Playlists: songs about trucks and trucking

By Marco den Ouden

Keep On Truckin’

It’s not surprising that the vast majority of songs nominated for this topic were country and western. And while twangy guitars, steel guitars, plaintive ballads and such are entertaining, have you ever noticed how a lot of country songs sound the same? So while there are certainly a lot of country songs in the lists, for the A List in particular I tried to vary the musical genres and mix it up a bit. Nevertheless we start out with two country classics.

C.W. McCall’s Convoy was immensely popular, helped along by the Sam Peckinpah movie of the same name which featured the song. It depicted the perennial conflict between truckers and the law in America. And the song popularized CB radio jargon. 

Another classic is Dave Dudley’s 1963 pioneering hit Six Days on the Road. Sun Records calls him “the father of truck driving country music.” 

Switching it up a bit, The Dandy Warhols tell the story of The Last of the Outlaw Truckers aka The Ballad of Sheriff Shorty in this hard driving rocker. Followed by the Hoodoo Gurus with Hayride to Hell, a ballad that tells of a trucker named Charlie whose sweet young daughter is knocked up on a hayride while he’s on the road. The ill-fated boyfriend is Billy Jackson, the son of the mayor. But tragedy strikes:

Charlie's daughter died whilst giving birth to Billy Jackson's child
And Billy Jackson ain't been seen around these parts for quite a while

George Thorogood is Gear Jammer, a trucker who uses the many gears on his truck to outwit the cops. Another hard driving song. Of course “hard driving” is what truckers do, right? 

Trucks have been around a lot longer than most folks realize. The first truck was produced by Daimler in 1896 with a mighty 6 horsepower engine. The German company’s first customer was a British syndicate. So for our next song we go back to 1935 for Henry Allen and his Orchestra with Truckin’. This big band number from Harlem’s Cotton Club is actually a new dance number. Yes, they kept on truckin’ way back when. 

Although we usually think of truckers as men, Linda Ronstadt is more than Willin’ to take on the job. She’s 

Driven every kind of rig that's ever been made
Driven the backroads so I wouldn't get weighed

Junior Brown is known for his signature instrument, a guit-steel, half guitar and half lap steel guitar. His twangy style brings his Semi Crazy to guitar-pickin’ life. On a mellower note we have the vocal stylings of The Mills Brothers with their 1974 honky tonk number Truck Stop. 

We came across many different kinds of trucks in our meanderings, from pickup trucks to big rigs to dump trucks and even fire engines. Ned and Chris LeDoux are cowboys and they use a rig to haul around their gear. When my wife and I moved to our new house in small town Alberta almost two years ago, we were pleasantly surprised to learn our next door neighbor was a professional bull rider. We could tell because he had his truck parked on the street emblazoned with a wrap showing him riding a bull and his name in great big letters. He’s actually the number 4 ranked bull rider in Canada. The LeDouxes are bronco busters and sing about doing the rodeo circuit with One Hand in the Riggin’. Chris suffered from a progressive illness of the liver and gall bladder and two years after a liver transplant died of bile duct cancer in 2005. He was an award winning bronco rider as well as an award winning country singer. This song was the last one he recorded, a duet with son Ned who released it posthumously. 

Taj Mahal offers up a mellow number about truck driving that names a number of the places he’s been. Although it’s called Truck Driver’s Two Step, it’s not really a dance so much as a fond recollection. 

While Trucking songs are often associated with America, trucking is a major business in pretty well every country around the world. So we close with two songs about trucking outside the USA. First up is Black Uhuru who give us a reggae number about loading dumper trucks with Rockstone in Jamaica. And so off to jolly old England. (More international numbers in the B List.)

It should come as no surprise that the sometimes cliched, maudlin, often macho world of trucking lends itself to parody. There were a few comedy songs suggested and one cracked me up so much I called my wife over to give it a listen. Not the Nine O’Clock News was a sketch comedy show that ran on the BBC from 1979 to 1982. The show brought Rowan Atkinson to a wide audience and predates Blackadder and Mr. Bean. I Like Trucking is an hilarious spoof of truckers with a lot of double entendres thrown in. It features Atkinson, Mel Smith, Pamela Stephenson and Griff Rhys Jones.

Keep on trucking, dudes!

