A Breakdown of C.W. McCall's "Convoy"

Welcome to the trashcan! Some of what I post may be absolute garbage, some may have some half decent insight. Regardless, feel free to comment, argue, or toss out any other trash you have.

Stockitchen writers are huge fans of music, but no song catches us more than C.W. McCall’s, “Convoy”. Written by McCall and Chip Davis in 1975, nothing embodies trucking culture quite like “Convoy” does. Inspiring timeless trucker rebellion films such as the 1977 classic, Smokey and the Bandit. (If you haven’t seen it, it is a must watch).  

via GIPHY

There are some hilarious quotes you can pull from this song and use in your day to day life. I’m going to break it down for you right here:

[CB radio chatter]

CB or Citizen Band Radio was popular among truckers. They had a selection of 40 channels with which truckers would communicate with each other. During the 1973 oil crisis, the U.S. government imposed a nationwide 55 mph speed limit as causing a national fuel shortage. CB radio’s popularity exploded through its use in a 1974 strike against the new speed limits and trucking regulations. Truckers would organize blockades and convoys the protests these egregious new laws. (The overall premise of this lyrical masterpiece). The majority of this analysis will simply translate the CB radio slang used in the song and give a better understanding of the C.W. McCall’s message.

Yeah, breaker one-nine

A simple call to other truckers to tune in to channel 19

This here's the Rubber Duck

You got a copy on me Pig Pen, c'mon?

It was a very common practice for truckers to take on code names. This line introduces our two main characters, Pig Pen and Rubber Duck.

Uh, yeah, Ten-Four Pig Pen, fer sure, fer sure

If you had the privilege of riding the bus as a young student you should know 10-4 simply means “The message has been acknowlaged.”

By golly it's clean clear to Flag Town, c'mon

Flag Town: Flagstaff, Arizona

Yeah, its a big Ten-Four there, Pig Pen

Yeah, we definitely got the front door, Good Buddy

The two are the leaders of a newly forming trucker convoy 

Mercy sakes alive, looks like we've got us a convoy

[Verse 1 ]

It was the dark of the moon

On the sixth of June

In a Kenworth, pullin' logs

A Kenworth is an American/Australian manufactured truck.

Cabover Pete with a reefer on

A Peterbilt truck with a cab over the engine, pulling a “reefer” or a refrigerated container

And a Jimmy haulin' hogs

A GMC big rig pulling livestock.

We was headin' for bear

This is the first reference to a bear or a highway patrol officer. In this context they are pulling up on a blockade

On 'I-1-0
'Bout a mile out Shakey Town

Shakey Town: LA, California

I says, Pig Pen this here's the Rubber Duck

And I'm about to put the hammer down

Now Rubber Duck is going pedal to the metal and pushing the blockade in defiance.

[Chorus 1]

Cause we got a little 'ole convoy

Rockin' through the night

Yeah, we got a little 'ole convoy

Ain't she a beautiful sight

C'mon and join our Convoy

Ain't nothin' gonna get in our way

We gonna roll this truckin' convoy

'Cross the USA

Convoy

Convoy

The repeated chorus simply celebrates the growing convoy and its rebellion against the governing actions hurting the drivers pay and efficiency. 

[CB radio chatter]

Yeah, breaker Pig Pen this here's the Duck

And uh, you wanna back off them hogs

Uh, ten-four 'bout five mile or so

Ten-Roger them hogs is gettin' intense up here

This is the start of a running gag where Rubber Duck complains about the stench of the hogs Pig Pen is pulling.

[Verse 2]

By the time we got into Tulsa Town

Tulsa Town: Tulsa, Oklahoma

We had eighty-five trucks in all

But they's a road block up on the clover leaf

A clover leaf is an highway interchange as seen below:

And them bears was wall to wall

Yeah, them smokies was thick as bugs on a bumper

Great trucking analogy illustrating the abundance of police attempting to put a halt on the convoy.

They even had a bear in the air

A police helicopter

I says, callin' all trucks

This here's the Duck

We about to go a huntin' bear

A clear defiance of law enforcement as the convoy sets out to blow through the blockade

[Chorus 2]

Cause we got a great big convoy

Rockin' through the night

Yeah, we got a great big convoy

Ain't she a beautiful sight

C'mon and join our Convoy

Ain't nothin' gonna get in our way

We gonna roll this truckin' convoy

'Cross the USA

Convoy

Convoy

The convoy continues to grow in size and support.

[CB chatter]

Uh, you wanna give me a ten-nine on that Pig Pen

10-9 is an indication that the last transmission was not received.

Uh, negatory Pig Pen you're still too close

Yeah, them hogs is startin' to close up my sinuses

Mercy sakes, you'd better back off another ten.

The pigs are still giving off a gnarly stench.

[Verse 3]

Well, we rolled up Innerstate fourty-four

Like a rocket sled on rails

We’re really picking up speed now.

