# Truckin'...like the Dudah man?? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 22, 1999, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truckin-like-the-dudah-man/4233 "1999-10-22T21:55:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 1999, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truckin-like-the-dudah-man/4233/1 "1999-10-22T21:55:00Z")
While discussing the Grateful Dead, a question arose: Who or what is the Dudah Man(sp?) in the song “Truckin’” ---
**Author:** ![Arken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dfb087/32.png) [@Arken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arken)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 1999, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truckin-like-the-dudah-man/4233/2 "1999-10-22T22:00:00Z")
This is just a WAG, but I believe it’s Doo-Dah, not Dudah, a reference to ‘Camptown Ladies’ which is a stereotyped ‘black’ song. My guess is that ‘Truckin’ like the Doo-Dah Man’ means strutting like a black guy. ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 1999, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truckin-like-the-dudah-man/4233/3 "1999-10-22T22:00:00Z")
No clue who it refers to, but my lyrics book says it’s “Doo-dah.” As in Camptown Ladies, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![ChiefScott](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58f4c7/32.png) [@ChiefScott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChiefScott)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 1999, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truckin-like-the-dudah-man/4233/4 "1999-10-22T22:10:00Z")
The “Doo-Dah” Man is the 1960s stylized dude often pictured “Truckin’” down a street. One finger up in the air, whoop-dee-dooin’. Kinda like the “Here comes the fuzz” dude. You can see him on the Dead’s Europe Tour Live album, complete with hoile in his shoe. Stay away from the brown acid and “all ya gotta do is smile, smile, smile!” ---
**Author:** ![Arken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dfb087/32.png) [@Arken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arken)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 1999, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truckin-like-the-dudah-man/4233/5 "1999-10-22T22:11:00Z")
Are you sure that the guy truckin’ wasn’t named the Doo-dah man because of the song? ---
**Author:** ![Pippy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Pippy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pippy)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 1999, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truckin-like-the-dudah-man/4233/6 "1999-10-22T22:27:00Z")
For a minute there, I thought this was a reference to the famous “Mr. Ruda Duda”. ::flees:: ---
**Author:** ![Mojo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Mojo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mojo)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 1999, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truckin-like-the-dudah-man/4233/7 "1999-10-22T22:30:00Z")
The “truckin’” guy ( [http://www.spe.sony.com/classics/crumb/ks/truckin.gif](http://www.spe.sony.com/classics/crumb/ks/truckin.gif) ) is a drawing by Robert Crumb. The pic (link) usually had “Keep On Truckin’” underneath. I always thought it was “Doo-dah” myself, but had no good reason to think so. Now if you could explain what a “new potato caboose” is… ---
**Author:** ![Satan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Satan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satan)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 1999, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truckin-like-the-dudah-man/4233/8 "1999-10-22T23:24:00Z")
Mojo: New Potato Caboose is a band from the DC area that was simultaneously ahead of thedir time (beat the H.O.R.D.E. crowd by years) and behind it (the Dead were contemporaries). They had a huge following in schools up and down the East Coast, and put some stuff out by themselves, but never broke out of the college scene a la Hootie. Four or so years ago, they shortened the name to The Caboose - I have a CD from that incarnation. * * * Yer pal, Satan ---
**Author:** ![Dirty\_Devil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Dirty\_Devil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dirty_Devil)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 1999, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truckin-like-the-dudah-man/4233/9 "1999-10-22T23:54:00Z")
“New Potato Caboose” is a dead song off of 1968’s Anthem Of The Sun. It was written by Robert Peterson, who also wrote “Unbroken Chain” and “Pride Of Cucamonga.” I don’t think it got its name from the band in D.C. (but I might be wrong). “The New Potato” is the name of an old Irish jig, but I don’t know if that has anything to do with Dead song. ---
