I was in West Texas when the movie came out. It’s no secret on the Board how much I despise Texas, but even I cringed at the part where the black trucker veered away from the safety of the convoy up in the Panhandle, and the Kris Kristofferson character knowingly said something about it being bad territory for black truckers. It was no such thing.
Then the trucker got himself arrested, presumably for being black, and the other truckers had to smash down the jail to rescue him. That was all just too much.
Maybe I’m over thinking this little novelty song (and movie), but at about the point it became ‘a great big convoy’ it was no longer about getting loads where they were supposed to go, it became a protest. They were protesting the double-nickel speed limit and corrupt cops (who like to ‘bust truckers just for fun’, especially Dirty Lyle). If I recall, the idea was to head for Washington, DC and protest, (I suspect that’s how Pigpen wound up in Omaha) much like the farm strike of the '80’s.
It seems I’m the only one in this thread so far who’s actually been a truck driver and I became a trucker the year after Convoy was released. Let me tell you something, the truckers made so much fun of all the armchair/4-wheeler CB folks. They changed common phrases to mean something completely different and reflected on the person saying it. For instance, the famous “Good buddy” automatically meant “I’m a homosexual” and smirks would ensue. Yeah, it was bigoted, but it wasn’t really meant as being against homosexuals, just those who would use that phrase. Fine line, yeah, but it was funny. Most truckers I came across weren’t really assholes about it, they were funnin’ around. I never came across anyone who liked the song or movie Convoy. Not that they didn’t, I just never heard anyone mention it. Most I knew did like Smokey and the Bandit, as did I, but not specifically because of the trucking, but because it was a funny movie, and starred an adorable Sally Field. Everyone liked the dog.
Regarding the movie rather than the song, people forget or don’t know that Convoy was directed by Sam Peckinpah and was his second to last movie. In his relatively short but bright feature career he directed:
The Wild Bunch (1969)
The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970)
Straw Dogs (1971)
Junior Bonner (1972) (I saw this being filmed)
The Getaway (1972) (I love this movie)
Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid (1973)
Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974)
The Killer Elite (1975)
Cross of Iron (1977)
Convoy (1978)
The Osterman Weekend (1983)
I’ve never seen it myself, and I’m sorry I missed it when the Chicago Cinema Society showed it a couple of years back. According to Wikipedia, “Peckinpah’s original cut of Convoy was around three and a half hours long.” It was taken away from him and recut for release.
Not sure if it was AOL, Compuserve or Prodigy, actually I am thinking it was AOL, they had the CB simulator, basically an internal IRC channel for online members.
It wasn’t out of stupidity. We were rejecting the corruption of the Nixon years, and Ford embodied that. The Dems could have nominated Mickey Mouse and he would have won.
Convoy resonated with radio listeners because it was different, wasn’t disco, sounded cool, and introduced as to an intriguing lexicon. With no internet back in them days, we had to ask around to find out what those words meant. Truckers became the keepers of the arcane, and we all wanted inside knowledge.
Loved the guitar pickin’, and the term Sugar Booger. Thanks!