# Explain the plot of the song "Convoy" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 9, 2011, 8:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-the-plot-of-the-song-convoy/584842 "2011-06-09T08:49:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2011, 8:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-the-plot-of-the-song-convoy/584842/1 "2011-06-09T08:49:50Z")
I’ve long been aware that this song exists via cultural osmosis, but i’d never heard it until it came on an oldies station I was listening to today. The trucker lingo wasn’t that hard to figure out, but I have to say I don’t understand the story it’s trying to tell at ALL. This is what I got out of it; 1. Some truckers decide to start driving in a row 2. The cops chase them 3. ??? 4. Profit! Why are these truckers all driving around in convoy? Why do there get to be “thousands” of them? Where are they going? Shouldn’t they be making deliveries or something? And why do the cops have a problem with this? I don’t hear any description of the truckers doing anything more illegal than trying to evade a toll bridge, and this is after the point where the cops have deployed jeeps,\* tanks\*, and “a bear in the air” to stop them from driving around in a row. Was it a slow day and “The Man” just needed to find someone to hassle to take the edge off? ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2011, 9:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-the-plot-of-the-song-convoy/584842/2 "2011-06-09T09:26:56Z")
It’s been a while since I watched it, but I’m sure that you’re talking about the title song for the movie [“Convoy”](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077369/). The storyline in the imdb link should explain the song. ETA: Just checked the [wiki entry for the song](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convoy_%28song%29), and saw that I had it backwards, i. e. the song inspired the movie, not the other way. Maybe it still helps. ---
**Author:** ![Lacunae\_Matata](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lacunae\_Matata](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lacunae_Matata)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2011, 9:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-the-plot-of-the-song-convoy/584842/3 "2011-06-09T09:40:29Z")
[An old post about this song](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=205479&highlight=convoy). [And another one](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=566053&highlight=convoy). ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2011, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-the-plot-of-the-song-convoy/584842/4 "2011-06-09T11:27:28Z")
For those who want the Cliff’s Notes version, basically, it’s a safety in numbers thing. If you have a big long line of trucks exceeding the speed limit, the cops can only pick off one or two at a time, leaving the majority unbusted. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2011, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-the-plot-of-the-song-convoy/584842/5 "2011-06-09T11:33:23Z")
If you want an even odder song, try the sequel “'Round the World with the Rubber Duck.” ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2011, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-the-plot-of-the-song-convoy/584842/6 "2011-06-09T12:12:48Z")
You had to have lived through the CB craze to get it. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2011, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-the-plot-of-the-song-convoy/584842/7 "2011-06-09T21:13:06Z")
They were also failing to pull over at weigh stations, IIRC. (Oh sure, that movie gets all the acclaim, but where’s the love for [Supervan](http://youtu.be/GQblh6veP9M)? Maybe the song wasn’t as good. “Riiiidin’ Hiiiiiigh in my Superrrrrvan” ) ---
**Author:** ![samjones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@samjones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samjones)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2011, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-the-plot-of-the-song-convoy/584842/8 "2011-06-09T22:02:18Z")
It was a protest song. They were protesting the 55 mph speed limit and big government in general. It’s a little hard to explain. ---
**Author:** ![PlainJain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5daacb/32.png) [@PlainJain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlainJain)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2011, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-the-plot-of-the-song-convoy/584842/9 "2011-06-09T22:08:34Z")
> [@asterion](#): > > If you want an even odder song, try the sequel “'Round the World with the Rubber Duck.” Or [Teddy Bear](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zoTLwrm9QE). . ---
**Author:** ![Jaledin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Jaledin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaledin)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2011, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-the-plot-of-the-song-convoy/584842/10 "2011-06-09T22:17:50Z")
Holy shit. I was always extremely confused by the movie – what the hell? Now I know – sort of. ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2011, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-the-plot-of-the-song-convoy/584842/11 "2011-06-09T22:21:53Z")