**Author:** ![Satan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Satan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satan)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 1999, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truckin-like-the-dudah-man/4233/10 "1999-10-23T04:49:00Z")
Band definitely got name from Dead and not other way around. I just wanted to show off my knowledge of esoteric post-hippie bands that didn’t get swept up in the H.O.R.D.E. craze of a couple years ago! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Melatonin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b3f665/32.png) [@Melatonin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melatonin)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 1999, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truckin-like-the-dudah-man/4233/11 "1999-10-23T15:46:00Z")
Very good, Satan. There will be a special cermemony held on February 30 at 11:11 am to award you your honorary love beads and “Official Post-Hippy” certificate. The ceremony will involve a special sacrament, so please bring a banana peel and don’t wear any underwear. This is for your safety. Congratulations! ---
**Author:** ![cornflakes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@cornflakes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cornflakes)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 1999, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truckin-like-the-dudah-man/4233/12 "1999-10-23T16:14:00Z")
> [@](#): > > The “truckin’” guy ( [http://www.spe.sony.com/classics/crumb/ks/truckin.gif](http://www.spe.sony.com/classics/crumb/ks/truckin.gif) ) is a drawing by Robert Crumb. The pic (link) usually had “Keep On Truckin’” underneath. (Let’s see if that HTML will work! 😉 ) I was always under the impression that the Doo-Dah man was none other than Mr. Natual himself ( [http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Cafe/7958/natural.html](http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Cafe/7958/natural.html) ) I could see Mr. Natural telling Flakey Foont that “the cards ain’t worth a dime if you don’t lay them down.” Mr. Natural was a regular character in Crumb’s comics and was usually paired up (IIRC) with Flakey Foont, the hung-up sideman in Mr. Natural’s laid back travels through life. WARNING, TANGENT AHEAD: For those of you who can remember, what was your favorite Crumb comic. I have never seen THE MAN WHO COULDN"T STOP, but I love the premise (Under the lurid title is a page full of pictures of a man sitting on the can. He looks up, looks down, reads the paper, looks at his watch. Finally, at the bottom right corner of the page, he mumbles “I just can’t seem to stop!” I’d better stop right here.) ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 1999, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truckin-like-the-dudah-man/4233/13 "1999-10-23T21:30:00Z")
The reference is obviously to Vivian Stanshall. (Well, maybe not, but Stanshall was one of the resident geniuses of the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band). ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 1999, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truckin-like-the-dudah-man/4233/14 "1999-10-23T23:04:00Z")
Ah yes, “Keep on Truckin!”… If there had been an “online” and a SDMB available to me three decades ago, I would have posted: > [@](#): > > Hey SDMB’ers! Can someone explain to me the “Keep on Truckin’” cartoon / t-shirts / bumper stickers / etc? I don’t get it. There’s no truck in the picture and the guy doesn’t look like a truck driver. So he’s on foot and either he’s walking really fast with long strides or taking long lazy exaggerated strides, meaning what? Keep on moving your butt right along? Keep on doing whatever the hell it is you do? Keep on going? Or is there some meaning to the term “trucking” that isn’t spelled out in the cartoon that you’d have to know to get the cartoon? Does it have something to do with marijuana, perhaps? I don’t get it, I just don’t get what is so damn groovy about this picture that now everyone had it on their pins and posters of it on their walls and I hate it when everyone seems to be in on something that they are too smugly hip to to bother to explain it to me. Thirty years later I still don’t get it. * * * Designated Optional Signature at Bottom of Post ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 1999, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truckin-like-the-dudah-man/4233/15 "1999-10-24T02:41:00Z")
