I know a Red Sovine trucker song and Pee-Wee Herman seem like a strange combination, but bear with me.
First, trucker tunes are part of the Route 66 traveling experience, or should be. At some point while traveling the Mother Road, you should have Dave Dudley‘s “Six Days on the Road” and “Truck Drivin’ Son of a Gun,” Del Reeves‘ “The Girl on the Billboard,” Claude Gray‘s “How Fast Them Trucks Can Go” and other such cuts for your CD player or iPod.
Sovine was one of the biggest purveyors of trucking songs during the 1960s and ’70s. He was a singer, but some of his biggest hits were spoken-word songs such as the Route 66-referenced “Giddy-Up-Go,” the tear-jerker “Teddy Bear” and the ghostly tale of “Phantom 309.”
Here’s a clip of Sovine performing “Phanton 309,” a hit in 1968, on the “Porter Wagoner Show.”
In “Pee Wee’s Big Adventure,” I’ll swear the Large Marge scene, which is one of the best-known in the 1985 film, was at least partly inspired by Sovine’s “Phantom 309.” Watch the story line and see whether you agree.
Ron, back in the mid sixties I got to work behind Dave Dudley, Del Reeves and Claude Gray when I lived and worked in Colorado Springs.
Harley
Yeah, but did you get to work with Pee-Wee Herman? 😉
1.No (but we did smoke a joint together…)
2.No ( but with my big fat ego I would have told you so if I had).
3. NO (he hasn`t had the honer oops I meant onher).
Pick any one or all three or just add a couple if you`d like .
Hardley
Impressive list of artists, Harley. Sounds like you were in the mother lode of trucker-song singers.
I actually saw the Porter Wagoner Show fairly often, as grew up in southern Kentucky within TV broadcast range of Nashville where the show was produced. Most people don’t know that Dolly Parton was a regular on his show, and it’s where she got her “step up” to the big time. That clip brought back memories of the TV shop next door to my dad’s office where I would hang out (and where I saw the show on Saturday afternoons in the winter time).