell and Jacobs, the advertising agency Fries worked for, was in from Omaha. You should deinitely check out the commercials.

So many things to say. Yeah there's a whole lingo of CB Trucking world and trucking music is an entire genre that actually started in the late thirties before World War II even. But really it reads kind of a movie level stuff in early 70s and this is what this represents. But yeah man it was a whole culture at the time. I was such a little kid but I had CB walkie-talkies and was totally into it and later drove a truck when I got a little older. It's supposed to be a humorous take on a situations that were often quite tedious and difficult and just lonely. But there was so much humor in it and so there are so many code words in this stuff it's unbelievable. So Smokey is like a County mountie, or just kind of a county level or District level law enforcement. But back then man there were no regulations on trucking and so these guys would run really hard and drop all kinds of pills and speed and stuff like covered ground but they were really good. And it became a game or the cops are like we're going to bust you man. It's a whole rabbit hole that I think you might appreciate the humor of even from a distance. 10-4 is one of several CB codes, CB meaning citizens band radio which is the province of trucking back through many years. It's before we had the internet and satellites and stuff like that but it was meant for heavy-duty coordinating of moving Goods across the country. There were always these 10 codes.. 10-4 good buddy Gets to a degree of politeness and camaraderie Even in another wise kind of crude Road driven World. There were tons of them and there still are. If you listen to a police scanner you'll hear the same stuff. Ace, another one at the eclipse of it at the eclipse of it in the 70s which was just totally High comedy at this point but it also knew it stuff, you've got to check out white night by Cletus Haggard❤ m.ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-oh66kDox4R0.html&pp=ygUVV2hpdGUgbmlnaHQgQ1cgTWNDYWxs

This was basically a truckers protest song. The national speed limit was 55 which was not the most economical speed for trucks so it was costing the truckers money. So by communicating via CB radio the truckers would run convoys to speed and hopefully not by ticketed

This was cool back in the day! Please also experience saddd Country song: Teddy Bear by Red Sovine. You won't regret it! It's also truckers' CB lingo, & understandable! & heart-warming!

This was the first record i ever bought. 45 with a song called Long lonesome road on the B side

My oldest sister lived in a very rural location. Calling her neighbors on the phone was long-distance (for the youngsters, that means each call cost money) so everyone had CB radios. She passed away a few weeks ago and this really makes me think of her. She'd have loved your confused reaction. ❤😢❤

Thanks for the reaction Ace!! Another great trucking song is Red Sovine's 'Teddy Bear". It will hit in your feels. I would love to see your reaction to it.

They used Citizen Band two way radios to communicate between trucks. Bear was a name for police or State troopers. Every CB radio operator had a handle, a call name.

CB Radios (CB = Citizens Band) became a huge deal after this song and the movie "Smokey and the Bandit". It seemed like everyone had CB's and Handles. The names are people's "Handles" I-10 = Interstate 10 Shakey Town = Los Angeles Flag Town = Flagstaff Put the hammer down = Put your foot in the gas Bears & Smokeys = Police, State Troopers, Highway Patrol due to the style hat many wore IE Smokey the Bear hats. Swindle Sheets = Documentation. IE - Cargo, Truck weight, etc. Chi Town = Chicago Chicken Coops = Truck Weigh Stations

Anybody who requests this song for anybody younger than 50 years old should provide a glossary and a history lesson 😂

it was clean.music.....it was a great time to grow up and live ...music was fantastic 50's, 60's 70's and mid 80's ..... love watching you react

As young kids in the late 70s, my dad had a CB in his Suburban and my brother and I would get to ask truckers for info on smokey radar traps as we sped to my grandparents farm each weekend. Good times. "Breaker Breaker One Nine....."

