Rubber Duck, riding the big convoy to the pearly gates...

[mmckenna]

C.W. McCall, ‘Convoy’ Country Singer, Dead at 93

The troubadour of truck-driving songs helped add CB radio lingo like "10-4 good buddy" into the national lexicon with his spoken-word smash about big-rig drivers protesting government regulation

www.yahoo.com

How many of us remember him and the hit song? The sound of my childhood (on an 8-track, of course), riding in the back of a Ford station wagon across the western USA. Kraco 23 channel CB radio.

 

[Omega-TI]

That was a REAL POPULAR song. If I remember correctly it saved Radio Shack from an earlier demise.

 

[rescuecomm]

I had a 23 channel Kraco in my 1976 Chevy 4x4 pickup.

 

[alcahuete]

No kidding....

I still have an MP3 of that one here somewhere.

 

[mmckenna]

That was a REAL POPULAR song. If I remember correctly it saved Radio Shack from an earlier demise.

He had a lot of really good music.

C.W. McCall and the London Symphony Orchestra. It's a really good listen.

 

[prcguy]

Thanks for posting this sad news, I didn't see this before I posted the same and not seeing your post certainly saved me some extra tears.

 

[mmckenna]

Thanks for posting this sad news, I didn't see this before I posted the same and not seeing your post certainly saved me some extra tears.

Yeah, part of my childhood. I'm sure my parents had all his 8 tracks. Lots of long roadtrips through the Western USA listening to him, John Denver and Neil Diamond (as one did back then. Sweet Caroline, ba ba ba….). Back then CB was fun, and life seemed easier. He did a lot of good stuff through the years. The San Juan Odyssey linked to above is one of my favorite and I listen to it periodically.

I read your post. I agree, stand at attention when you play his music. He was one of the great storytellers. Like his music or not, the guy had talent.

Now, lower your CB antenna to half mast for the duration. Services will be held on Channel 19.

 

[footage]

We watched Convoy a couple of years ago and it was surprisingly good.

 

[AB5ID]

Had Convoy on 45 when I was about ten years old, played in many times on my little mono speaker record player.

 

[motorcoachdoug]

He was the top tier story teller when it came to truck stories and i remember listing to him on my 8 track and cassette as well plus I also had that Kraco 23 channel CB. I installed it into my parents green ford Ranchwagon with a 351 Windsor motor. Talk about a boat car. Back then they were like road tanks with steal bumpers. May He find plenty of new stories to tell about on his way to that big truck stop in the sky..

 

[buddrousa]

Yes he was a great story teller just like Tom T Hall.

 

[Traffic_Guy]

That's sad to hear, I remember the songs and also he actually endorsed I believe "Midland" CBs.

 

[prcguy]

I'll leave my CB antenna high in the sky but will put a little flag at half mast on it. I don't lower my CB antenna for anything or anyone.

Yeah, part of my childhood. I'm sure my parents had all his 8 tracks. Lots of long roadtrips through the Western USA listening to him, John Denver and Neil Diamond (as one did back then. Sweet Caroline, ba ba ba….). Back then CB was fun, and life seemed easier. He did a lot of good stuff through the years. The San Juan Odyssey linked to above is one of my favorite and I listen to it periodically.

I read your post. I agree, stand at attention when you play his music. He was one of the great storytellers. Like his music or not, the guy had talent.

Now, lower your CB antenna to half mast for the duration. Services will be held on Channel 19.

 

[slowmover]

“Convoy”, just starts out corny. Voice-acting for all its worth, loosed. It’s a put-on, right?

But somewhere one might choke up a little.

Tables get overturned at 1:32, the whip now firmly in the other hand.

By 2:04, has become a thing of its own:

— No room to spare from the man ahead and the man behind on a roller-coaster of road going every direction at once, total trust the lead driver keeps us on the road as in a whirlwind of hands and feet we fight to keep our place. Close, TIGHT.

I’m 63. I’ve walked back along the drivers we made that kind of run and seen the looks on the faces didn’t think they were going to make it . . and did. Remembered what that had been like for me.

Thought of the steel haulers later taught me, who — during the war running armor-plate from Birmingham to the ship waiting at the Port of Mobile — couldn’t stop for the men their friends who’d plunged off the hillsides into the darkness. There was no time, the state police escorts never slowed.

“. . we crashed the gate doin’ 98, I sez let them truckers roll, ten-four.”

Into His Hands.


.

 

[kb5udf]

1976 the joy of playing with a factory installed GM (anybody remember those?) CB radio in my grandmother's brand new Pontiac Bonneville. I was only 6 yoa, but loved radio even back then.

 

[buddrousa]

What I remember about factory installed CB Radios they were no where as good as some of the aftermarket CB Radios.

 

[slowmover]

What I remember about factory installed CB Radios they were no where as good as some of the aftermarket CB Radios.

And not an inexpensive option.

Remember that stereo was still fairly new. One might have a choice (in those days of 20-30 choice option lists) of:

Radio Delete, or

a). AM

b). AM/FM

c). AM/FM/FM-Stereo

d). AM/FM/8-track

Now it’s up to:

e). AM/FM/CB

f). AM/FM plus 8-track and CB (shown)




DELCO was a bit behind, by 1978 most of us were using cassette tapes.

The antenna was the compromise (weak link).

But with a 7.0-Litre engine I’m going to outrun other radios anyway, so . . . just settle in behind some bull wagons rolling 25-over and keep the ears on.

.

 

[buddrousa]

Antenna had nothing to with Modulation just like all other factory radio options in those days were junk that is why the aftermarket AM FM TAPE PLAYER market boomed.

 

[PACNWDude]

Sad news for sure. I recall the first time I watched this movie and thought it was a bit hokey. Then fast forward a few years and heard it at a truck stop in Sydney, Nebraska where I stopped while driving a missile transporter (Kenworth cabover/specialized Minuteman III trailer, I was Air Force at the time). With the trailer being empty that day (we just needed the inside hoist/winch), sometimes we would do the supply run of cold weather gear from Cabela's. Inside the truck stop, I am about to laugh at the "Convoy" song being played, when a 'cowboy' truck driver looks at me and the truck I just got out of, and replies' "now, that's a man's truck" as I sit down for some food.

More recently, I watch the movie 'Convoy' and enjoy it, then see a scene in the cartoon Futurama that played a few seconds of the song, with many space trucks stopping to re-fuel. My current employer also has a fleet of tractor trailer combinations, where CB is still used, along with commercial Motorola FM radios, for long haul rigs to communicate. FYI, current Cobra radios are not what they used to be. I have tried to get corporate to buy President brand CB's or at least replace current Cobra mic's with Astatic ones.

RIP CW, and may CB continue to be used for a long time. Just do not use the term 'good buddy' in 2022.....it does not mean the same thing that it did in 1975.

 

[KC4ZGK]

As a boy growing up in Nebraska throughout the 70's CW was first known for his Old Home Bread commercials that were aired in the Midwest at the time. Great memories traveling in my parents Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser wagon with a Pierce Simpson Tiger 23 channel CB listen to the truckers on I-80.

(116) Old Home is Good Buns commercial - YouTube