| |
N0KFQ > TODAY 10.01.15 16:00l 51 Lines 2325 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 44387_N0KFQ
Read: GUEST
Subj: Today in History - Jan 10
Path: IZ3LSV<IV3SCP<SR1BSZ<OK0NBR<PY1AYH<PY1AYH<CX2SA<VK2DOT<9Y4PJ<N9PMO<
N0KFQ
Sent: 150110/1455Z 44387@N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA BPQ1.4.62
Jan 10, 1976:
"Convoy," by C.W. McCall, is the #1 song on the U.S. pop charts
It was a song that celebrated the exploits of a rebellious
trucker with a reckless disregard for human life and highway
safety codes. It gave the gravelly-voiced C.W. McCall his biggest
pop hit on this day in 1976, except that technically, "C.W.
McCall" was a figment of the imagination. The genius behind
"Convoy" was, in reality, an Omaha advertising executive named
Bill Fries_not a fearless runner of police roadblocks, perhaps,
but certainly a man with an ear for esoteric dialogue and a
finger on the pulse of one of the strangest fads ever to grip the
nation, even by the standards of the 1970s.
"Convoy" marked the high-water point of a mid-70s trucking/CB
radio craze that had millions of Americans creating "handles" for
themselves_Beer Man, Pink Lady, Scooter Pie, etc._and daydreaming
about the glamorous life of the long-haul trucker. Hollywood
responded to the craze in its typically restrained fashion with a
parade of trucking-related cultural works whose highlights
include Smokey and the Bandit (1977) and B.J. and the Bear
(1979-1981), as well as Sam Peckinpah's crash-filled thriller
Convoy (1978), inspired by McCall's hit song and starring Kris
Kristofferson, Ali McGraw and Ernest Borgnine. Some even credit
"Convoy" as a crucial evolutionary step along the path toward The
Dukes of Hazzard.
But as significant as the cultural influence of "Convoy" may have
been going forward, the song did not arise in a vacuum. True, it
was the only trucking narrative to climb so high on the pop music
charts, but "Convoy" joined a long line of such hits on the
country charts, including Dick Curless's "Tombstone Every Mile"
and Red Simpson's "Roll, Truck, Roll" and "Diesel Smoke,
Dangerous Curves."
As for C.W. McCall, he released Rubber Duck, an entire album of
trucking songs, later in 1976, but none of its tracks captured
the American imagination the way "Convoy" had. After releasing
two more albums in the late-1970s, including the trucking-free
Roses for Mama (1978), "C.W. McCall" retired and moved to the
small town of Ouray, Colorado, where he served three terms as
mayor_under the name of William Dale Fries, Jr.
73, K.O. n0kfq
N0KFQ @ N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA
E-mail: kohiggs@gmail.com
Using Outpost Ver 2.8.0 c42
Read previous mail | Read next mail
| |