From the M-W dictionary via AOL: truck [4] verb transitive First appeared 1748 : to load or transport on a truck verb intransitive 1 : to transport goods by truck 2 : to be employed in driving a truck 3 : to roll along esp. in an easy untroubled way * * * “Age is mind over matter; if you don’t mind, it don’t matter.” -Leroy “Satchel” Paige ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 1999, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truckin-like-the-dudah-man/4233/16 "1999-10-24T02:42:00Z")
'Course, that doesn’t explain why it was so popular. * * * “Age is mind over matter; if you don’t mind, it don’t matter.” -Leroy “Satchel” Paige ---
**Author:** ![Nickrz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bbce88/32.png) [@Nickrz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nickrz)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 1999, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truckin-like-the-dudah-man/4233/17 "1999-10-24T13:12:00Z")
The original “Keep on Truckin’” panel drawn by Robert Crumb circa 1971 depicted an unnamed character truckin’ along with the dialogue balloons “YEAH!!” and “Hup hup!” The ripoff of Crumb’s (and others’) artwork was somewhat exacerbated by the underground cartoonist’s (initially) liberal attitude toward copyright infringement, in re: _Snatch_ (A Crumb publication) Comix #3 contains inside the front cover the caveat: “Reproduction of all material in this magazine is up for grabs and is o.k. with us…” This casual attitude was quickly changed when the aformentioned “Keep on Truckin” logo was scooped up by unscrupulous make a quick (millions of) bucks outfits who plastered it on t-shirts and posters and you-name-its. Crumb changed his tune. I have here a full-page panel from _XYZ Comics_, executed by Mr. Crumb in which he explicitly copyrights the character logos and associated wording: [ul][li]Keep on Truckin’[/li][li]Keep on Rollin’ Along (“Righto, Guvner!”)[/li][li]Keep on Chunkin’ (“Huzzah!”)[/li][li]Keep on Toodlin (“Woop woop”)[/li][li]Keep on Choodlin’ (“Oh yes!”)[/li][li]Keep on Boofin’ (“Yeeeah…”)[/li][li]Keep on Doofin’[/li][li]Keep on Boppin’[/li][li]Keep on Hoppin’[/li][li]Keep on Keepin’ On[/li][li]Keep on Onnin’[/li][li]Keep on No-noin’[/li][li]Keep on Peekin’[/li][li]Keep it Clean[/li][li]Keep Right On!![/li][li]Keep on the Scene[/li][li]Keep it Up[/li][li]Keep on Moonin’![/li][li]Weep on Keepin’[/li][li]Keep on Fuckin’[/li][li]Keep on Groovin’[/li][li]Keep on Movin’[/li][li]Keep it Krazy Kool[/li][li]Keep it Reet[/li][li]Keep it Zeetyn![/ul][/li] and ends with the truckin’ character in quadruplicate espousing: “And don’t forget to keep on buying those ‘Keep On Shuckin’’ posters, patches, t-shirts, cigarette papers, baseball caps, bath mats, beach towels, bumper stickers, drinking glasses, buttons, matchbooks, balloons, notebooks, sneakers, toilet seat covers, wallpaper, and so on ad nauseum…” ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 1999, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truckin-like-the-dudah-man/4233/18 "1999-10-25T14:05:00Z")
Hey, cornflakes! THE MAN WHO COULDN’T STOP was a strip by Chester Brown, creator of YUMMY FUR, not R. Crumb. Although Mr. Crumb DID do a number of toilet-oriented pieces, including the back-cover poster-style “Tommy Toilet sez: Don’t Forget to Wipe Your Ass, Folks!” and “Pete the Plumber,” who tries to commit suicide via the Big Flush. – Ukulele Ike, your man for shit-based humor via sequential art ---
**Author:** ![cornflakes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@cornflakes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cornflakes)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 1999, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truckin-like-the-dudah-man/4233/19 "1999-10-25T14:45:00Z")
Oh well, “The Man Who Couldn’t Stop” was told second hand to me; it sure sounded Crumb-esque to me at the time… RealityChuck, you’re probably right about Stanshall, as the rest of the song is about the real life travels of the Dead. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 1999, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truckin-like-the-dudah-man/4233/20 "1999-10-25T15:35:00Z")
Wait, it’s all coming back to me now… THE MAN WHO COULDN’T STOP was part of a graphic novel by Brown called ED THE HAPPY CLOWN. (Oddly, I can’t find any sign of this book on Amazon.) THE MAN WHO COULDN’T STOP was a very funny little two-pager, and Crumb or any number of first-wave underground comix masters would have been happy to let it go at that. But Brown wove that little anecdote into an elaborate plot about a gateway between dimensions, and an alternate world which was funnelling its waste into ours through the gateway… ED THE HAPPY CLOWN. If you can find a copy, grab it. Heck, grab ANYTHING by Brown…THE PLAYBOY and I NEVER LOVED YOU are also very good. * * * Uke [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truckin-like-the-dudah-man/4233.md?page=2)