Convoy

This is a novelty song inspired by the CB radio craze of the mid-'70s. The story of "Convoy" was told in CB jargon and with a Country and Western (the "C.W.") twang. In the song, the truckers form a convoy and go rogue, crashing toll gates and evading cops trying to stop them. The song ends with the convoy riding off into the night. It's not likely that 85 truckers would circumvent a police effort that has called in the National Guard for support, but Americans are fascinated with law-skirting truckers getting the best of the cops who are after them. You can also think of the song as a prank: many non-truckers had CB radios and monitored communications. Truckers would sometimes mess with these folks by concocting stories.

C.W. McCall is a character created by songwriter Bill Fries. While he displayed musical promise as a child, he was more interested in graphic design. While attending the University of Iowa, Fries studied music and played in the school's concert band, but his major was in fine arts, and after graduation he began handling the art chores at an Omaha, Nebraska television station. After five years there, he was hosting his own program, where he drew caricatures of celebrities. Fries signed on as the art director for an Omaha advertising agency in the early '60s, and it was there that he created the character C.W. McCall as a selling tool for an area bakery. A trucker for the fictional Old Home Bread company who spent much of his time in a diner called The Old Home Filler-Up-an'-Keep-On-a-Truckin' Cafe, the McCall character was a huge hit with viewers, and the radio campaign won Fries the advertising industry's prestigious Clio Award. In 1974, Fries decided to cut a record under the McCall moniker, and the single, a monologue with country backing titled after the aforementioned cafe, became a hit. A follow-up single, "Wolf Creek Pass," was even more successful.

This hit #1 on both the Pop and Country charts, and a national craze was born.