Watch the movie if you want a (too) deep explanation! Although the film is not exactly what I’d call ‘good’, for a movie based on a song (and a novelty song at that) its not only not godawful but it’s rather gritty and dark. The song Convoy was hugely popular amongst us kids at the time (grade-school kids!) And even though by the time the movie came out I was a teenager I was kind of shocked at all the seriousness and violence it contained. [ul] [li]Franklin Ajay as the ‘black’ trucker (with an afro literally the size of OJ’s in Naked Gun III) getting the shit beat out of him in a southern jail![/li][li]Burt Young’s ‘Pig Pen’ as a bit of a broody sociopath![/li][li]Kris Kristofferson as ‘Rubber Duck’ telling Ernest Borgnine’s smokey, “Well piss on ya! And piss on your law too!”[/li][li]Borgnine pummeling Rubber Duck’s truck head-on with an M60 machine gun in an attempt to stop him from crossing the Mexican border (by murdering him!)[/li][li]Him ostensibly succeeding! (Rubber Duck is machine gunned to death?! WTF?!)[/li][/ul] Definitely more serious (and better) a movie than _Take this job and Shove It!_ was… ---
**Author:** ![Bytegeist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@Bytegeist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bytegeist)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-the-plot-of-the-song-convoy/584842/12 "2011-06-10T00:58:52Z")
> [@UncleRojelio](#): > > You had to have lived through the CB craze to get it. Or: It’s a _Mack_ thing — you wouldn’t understand. ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-the-plot-of-the-song-convoy/584842/13 "2011-06-10T02:12:48Z")
I still sing it to myself occasionally- who can resist a thousand screaming trucks and 11 long-haired friends of Jesus in a chartreuse microbus? 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-the-plot-of-the-song-convoy/584842/14 "2011-06-10T02:57:11Z")
> [@An\_Arky](#): > > For those who want the Cliff’s Notes version, basically, it’s a safety in numbers thing. If you have a big long line of trucks exceeding the speed limit, the cops can only pick off one or two at a time, leaving the majority unbusted. Well, okay, but is that all? I mean, if you just look at the lyrics without having them explained, it seems like they’re planning something much more elaborate and sinister. But apparently, all they were doing was driving down the road together–in a “convoy,” and speeding, perhaps–and this for some reason leads law enforcement to respond with some kind of paramilitary action? And so they decide to continue all the way to New Jersey without stopping? In other words, the rhetoric of the song and the explanation for what they were actually doing just don’t match up. I haven’t seen the movie, but how on earth could you ever make something like this at all meaningful? ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-the-plot-of-the-song-convoy/584842/15 "2011-06-10T03:03:16Z")
National speed limit of 55 mph at that time too, right? ---
**Author:** ![Bytegeist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@Bytegeist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bytegeist)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-the-plot-of-the-song-convoy/584842/16 "2011-06-10T17:50:39Z")
> [@NoClueBoy](#): > > National speed limit of 55 mph at that time too, right? Correct. (And here’s a [Wikipedia article](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Maximum_Speed_Law) with more on that.) ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-the-plot-of-the-song-convoy/584842/17 "2011-06-10T18:08:24Z")
> [@](#): > > Was it a slow day and “The Man” just needed to find someone to hassle to take the edge off? I think the song appealed to/was rooted in the anti-establishment feeling that was prevelant in the 70’s. An over-reaction by The Man would fit the purposes of the the song pretty well. If the reaction by law enforcement made sense, who would feel sympathetic to the truckers’ plight? (The truckers represent the working class “everyman”, I guess.) ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-the-plot-of-the-song-convoy/584842/18 "2011-06-10T18:26:52Z")
That was the general theme of the movie “Smokey and the Bandit,” too. Running a truckload of Coors to Georgia (that was before Coors was distributed nationally), the Bandit running interference in his black Trans-Am, Sheriff Buford T. Justice being the stereotypical 'Respect mah authori-tah" type of over-the-top Southern law officer. ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-the-plot-of-the-song-convoy/584842/19 "2011-06-10T18:44:20Z")
> [@guizot](#): > > Well, okay, but is that all? I mean, if you just look at the lyrics without having them explained, it seems like they’re planning something much more elaborate and sinister. But apparently, all they were doing was driving down the road together–in a “convoy,” and speeding, perhaps–and this for some reason leads law enforcement to respond with some kind of paramilitary action? And so they decide to continue all the way to New Jersey without stopping? In other words, the rhetoric of the song and the explanation for what they were actually doing just don’t match up. > > I haven’t seen the movie, but how on earth could you ever make something like this at all meaningful? Meaningful wasn’t the point of course - but it’s fanwankable as sort of a positive feedback loop. The convoy starts running, the cops try to stop it, more trucks (and the microbus) join up to help, more cops, the convoy becomes more about a protest than delivering goods, etc. But, like most novelty songs (c.f. _The Streak_, you don’t want to think about it too hard. ---
**Author:** ![Ura-Maru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/51bf81/32.png) [@Ura-Maru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ura-Maru)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-the-plot-of-the-song-convoy/584842/20 "2011-06-10T19:02:07Z")
Optimus Prime’s Japanese name is Convoy. Just for the record. It would have been a very different movie if they’d gone that route. I mean, I never actually saw the movie, but if it turns out they DID do that, I will be very surprised. – “Unrestricted highway speeds are the right of all sentient beings! Truckers, transform and roll out!” I’m just not seeing it. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-the-plot-of-the-song-convoy/584842.md?page=2)