The Articulated Lorry A-List Playlist:

1. Convoy - C.W. McCall (Uncleben) 

2. Six Days on the Road - Dave Dudley (SweetHomeAlabama)

3. The Last of the Outlaw Truckers - The Dandy Warhols (Traktor Albatrost)

4. Hayride to Hell - Hoodoo Gurus (Nicko) 

5. Gear Jammer - George Thorogood & the Destroyers (tincanman) 

6. Truckin’ - Henry Allen & his Orchestra (Nicko) 

7. Willin’ - Linda Ronstadt (BanazirGalbasi) 

8. Semi Crazy - Junior Brown (TarquinSpodd) 

9. Truck Stop - Mills Brothers (BanazirGalbasi) 

10. One Hand in the Riggin’ - Ned & Chris LeDoux (Sara van O.) 

11. Truck Driver’s Two Step - Taj Mahal (Nicko) 

12. Rockstone - Black Uhuru (Nicko) 

13. I Like Trucking - Not the Nine O’Clock News (Vikingchild)

The Big Load B-List of International Trucking:

Britain:

1. I Want to Be an Eddie Stobart Driver - The Wurzels (Suzi) 

2. It Fell Off the Back of a Lorry - Denim (vanwolf2) 

3. Border Reiver - Mark Knopfler (Maki) 

Japan:

1. Isuzu Truck - Kohei Otomo (ajostu) 

Australia:

1. I’ve Been Everywhere - Lucky Star (Nicko) - This is the original, not Hank Snow’s version 

2. Mechanized Swaggie - Slim Dusty (Nicko) 

3. Shipping Steel - Cold Chisel (Nicko) 

4. Chained to the Wheel - Black Sorrows (Nicko) 

5. Muckin’ Around Truckin’ Around - Slim Newton (Nicko)

Netherlands:

1. Nachtrijders - Henk Wijngaard (pejepeine) 

Canada:

1. Cumberland County - Fred Eaglesmith (tincanman) - what could be a better Canadian trucking song than one about a snow plow! 

2. Truck Driver’s Blues - Pharis & Jason Romero (tincanman) - an award-winning folk couple from Horsefly, British Columbia. Jason is also a luthier who makes banjos. Nothing says country like being from a town called Horsefly!

3. Truck Got Stuck - Corb Lund (Fred Erickson) - zedded but a goodie 

America:

1. A Big Truck Brought In - Jonathan Byrd (Suzi) 

2. Mama Hated Diesels - Commander Cody (TarquinSpodd) 

3. Broke Down South of Dallas - Junior Brown (TarquinSpodd) 

4. Drug Store Truck Drivin’ Man - The Byrds (Vikingchild) 

5. Here Comes That Rainbow Again - Johnny Cash (Vikingchild) 

6. Truckers and Troubadours - Mary Gauthier (severin)  

7. Truckin’ - Bread (Fred Erickson) 

8. Truckin’ My Blues Away - Blind Boy Fuller (Nicko)

9. Diamonds on My Windshield - Tom Waits (BanazirGalbasi) - originally on the A-List until I discovered it was zedded. Love the running bass. 

10. East Bound and Down - Jerry Reed (AltraEgo) 

11. Let’s Get Drunk and Truck - Lil Johnson (Nicko) - dirt blues from the 1930s. She might be an easy pickup who likes to truck. 

12. Roll On (Eighteen Wheeler) - Alabama (SweetHomeAlabama) 

13. Runaway Truck - Red Simpson (BanazirGalbasi)

14. Chevy Van - Sammy Johns (BanazirGalbasi) - what’s the old saying? If the van’s a rockin’, don’t come knockin’. Of course they had to make a song about it. 

15. Truck Driver’s Blues - Merle Haggard (Fred Erickson) 

16. Eighteen Wheels and a Dozen Roses - Kathy Mattea (Fred Erickson)

Guru’s Wild Drive Picks:

I’ve A-Listed a number of songs about trucks over the years for other topics. But first one I found accidentally, a song about trucks and romance. 

1. Somethin’ Bout a Truck - Kip Moore

2. I’ve Been Everywhere - Hank Snow - zedded for Obscure and Specific Places. I’ve linked one with the lyrics. He coulda been an auctioneer! 

3. Diesel Smoke, Dangerous Curves - The Little Willies - zedded for Curves and Spheres 

4. Bud the Spud - Stompin’ Tom Connors - zedded for Songs About Canada

5. The Hardest Part - Blondie - zedded for Iron and Steel 

6. Phantom 309 - Red Sovine - zedded for Zombies and the Undead 

Colourful tales …

… and taking the stage.

These playlists were inspired by readers' song nominations in response to last week's topic:
Big 10-4, Rubber Ducky: songs about trucks and trucking. The next topic will launch on Thursday after 1pm UK time.

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