Remember the CB craze? Big in the 70's. Well it was in the UK. I've still got CW McCall's album featuring Convoy, which loosely formed the basis for the 1978 film of the same name. As much as I love Sam Peckinpah films ( "The Wild Bunch" one of my all time favourites ) Convoy wasn't up there with his best, but it just piggy backed the CB craze.
I suppose it was the fascinating language of the CB air waves that caught the attention. Based around the 10 codes, it covered all aspects of driving long distances on US highways, which never quite translated as well to the much shorter and more tortuous roads in the UK.
"Convoy" the song brilliantly wove this unique language into the lyrics:
Was the dark of the moon, on the sixth of June
In a Kenworth, pullin' logs
Cabover Pete with a reefer on
And a Jimmy haulin' hogs
We 'as headin' fer bear on I-One-Oh
'Bout a mile outta Shaky-Town
I sez Pig-Pen, this here's the Rubber Duck
An' I'm about to put the hammer on down
And there is always this battle with law enforcement as a secondary theme. I love CB references to the police:
"Smokey in a plain brown wrapper" – a law officer in an unmarked police car.
"Kojak with a Kodak" – a law officer monitoring traffic with a radar gun.
"Gum ball machine" – refers to a popular style of rotating mirror light used by many state police and some other law enforcement agencies.
Q: How many CB Truckers does it take to change a lightbulb?
A: 10-4, good buddy. Look's like I've got a black eye, and a bear on my tail.
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