America- it’s a really weird place. I’m certain I’d heard this song before, somewhere in my youth of listening to classic rock radio, but the absolutely bizarre nature of it really hit me as it came on as I drove to work this morning. This story song about outlaw truckers, which is a spoken word piece for most of its running time, was the #1 song in America on January 11, 1976. So popular in fact that it inspired a film 2 years later directed by no less than Sam Peckinpah. The video above is the trailer for that film that runs a staggering 4 minutes. Why? Because they were certain people would remain interested through the entire thing due to the presence of the complete song. For further reading, take a look at the song’s shockingly well researched wikipedia page. Crazy, huh?
Declaration of Principles
“It may be true that one has to choose between ethics and aesthetics, but it is no less true that whichever one chooses, one will always find the other at the end of the road.”
—Jean-Luc GodardYeah, I know…
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