Why has this never been made into a movie? It's like literally one of the only songs ever written that would make a perfect movie storyline in and of itself without any other songs or input needed.
My grandfather was in Vietnam. I used to live on Copperhead Road. My in laws still do. The county can't keep the sign up. Everytime they put a new one up, someone steals it. LOL!
JOHN PETTIEMORE FUNNY how music mimics life Bag Pipes this song love it g with a life of hanging with the bros growing up a little both worlds fishing the lake accross the street camping in the wilds no bathrooms and prissy showers leared to sqaut early age bathe in the mountain lakes fun nothing like a fresh caught trout or steelhead for dinner pick the wild huckleberry make muffins and campfires coffee for breakfast with Mount Rainer as your sunset and morning veiw hard pressed to find a woman to vaca. this way what I grew up with I don't know much about fancy hotels and restaurants my parents were simple humble people taught to appreciate what we had and experience nature in the raw my son Zeb brought up the same hunts and fishes every chance he gets just got himself a small boat to get the crab and Salmon PNW is so plentiful with good for you wild salmon orange with benfitial oils not the pail pink farm raised ones of the East coast just like cattle who knows what they have done with the genetics right here at home my dad raised two steer free of the shots they give them nowdays one for us and one for resale to pay for the raising in Europe the butchers do not waste anyparts so my mom cooked the tongue at first us kids wouldnt eat it But it smelled good so I tried was so surprised it's actually very good leftovers make good sandwiches sweet meats are out not eating any animals liver gizzard p word or brains lol I don't care what country I'm visting they're out I watched on a traveling TV show they cooked these parts to see if the dumb americans would eat it laughing the whole time Great nation however so young sometimes we not to swift have experienced this my self my trips abroad they say ignorance is bliss sometimes our arrogance proceeds us better to realize we don't know everything goes further in friendships of Foreign lands just like that younger brother or sister not knowing the ways of life yet Is how they see US if you want respect give it change comes with understanding and Knowledge put yourself in others shoes experience their life sometimes I feel I am channeling Masters that have come before and still have much more to say Grand speeches I Have A Dream.. Your Father Has Designed Many Mansions for You To Abide In could this be whole planets? GANDI Mother Teresa Muhammad Buda all have said profound teaching so we may learn who we are HU-MANS-BEING NO ONE BETTER THEN THE OTHER SAME worlds are waiting for us to see and remember who we are ...My nephew can not hurt even a bug finds one in the house caputures it and releases it back to nature if we all had this spirt can you imagine the world this would be I have seen first hand what war oppression greed can do to people why we have to turn that around before its the end of everything knowledge and becoming heart centered is a start just takes ONE monkey to ignite the rest anyone seen 2001 space odyssey back in the day was metafor in the movie one ape teahing another to use a tool to open food once eyes open just forward movement fire needs catalyst a start k said a mouthful here talk for around the water cooler lol went to my local 7/11 shop recently was a group of men there debating they were from nation of India this is what inspiration does peaceful good discussions nasmastay
@@nudgeunit you are correct sir, I think we are all more alike then we realize.....wish we all as people could figure that out....hope things are well in Nova Scotia
I've played this song tons over recent decades while growing weed. My farmer/moonshiner/saxophonist grandpa from Kansas used to sell liquor at hall dances his band played. He said no matter how bad things got people still needed entertainment. They would often play for a share of the donation hat that got passed at the event and a cut of the booze profits, often payed in barter because nobody had much cash. Grandma said Grandpa's still and his sax kept them alive during the dust-bowl and depression.
My husband ran moonshine for his dad many many years ago in the hills of southwest Virginia and was in a bad accident that took his hearing in one ear and put him in a coma for 12 days…bc of this they wouldn’t take him in the draft but everything else about this song fit him to a tee. He’s gone now but he loved this song. RIP Roger 💖💙
if ya can,t defy the gov, this tells ya if ya do ,its what every person wants ,thats why we have nascar,, what a gloriouse win,defy those who want to contain you,it,s more than likely right
I still remember the first time I heard this at a school dance. Everyone got up to dance like they'd replayed the Cha Cha Slide. Long story short, sitting entirely too close to the speakers, I fell in love. I get the shivers every time its a surprise on the radio. I will scream along pretty much the entire thing, my volume at full blast, smacking the wheel with my free hand during the "duh duh duh:" bits. Just a few weeks ago, I was sniffing in my car, exhausted and angry after a bad shift, radio on in the background. I recognized it instantly, rolled the dial as high as it would go, and let it wash away the tension.
