TruckDrivingLament....#1

As you have noticed, my blog has been redesigned. It was redesigned by Irma with Digitally Essential. I wanted a blog design that would not detract from the reason why I blog. The reason I blog? I like to talk. But I wanted a simple truck driving theme, and I like this design. Hey, I may never win again at Battle of the Blogs, (I just lost to Mike Hitchens' commercial blog, LOVE YOU MIKE and have voted for you a few time) but it won’t be because of my blogs’ design, it will be because of my big mouth, which talks too much.

There, I said it. Truck Drivers usually talk too much when they are not in the drivers seat, steering 40 tons of metal and freight along the highways of America.

Don’t get upset when I talk only about American truck drivers, I am what I am.

I know there are truck drivers all over the world, but I cannot imagine a French Truck Driver grabbing gears and listening to Merle Haggard. Sorry, I know where truck driving began, It began in America. I know what it has done for my country, and I am proud I have had a part in moving freight and making everyone’s life better.

When was the last time you heard a good song on the radio about a nurse, or the nursing profession? I thought so, you have never heard one.

You mean you haven’t heard one of ‘Country Joe and the Fish’s songs about nurses? I kid you not, old CJ and Fish are still around, peddling home produced CD’s and cassette tapes of their latest anti-american songs, along with some songs about nurses. Consider your mind expanded, courtesy of Sanity’s Bluff. But the fact remains, concerning songs about nurses, there are only a few that have been written, and produced.

It is a strange world when you can find several hundred truck driving songs and very few songs about nurses, teachers or preachers. I personally can’t think of a more caring profession than nursing, but where are the songs?

You will find a lot of songs written about rodeo cowboys, cowboys themselves, or NASCAR drivers. You won’t find many songs that have been written about policemen, and thank God there are not many songs written about politicians. But now that I think about it, Senator KKK Byrd writes songs about himself.

I will now attempt to begin explaining the lure of the highway and truck driving by sharing a few song lyrics with you. Other songwriters lyrics, not mine.

The first song I share was written by Merle Haggard.
Back in my hippie days I hated Merle Haggard, because of his song ‘Okie from Muskogee’. But today, Merle’s haunting voice travels with me down life’s lonesome road. Of all the professions one can pursue, truck driving is one of the loneliest. That isn’t why I drive, it is just a fact. If not for the CB radio, America might be a different place altogether. This nation owes a lot of its wealth and abundance to truck drivers. The CB radio made trucking a group endeavor, and helped bring greater prosperity to America. You may not see it that way, but I sure do. The CB radio makes trucking a little more enjoyable, and not as lonesome. More miles can be driven, and a happier worker, does more work.

Back to Merle’s song. Upon close examination you will notice Merle describes truck drivers as sick.

Hmmmmm, well here are the lyrics to


White Line Fever

White line fever,
A sickness born down, deep within my soul.
White line fever,
The years keep flyin' by like the high line poles.
The wrinkles in my forehead,
Show the miles I've put behind me.
They continue to remind me how fast I'm growin' old.
Guess I'll die with this fever in my soul.
Well, I wonder just what makes a man keep pushin' on?
Why must I keep on singin' this old highway song?
I've been from coast to coast a hundred times or more.
I ain't seen one single place where I ain't been before.

White line fever,
A sickness born down, deep within my soul.
White line fever,
The years keep flyin' by like the high line poles.
The wrinkles in my forehead,
Show the miles I've put behind me.
They continue to remind me how fast I'm growin' old.
Guess I'll die with this fever in my soul.

*************************

If you have heard this song, you know it is presented as a sad lament. But, I love to hear it while driving truck, even though it is not a happy song. Well, truck driving is not a happy job. It is hard, and you can’t make mistakes. If a barber makes a mistake, one person is mad, but his hair will grow back.

If a truck driver makes a mistake, death is most likely the result.

The same goes for pilots, bus drivers, ambulance drivers, submarine captains, marine corporals, etc.etc.etc.

100% right or dead.

A good percentage for a weatherperson on TV being right would be 40%.

Not all truck driver songs are sad and haunting, take for example, Six Days on the Road. Written by Dave Dudley.

Six Days on the Road.....

Well, I pulled out of Pittsburgh,
Rollin' down the Eastern Seaboard.
I've got my diesel wound up,
And she's running like never before.
There's a speed zone ahead, all right,
I don't see a cop in sight.
Six days on the road and I'm gonna make it home tonight.

I got ten forward gears,
And a Georgia overdrive.
I'm taking little white pills,
And my eyes are open wide.
I just passed a 'Jimmy' and a 'White':
I've been passin' everything in sight.
Six days on the road and I'm gonna make it home tonight.

Well, it seems like a month,
Since I kissed my baby good-bye.
I could have a lot of women,
But I'm not like some other guys.
I could find one to hold me tight,
But I could never believe that it's right.
Six days on the road and I'm gonna make it home tonight.

I.C.C. is checking on down the line.
I'm a little overweight and my log's three days behind.
But nothing bothers me tonight.
I can dodge all the scales all right,
Six days on the road and I'm gonna make it home tonight.

Well my rig's a little old,
But that don't mean she's slow.
There's a flame from her stack,
And the smoke's rolling black as coal.
My hometown's coming in sight,
If you think I'm happy your right.
Six days on the road and I'm gonna make it home tonight.
Six days on the road and I'm gonna make it home tonight.
Six days on the road and I'm gonna make it home tonight.

**********************

All I can say to this song is….

Yeah!!!!

Six days on the road is a rocking fast paced delightful song.

Dave Dudley wrote and sang it long ago, and it has been recorded by numerous artists, including Sawyer Brown, George Thorogood & The Destroyers, Taj Mahal and the Flying Burrito Brothers, just to name a few. George Thorogood changed a few words of the song and many people think he wrote it, but ask any truck driver who wrote and sang it first, they’ll tell you, Dave Dudley. The groups that have recorded Six Days on the Road are diverse, but they all put a lot of energy into this song about truck driving.

This is probably enough about truck driving for today, and I didn’t even start to talk about the reasons I am a truck driver. Oh well, visit Sanity’s Bluff again. But, I really should start a separate Truck Driving Blog.

If there is any interest, I will continue to write about the lure of the road in upcoming blogs. Let me know in the comment section, should I start a separate blog for my truck driving thoughts, or work it into Sanity’s Bluff?

Truck driving has been my life for a long time. It perhaps pulled me away from the Bluff of Insanity, got me off of drugs, and has made my life comfortable. (Comfortable that is when I am not in the drivers seat bouncing all around. My job is far from comfortable, but it pays for what comfort I have)