You're good my dad was a truck driver and they have CB radios in their trucks we even had one in our car. Bears are police state our county . There's a movie called Convoy or there's Smokie and the Bandit that could put this song in perspective

Dale Fries passed away at 93 in 2022. He was the mayor Ouray Colorado from 1986 - 1992. Had a string of songs in the 1970s most dealing with trucking but a major one for the enviroment as well. Doesn't matter what interstate you were on from 1974 -1980 most drove in convoys. Most think it was all about police but there other problems especially for independent drivers that made things safer and well they could while the miles talking to others.

Back in the days before cell phones. Yes we, I was one kept a CITIZENS BAND radio on the dashboard tuned to channel 19 for communication between rigs. The odd thing was most interstate police ( Smokey Bear) had the radios as well and quite often a lot of jokes about looking for bears ended with more jokes than tickets. Double Nickels (55 mph) Front door, Back door and Rocking Chair indicated lead truck, rear truck and anyone’s rig in between the two. A whole language unto its own. Swindle sheets were log books, which are now track on computers linked to satellites. But it was more fun back then!

this is about the truckers protesting Toll Roads. new at the time... bears are state troopers... the wore Smokey Bear hats...

Almost everyone had a Citizen Band Radio at some point during the 70’s.

This song was huge in 1976 while I was driving across Ohio this song was on every button on the radio

There was also a movie in the 70s called Convoy. Red Sovine was a trucker who wrote some emotional songs. Check him out.

Omg. This is a fun flashback. My parents had this song on 8track!

Bless your heart, you look so confused. People used "handles" instead of real names. I was Ricochet Rabbit and husband was Deputy Dawg. This is how truckers talk between trucks.

Today, people 'hear' songs, back then people listened to songs. This is from the movie Convoy and is sort of a novelty song which was common n the seventies and eighties.

Citizens Band radios were used by a lot of over-the-road drivers and rural residents back in the 70's during the days before digital media There's a movie called "Convoy" to go along with this song. You should watch it some time. It would put a smile on your face. :D

❤ed this song and still do,totally different time.

I had a silver Chevy Vega GT w/ a removable Craig CB (old 23 channel version)...I was all of 18+ old and going with the flow...the speed limit had dropped to 55 mph (gas crisis of mid 1970s) so anything to go faster...you would know where all the "smokies" were... as they say, you had to be there!

A convoy is a bunch of truckers traveling together.

Rubber Duck and Pig Pen are the handles or names they went by on the CB, Bears are Police, 10-4 is yes.

Swindle sheet, the invoice at the scales. Overweight trucks pay significant penalties for the increased wear to the roads.

Oh, my God those whip antennas! I think there had to be a competition to see who could have the biggest one.

I met C.W. McCall, in 1978, in Fort Morgan, Colorado, when I was 12 years old. He was so friendly and really spent time with his fans.

LOL, I'm watching you watch this, and it's like someone listening to a song in Navajo!! By now, everybody has filled you in, so I won't belabor the points, I just wanted you to know how amusing it was.

Suicide jockey is trucking term for tanker truck

CB radio. Truckers use them to communicate with other truckers while on the road. Others can have a CB radio. They can switch to a lot of channels.

It never ceases to amaze me how little young people today know about the past. I can't imagine growing up in that kind of bubble where I didn't read anything or even watch old movies or listen to old music.

A truck convoy, or any convoy with a CB is so fun. ❤

this song pays homage to the trucker culture of the time. A convoy of trucks was a group of bigrigs would group up together with the goal of helping each other get to the destination as efficiently as possible. Bears was code for Police. Rubber Ducky and Pigpen were CB handles (Nicknames use by operators of CBs) that was the only way truckers could communicate on the road. There were no cellphones in that era. If they got enough trucks in the convoy, they could go a bit rogue as cops only had CBs too they couldn't really get instant back up like now. You should watch the actual video to this song, it was featured in the movie "Convoy" the video has clips that you can see the truckers interacting.

Pig Pen is a cattle truck hauling pigs.

A huge hit, and there was a 1978 movie based on it.

This was a country song. Truckers had their own language.