@@salimsemlali4832 that's interesting. I guess it makes sense because the seed from columbia could very well be coca seeds. But this is highly unlikely because I think it's hard to grow coca, and not only that, it's somewhat difficult to extract the cocaine. I have never heard of a case of someone successfully growing coca in the US
The song feels so real I feel I'm living it. "I can still remember that rumblin' sound" The Revenue man never came back from C-R... Didn't songs like this used to be called ballads? Edmund Fitzgerald etc...
My friend's grandfather actually made moonshine in Georgia way back when.... and we heard this song one day driving down A1A in Daytona Beach Florida during bike week and the crowded streets went wild singing the words to this song. Now we play it every time we go out to the bars here, everyone loves it!!
@@rachaelhardin hears the choppers in the air wake up screaming like I'm backl over there. Yep, though they didn't call it that then. I once saw a Vietnam vet in a parking lot with a gun hiding from Charlie. He didn't hurt anybody bur was completely in Nam in his mind.
not really about PTSD.. The last verse you're referencing is him waking up to the DEA agents choppers flying over his grow operation in the hollers of the same land in Johnson County Tenn. his daddy and granddaddy used to make moonshine. During that moment the sounds & sights reminded him of Vietnam. After serving two tours of Duty in Vietnam, his new plan was using the seed from Colombia and Mexico to grow marijuana disguised by the crops grown up the hollers of Copperhead Road. The same spot he was always warned NOT to go because he would never come back! Also the last "better stay away from copperhead rd" is a warning to the DEA agents to watch their steps because the new defensive skills to guard his grow he learned from "Charlie." It's about his fear & realizing that all the warnings had come true and his family history was repeating itself.
@@BuffaloNickel9 I've personally seen a helicopter and or gunshot bring about PTSD. Waking up screaming has been reported as episodes of PTSD. The song may mean both but it's definitely an element of PTSD.
@@irisheyes2379 the DEA chopper sounds remind him of Vietnam, but the verse is not necessarily all about ptsd, just a reaction to the moment. Hence the nature of folk's reply comments to you. Find his 1998 or 1999 interview. Could there be an element to it that he didn't mention? Yes, Maybe. I see where you're going. I would suggest just enjoying this badass song! Its All good. This is great taste in music. And That we can agree on.
The Johnson County that he mentioned is the place I live, Johnson County Tennessee and the city is Mountain City. The Mason's lodge was a car auction that sold cars a long time ago and is just a few miles from my house.
My family came from the area... Roan mountain. I lived on Buck Mountain for some time.. Still kept my land. This is soul music to me. Every male in my family has made whiskey at one time or another, including me. I'll be teaching my 3 girls, Nephew, and anyone else how to make it. This is a dying art and should be passed on.
@therockkkkher There is. Unfortunately, it had to be renamed Copperhead Hollow Road due to theft of the road sign (but it didn't stop the issue). If you look up Copperhead Hollow Road, Mtn City, TN, it will pull it up on Google Maps. My father has also posted a video on RU-vid of a drive down the road. Due to copyright issues, he couldn't put the video with the actual song though.
We have been doing fine for this weekend so I’ll keep the pool 🎱 was in my head to be able I think 💭 gonna has to a better than one ☝️ was in our way and the girls had been together so they didn’t want us there for them so I had them to get out to go the way I had a couple more days and they have a good day at home 🏠 I love 💗 we have had to be friends for years but they were just a lot and we are so excited 😆 we love 💕 I wanna I hope 🤞 has come a little time for me so I’ll have it tomorrow I love 💗 is your you have the most delicious 🤤 is that you love 💗 the best of you and you are so much fun and I love you so much I rlove ethe most precious man 👨 I have had been the one day
I am forty years old, and just heard this song for the first time this morning on my way to work. I have never been a fan of very much outlaw country, or Steve Earle but I thought this was a kickass song, and had to come here to get all of the lyrics.
DERP COLEMAN yep. My BF WAS A moon shiner w/ his old man, and the old man' daddy taught him the craft. My BF also ran it from WV from Lincoln county to East Cincinnati . Copper head road is a poetic remembrance for my man. He also enlisted during the LATE Nam years, never was deployed but did earn one-fifty for every jump he made. Many years, many memories of those. Times.