We tore up all of our swindle sheets

Swindle sheets are trucking logs that truckers must use to track their hours and cargo. Tearing up this logs is the practice of writing in false entries, making it appear that the drivers were getting the mandatory hours of sleep, when in reality they were shortening their trip time for a higher pay cut. 

And left 'em settin' on the scales

The scales were CB slang for the Department of Transportation weigh stations where the log books and cargo weights were verified.

By the time we hit that Chi-Town

Chi-Town: Chicago, Illinois

Them bears was a gettin' smart

They'd brought up some reinforcements

From the Illinois National Guard

Now this is where shit gets real. With the national government involved how will our heroes prevail?

There's armored cars and tanks and jeeps

And rigs of every size

Yeah, them chicken coops was full of bears

Chicken coops is another name for the DoT weigh scales.

And choppers filled the skies

These brave truckers are really about to make a stand against a fucking tank.

Well, we shot the line

We went for broke

With a thousand screamin' trucks

And eleven long haired Friends of Jesus

In a Chartreuse microbus

Even the hippies have joined in. Send or be sent boys.

[CB radio chatter]

Yeah, Rubber Duck 'tis Sod Buster

Sod Buster: A farmer

C'mon there

Yeah, Ten-Four Sod Buster

Listen, you wanna put that microbus

In behind that suicide jockey

Suicide jockey: a truck pulling explosives.

Yeah, he's haulin' dynamite

And he needs all the help he can get

I guess the hippies don’t mind going 100 mph behind a truck that could tip and blow their peace-sign waving hands and Grateful Dead albums sky-high out of their Volkswagen.

[Verse 4]

Well, we laid a strip for the Jersey Shore

Prepared to cross the line

I could see the bridge was lined with bears

But I didn't have a doggone dime

I says, Pig Pen this here's the Rubber Duck

We just ain't a gonna pay no toll

So we crashed the gate doin' 98

I says let them truckers roll.

The tolls are another cut that the truckers felt where unfair in their line of work. In response, the convoys blows through another police blockade outside of a toll station. This verse really gets me pumped up. Fuck yeah, you show them you Goddamn beautiful American-made men.

Ten-Four

[Chorus 3]

Cause we got a mighty convoy

Rockin' through the night

Yeah, we got a mighty convoy

Ain't she a beautiful sight

C'mon and join our Convoy

Ain't nothin' gonna get in our way

We gonna roll this truckin' convoy

'Cross the USA

Convoy

Convoy

Rubber Duck has officially brought the convoy from coast to coast and spread his movement across the USA.

CB radio chatter]

Ah, Ten-Four

Pig Pen what's you're Twenty

Omaha

With Pig Pen bringing up the back door and Rubber Duck in the front we can clearly see how large the convoy has grown. (Omaha to New Jersey is 1,263 miles)

Well, they oughtta know what to do

Omaha was popular for it’s abundance of slaughter houses. Got me fiending for some smoked ribs.

With them hogs out there, fer sure

Well, mercy sakes good buddy

We gonna back on outta here

So keep the bugs off yer glass

And the bears off yer...tail

The true phrase is "keep the bugs off your glass and the bears off your ass.”

We'll catch you on the flip flop

Meaning I’ll see ya on the road trip

This here's the Rubber Duck on the side

On the side is CB slang for a driver ending his transmission but still listening on the channel, a suiting end to the song

We gone

Bye, bye

The song remained at number one on the country charts, solidifying itself as an American classic. The song even inspired the 1978 film “Convoy,” which follows Rubber Duck’s ongoing battle with Law Enforcement, another must-watch.

LINK

Through the heavy research put into CB slang for this piece, I found some absolute cackler quotes. Here are the honorable mentions:

Blinkin winkin/Kiddie car/Cheese wagon: School bus

Buster Brown: UPS truck

Meat Wagon: An ambulance

Pregnant rollerskate: A Volkswagon Beetle

Choke and puke: A truck stop restaurant

Lot lizard: A prostitute in a rest area or who works the parking lot of a truck stop.

Pickle park: A rest area known for prostitution.

Male buffalo: A male prostitute

Driving Award: a speeding ticket

Road Pizza: Roadkill

Dirty Dan: a nasty, smelly, unclean, unbathed, and generally unhealthy long haul truck driver.

Harvey Wallbanger: a driver who appears to be drunk

Organ Donor: A motorcyclist without a helmet

Places:

Hotlanta: Atlanta, Georgia

Lost Wages: Los Vegas, Nevada

Idiot Island: California

Pizza and Murder: Chicago, Illinois

Bikini: Miami, Florida

The Irish: South Bend Indiana (Shout out Crockpot)

Mile High: Denver, Colorado

Mass-a-Two-Shits: Massachusetts (Fuck the Pats)

That’s all I got, enjoy using these new slang terms in your day to day life.

Trashcan