It was another time and place. The Citizen's Band radio craze was in full swing. Cell phones didn't exist and over-the-road truckers communicated via CB radio. It had a lingo all it's own.

My handle was Lansdowne cookie monster.

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the first #1 rap song in history.

Trucker CB radio talk. Big in the 70's.

Okay it came out around I think the time Smokey and the bandit came out with Burt Reynolds a convoy is a bunch of truckers talking to each other do eastbound & down with Burt Reynolds and Sally Field I'll send a link then you might understand

There's a movie that this song goes to. The movie is also called Convoy. It starred Kris Kistofferson, who is also a singer. You may have already reacted to his songs, I don't know.

They use their own CB language. there is a movie called "Convoy". worth seeing.

You should watch the video from Paul Brandt Convoy. Convoy is a truckin song.

Smoky Bear is the police - they helped each other avoid speeding and overweight tickets - your face is killing me. Seriously look for Smoky and the Bandit - watching that will explain better than any words.

2 months 2 late. But, eminem is a storyteller too. Every genre has a story. Country, rap, pop. They all have a message.

Bears are cops you got to watch the movie it explains all love your reactions

More CW McCall (Wolfcreek Pass) and possibly Red Sovine (Teddy Bear).

A rare instance in which toilet paper inspired a hit song which then inspired a film.

Convoys were away for the truckers to own the road they could be up to 500 trucks long and you didn't want to get stuck in the middle of one in your car that put you off the road

It's hilarious watching confusion !!

Do a bit of 70s history to understand the songs that we request

DUDE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!$

Check out Smokey and The Bandit you will see a convoy Great reaction ❤

Can you please react to Coward of the county Kenny Rogers and broken Wing Martina McBride and lady from Kenny Rogers

Cb radio in big trucks....then it got to be everywhere. My husband had one for years. ..I hated it.

Dude, As soon as I saw the title I turned to my wife sand said "He is gonna be so confused! He wouldn't understand anything. " And so you didn't. Thanks for a great reaction. you should try to find a translation of the lyrics so you can Understand it.

You should check out the group Alabama 's songs Roll on and Angels among US.There is an old T.v. series that would help you called B.J. and the Bear.

This one got you a follow. Relisten to it with a notepad or the lyrics pulled up. Then get ready for a fun Google dive into CB lingo, history and culture. Lol Enjoy!

Truckers get paid for each hall, so the more the hauls they make the money they make. Time to a trucker is money. Truckers are good people.

Watch that classic 1977 movie 'Smokey and the Bandit' then you know what a CONVOY is! ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-FP7O7aoa2Ag.html

Makes a lot more sense if you watch the movie

You have to goggle trucker/CB slang. Smokies & Bears are police! Red Sovine did a lot of trucker songs. I would recommend Teddy Bear. Have tissues handy.

A friend called it trucker music it was cb jargon try Teddy Bear

Watch the film its fun

Whenever you do a song like this, you need to have an old fella with you to explain everything that is going on. In other words... You are too young to understand. But, it was fun watching those gears spinning in your head! 😂

When cb radios came out truckers developed their own language.

Watch Smokey and the Bandit. This song will make more sense

Bear are COPS)!!!!!!

Try CW McCall's song Wolf Creek Pass

a truck drivers song, im retired 32 years trucking, there talking on a cb radio using truckers code, now all they do is cuss on another, and want to fight, no respect any more! im glad im retired from that!

Possible suggested reaction Roger Miller: "king of the road"

This is a difficult song to understand if you don't understand the CB and trucker terms. Good effort.

He made fun of the obscure terms cb folks used in a song called Rachetjaw.

they tried to tax the truckers out of bisness,truckers said no

Country Rap...

LOL

Still using cb as a hobby for over 30+ years now

You had to be there in the 70's to get it.

Convoy?? Seriously?? Can’t believe anyone suggested this one or that you did it LoL 🤦‍♀️ I still love you though!

If you don't understand CB radios, you will never understand the song.