Daddy played this on road trips, and we would play it at home just for a good time sometimes, after stacking wood in the shed. Some childhood memories just stick in one's soul... This song is one of them. ❤🎉🥰
@Phil And StuffFuck off. Your precious "law" isn't always right. I was stuck in a horrifically abusive situation as a child. I still have the meat cleaver scar on my back. The "law" said I had to stay there & if I ran away I was sent straight back. So don't defend shitty laws & the shitty people who enforce them.
I'm from the North. My bros & sisters are Tennessean. I was known as Yankee down there. Eastern Tennessee is beautiful. I remember driving up the mountain with my bro. Sippin on some shine. Very good memory. This song was playing on repeat the whole time. Sláinte!
r.i.p mr. rhoten! thanks for being a part of our family! you have made a huge impact on many kids who grew up with you kicking our butts when we needed it most!
... Hi, I´m from Europe and I just don´t know what Steve Earle is talking about when the county sheriff SHOT A COAT OF PRIMER AND THEN LOOKED INSIDE ... WHAT´S THAT BUSINESS with a COAT of PRIMER all about ?? American Slang ? Southern Meaning I just cannot suss out ?? thanks for your assistance. Best wishes Martin .....
@@martinderry6728 I see the question was 3 years ago but if anyone still wonders -- think it means the WORDS "Johnson County Sheriff" were painted on the side because it was an old police car being auctioned off to the public and now his daddy, the buyer, sprayed paint primer ("shot a coat of primer") to cover the words since it would now just be a regular person's car. Then he "looked inside" to check out what the condition was or what was left inside or something. Or actually, maybe looked inside the engine since that rumbling noise is referred to in the next line.
Brandon Hess this song is about the south and the "Charlie" he is talking about is not a person he is talking about the Vietnamese, over in the Vietnam War they called the Vietnamese "Charlies". Now listen to this song again and it will have a whole new meaning.
@Lil' Wayne's guitar teacher You're getting closer. I'm from Johnson COUNTY, TN, we're about an hour or so northeast of Johnson City. The road is in our county. It's been renamed "Copperhead Hollow Rd" due to the sign being stolen, repeatedly.
I live in northwest Arkansas and know they are singing about Tennessee. There’s literally multiple references alluding to that throughout the song. Also, as previously stated, Charlie is not a person. He is talking about the NVA in Vietnam. Great song nonetheless!
I grew up with a grandfather that once made shine he had a railroad job and fed 5 families ( our close relatives)through the depression he would set up a down and out relative with a cabin and they would grow corn....he only made wine in the 60s when I came along ,later my aunt and uncle talked about helping him bury folks that discovered his still ...mean times ...20s and 30s... had an uncle that survived Vietnam shot down 3 times in 01 bird dog observation planes...he grew up trapping in the swamps and didn't get lost because of his sense of direction saved him after an eleven day escape from the vietcong....my family at one time lived this song...as for the new plan...our seeds didn't do that well but for years I knew folks who made their living on weed...all them old hippies and good biker friends long gone nowadays..just dangerous punks on meth out in the country now.. aint the same..
Hahaha I legit love this song so much I had it on repeat day n night :D , I'm sure my neighbours are glad I moved .. Love n light stay bright n beautiful XXX :D
You better stay away from Copperhead Rd, because he "Learned a thing or 2 from Charlie.." "Charlie" being North Vietnamese & the thing or 2 he learned was setting jungle trip-wires. Jus' sayin : )
They also had a bunch of tricks for shooting down 'nam era military helicopters (not so much destroying them, but forcing them to head back to a clearing to land thus rendering it useless for a few days while it was being repaired) with nothing but hunting rifles and other weapons that are easily obtained in the states. So back when this song was written he could easily get that 1980's DEA chopper off his back if he knew how.
I've played this song tons over recent decades while growing weed. My farmer/moonshiner/saxophonist grandpa from Kansas used to sell liquor at hall dances his band played. He said no matter how bad things got people still needed entertainment. They would often play for a share of the donation hat that got passed at the event and a cut of the booze profits, often payed in barter because nobody had much cash. Grandma said Grandpa's still and his sax kept them alive during the dust-bowl and depression.
Great song, Matthew, thanks for sharing it. Reminds me of some good ol' days. There was a Copperhead road in my family. You ever had peach shine? Yuuum good,
Lee Ward: served with plenty of y'all in the army (Ranger Regiment & Airborne infantry.)good men.think of west Texas as Appalachia west.lol.blessings sir.
I know only 2 songs from Steve Earle which i heard on the radio when i lived in New Zealand in 1990, one was this classic and the other was 'the other kind' i think it was called.
