In 1975, "Smokey Bear" taught fire safety, a "rocking chair" was where Grandpa sat, and "Ten-four" was the score of last night's baseball game. "Convoy," a song where truck drivers join an ever-growing parade of Peterbilts and Kenworths and use "handles" to avoid the police - all told in CB jargon and lingo - changed all that. It became a worldwide hit, topping the pop and country charts in 1976, and helping to sell millions of CB radios.

It also became the biggest hit for C.W. McCall, a fictional truck driver/road poet created by advertising executive Bill Fries, who provided the voice and lyrics, and musician Louis "Chip" Davis, who created the orchestrations.

Nearly three decades after their biggest hit, Fries and Davis have brought back C.W. McCall with Mannheim Steamroller in a new CD called American Spirit. Among the new and classic tracks on the CD is a freshly-recorded version of "Convoy."

"We've discovered there's been a rebirth, a whole new generation is suddenly discovering this C.W. McCall stuff," says Fries.

Birth of a Trucker

The character of C.W. McCall grew from a series of popular commercials Fries created for Old Home Bread, while he and Davis were working at an Omaha, Neb., ad agency. "We had to have a truck driver in the commercials," said Fries, "and I needed to have a name for that truck driver. I looked down at my desk, and there's a copy of McCall's magazine, and McCall sounded like a good name for a truck driver. The truck drivers for Old Home Bread had initials on their shirts, so he became C.W. McCall - C.W. for Country and Western."

A 45 rpm record based on the commercials "Old Home Filler-Up An' Keep-On-A-Trucking' Café," was released under the name C.W. McCall. Fries and Davis sold 30,000 homemade copies, and later signed with MGM Records in 1974. While C.W. McCall had a series of minor country hits in 1974 and 1975, it wasn't until November 1975 when "Convoy," a little-known album track from McCall's second album Black Bear Road, became a monster hit.

"There was the energy crisis, long lines at gas stations, 55 mph speed limits, and the truckers couldn't get their loads to the marketplace," recalled Fries. "They would create convoys on the road and try to beat the state patrol. We bought a CB and listened to them, and got a great collection of the jargon, their handles and all the things that they would say. Davis created a patriotic, militaristic sound on the record, with snare drums and a marching band beat. And I talked over the microphone, like I was on a CB radio. We knew the song was a hit when had to go out to Los Angeles, and when we got off the airplane and rode downtown in our rented car, we turned on the radio, and there it was. And no matter what station we turned to, within 30 seconds 'Convoy' would be on."

Fast Lane to Fame

In January 1976, "Convoy" topped the country and pop charts, introducing an entire nation to CB lingo. Sales of citizens' band radios exploded, so much so that in 1977 the FCC increased the number of available CB channels from 23 to 40 to handle the additional users. Fries appeared on TV as C.W. McCall on "American Bandstand" and "Hee Haw," and even licensed the McCall character to Midland International Radios, encouraging consumers to "join the Midland Convoy."

The song spurred dozens of similar CB radio songs, as well as popular truck driving movies (including a movie adaptation of "Convoy," starring Kris Kristofferson and Ali MacGraw). But by 1979, the C.W. McCall phenomenon had run its course. Davis would later form the successful recording group Mannheim Steamroller, while Fries "went fishing" at a new home in Ouray, Colo. In 1986, he was elected mayor of Ouray, a post he held for six years.

Through it all, Fries maintains respect and love for the truck drivers who inspired his greatest hit. "I like truckers. They're the modern cowboys of the road. They'd do anything for you. I still have a CB radio in my motor home - but we hardly ever use it, because we have cell phones now."

Convoy
by Bill Fries & Chip Davis

Uh, Breaker One-Nine, this here's the Rubber Duck
You got a copy on me Pig-Pen? C'mon

Uh, yeah, 10-4 Pig Pen, fer sure, fer sure
By golly it's clean clear to Flag-Town, C'mon

Uh, yeah, that's a big 10-4 Pig-Pen,
Yeah, we definitely got us the front door good buddy,
Mercy sakes alive, looks like we got us a convoy

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 was 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

Cause we gotta little ol' convoy,
rockin' through the night
Yeah we gotta little ol' convoy, ain't she a beautiful sight?
Come on an' join our convoy, ain't
nothin' gonna git in our way
We're gonna roll this truckin' convoy,
cross the USA
Convoy... Convoy...

Uh, breaker Pig-Pen, this here's The Duck
Uh, you wanna back off them hogs
10-4, 'bout five mile or so, 10-roger
Them hogs is gittin' intense up here

By the time we got into Tulsa-Town
We had 85 trucks in all
But there's a road block up on the clover leaf
And them bears was wall to wall
Yeah them smokies was thick as bugs on a bumper
They even had a bear-in-the-air
I sez callin' all trucks, this here's The Duck
We about to go a huntin' bear

Uh, you wanna give me a 10-9 on that Pig-Pen?
Uh, negatory Pig-Pen, yer still too close
Yeah, them hogs is startin' to close up my sinuses
Mercy sakes, you better back off another ten

Well we rolled up interstate forty-four
Like a rocket sled on rails
We tore up all of our swindle sheets
And left 'em settin' on the scales
By the time we hit that Chi-Town
Them bears was a gittin' smart
They'd brought up some reinforcements
From the Illinois National Guard
There was armored cars, and tanks, and Jeeps
And rigs of every size
Yeah them chicken coops was full of bears
And choppers filled the skies
Well we shot the line, and we went for broke
With a thousand screamin' trucks
And 11 long-haired friends of Jesus
In a chartreuse microbus

Hey Sod Buster, listen: You wanna put that microbus in behind the suicide jockey?
Yeah, he's haulin' dynamite
He needs all the help he can git

Well we laid a strip fer the Jersey Shore
And prepared to cross the line
I could see the bridge was lined with bears
But I didn't have a doggone dime
I sez Pig-Pen, this here's the Rubber Duck
We just ain't a gonna pay no toll
So we crashed the gate doin' ninety-eight
I sez, let them truckers roll, 10-4

Uh, 10-4 Pig-Pen, what's yer 20? Omaha?!
Well they oughta know what to do with them hogs out there fer sure
Well mercy sakes alive good buddy
We're gonna back on outta here
So keep the bugs off yer glass
An' the bears off yer tail
We gonna catch ya on the flip-flop
This here's the Rubber Duck on the side
We gone Bye, Bye...