Truckin' ~ Convoy
 

These are the lyrics of the ’new version’, reflecting the events of the motion picture Convoy.
Yes, the soundtrack album does credit the song to "Louis F. Davis, William Fries, C.W. McCall".



Arizona, noon, on the seventh of June
When they highballed over the pass
Bulldog Mack with a can on back
And a Jaguar haulin’ ass
He’s ten on the floor, stroke an’ bore
Seatcover’s startin’ ta gain
Now beaver, you a-truckin’ with the Rubber Duck
An’ I’m about ta pull the plug on your drain

...................... [Chorus]
...................... ’Cause we got a little ol’ convoy
...................... Rockin’ through the night
...................... Yeah, we got a little ol’ convoy,
...................... Ain’t she a beautiful sight?
...................... Come on and join our convoy
...................... Ain’t nothin’ gonna get in our way
...................... We gonna roll this truckin’ convoy
...................... ’Cross the U-S-A
...................... Convoy!

New Mexico, on I-four-oh
Like a Texas lizard on glass
One thousand pedals was mashin’ the metal
Them bears was a-walkin’ the grass
We trucked all day and we trucked all night
Big Benny improvin’ our style
We could tell by the smell
We was headin’ for Hell
And the Devil was Dirty Lyle

...................... [Chorus]

..... [This next verse appears only in the movie itself; it’s not in the song on the soundtrack album.]

Texas dawn and the charge was on to the pits of Alvarez town
We had nine of our best comin’ outta the west
And the ultimate hammer was down
Yeah, speed-trap city and we showed no pity
’Cause the whole damn place was a pile
We could tell by the smell it was trucker’s hell
And the devil was Dirty Lyle

Now Lyle was a creep
He was tacky and cheap
But he had him a badge an’ a gun
He hated the Duck and he hated his truck
And he loved to bust truckers for fun
So he followed the line
And he bided his time
And he watched for his chance to strike
Then he picked on a trucker
Yeah, a wiry ol’ sucker
Yeah, the trucker they call Spider Mike
But the great Rubber Duck
Sorta run outta luck
When he crossed that final bridge
There’s choppers and rigs full’a guns an’ pigs
They’s wall-to-wall on the ridge
He showed no fear as he grabbed his gear
An’ he stuck it in grandaddy low
Them guns went boom
An’ his ass went zoom
An’ the Mack took a terminal blow

Well, that big black Mack stopped dead in her tracks
When the trailer blew high in the air
There was pieces of truck and some pieces of Duck
And junk and debris everywhere
Then the rig took a drink an’ commenced to sink
And there was no Duck no more
But that evil smile from Dirty ol’ Lyle
Shone south from the north Texas shore

...................... [Chorus]

Convoy! Ah, 10-4,
Convoy! Pig Pen, what’s your twenty? Omaha? Well,
Convoy! they oughta know what to do with them hogs out there fer shure. Well, listen, good buddy,
Convoy! keep the bugs off’n your glass and the bears off’n your ass. We’ll
Convoy! catch you on the flip-flop. This here’s the Rubber Duck on the side. Southbound an’ down.
Convoy! We gone. ’Bye,’bye.


CW McCall

The First Tractor-Trailer
 

I knew Knox made cars and trucks in Springfield, MA, in the early20th century, after all that’s home.
I was looking at some Knox firetrucks when I found these.

http://cellar.org/2016/knox-1.jpg

What? Three wheeled firetruck? I thought, that can’t be very heavy duty. Boy was I wrong.

http://cellar.org/2016/knox-2.jpg

OK, Land-Tug for moving freight trailers around factories and depots, slow and strong.
They also made a Road Tractor, but that can’t be very fast either.
Then I found pictures of them doing things I didn’t think even 1910 trucks could do.

http://cellar.org/2016/Knox-3.jpg
http://cellar.org/2016/Knox-4.jpg

By 1915 the four wheeled tractor spelled the end of days for the three wheeled model.
Probably to go faster with more stability on the road.

http://cellar.org/2016/Knox-5.jpg

Some clippings from the era.

http://cellar.org/2016/Knox-6 (1).jpg

http://cellar.org/2016/Knox-7.jpg

http://cellar.org/2016/Knox-8.jpg

So there you have it, now you know who invented the Semi.

The new version's good. I still prefer the original, tho.

The new version better matches the video but I don't know about the movie.

Great find Bruce! I love the design of the thing. I bet you could really wheedle through tight streets with that.

Yeah, Land-Tug is the perfect description, and an elegant solution. It's an engineers wet dream and a designers nightmare. But the on/over, the road pictures blew me away, made me think of farm tractors hauling machinery over the road at 25 mph.
I was surprised at finding the origins of tractor trailer and semi, one of the guilty pleasures of these multi-hour wanderings down rabbit holes that make people cluck and pat me on the head. :haha:

The Russians wanted to mechanize and when they sought advice they heard... ♫ Go ask Allis, I think she'll go...

The tune is pretty much the same, but the lyrics are a bit different.

Here are the original 1975 lyrics, also by CW:

Yes, he wasn't happy with the matchup of the lyrics with the film, that's what inspired this project.

A different kind of truckin' in a different kind of truck...