Girl on the Billboard
| Girl on the Billboard | |
|---|---|
| Del Reeves | |
| publication | February 1965 |
| length | 2:37 |
| Genre (s) | Country |
| Author (s) | Hank Mills , Walter Haynes |
| Producer (s) | Kelso Herston |
| Label | United Artists |
| Cover versions | |
| 1965 | Joyce Paul (I'm the Girl on the Billboard) |
| 1977 | Truck Stop (the woman with the seat belt) |
| 2005 | The Road Hammers |
Girl on the Billboard is a 1965 song by Del Reeves. The song was his first # 1 single on the country charts and also reached # 96 on the Billboard Hot 100 . In the German-speaking countries, a German version called Frau mit dem Gurt by the Truck Stop group became popular as part of a campaign to make seat belts compulsory .
Version by Del Reeves
Music and lyrics
The song was written by Hank Mills and Walter Haynes. The song was produced by Kelso Herston and released on United Artists Records as a single with the B-side Eyes Don't Come Crying to Me . '
The song is a novelty song. It is about a truck driver who falls in love with the image of a pretty, unclothed woman whose curves are only covered by a towel. This picture is on a billboard on Route 66 and the driver passes there every day. During his journeys, he also notices that many accidents occur at this part of the road.
One morning in the morning he stops at the door of the artist who painted the picture and asks him for the address of the model he drew. The painter tells him that the woman is not real and that he should get on his way now. In the English phrase "Get the ... on his way", the swear word (probably "heck" or "ass") is covered over by an electric guitar riff. The song ends with the statement that some parts of his heart would now be found on Route 66 because this news broke his heart.
success
The song became a surefire hit on the US country charts and quickly became one of Del Reeves' best-known songs. It reached number 1 on the US country charts, where it stayed for two weeks. It was his fourth single in the country charts and also his first number 1. The single also reached number 96 on the US Billboard Hot 100, making it Del Reeve's only mainstream success.
Cover versions
Joyce Paul
Country singer Joyce Paul released an answer song in 1965 called I'm the Girl on the Billboard , also written by Mills and Haynes. In this, the woman on the sign describes herself as a simple “small town girl” waiting for the right man. The artist was inspired by her, but didn't want to tell the truck driver because he didn't want her to leave. She also happened to be around when the artist kicked him out. You could still see her picture there today.
Truck stop
The German country band Truck Stop from Hamburg had released country songs with English songs on their first albums . When the last album Truckin 'on New Tracks (1976) sold much less, the band fell into a brief crisis. In the wake of the success of Udo Lindenberg , on whose albums some of the Truck Stop musicians played, it was decided to continue in German. The song was eventually Germanized into Die Frau mit dem Gurt and thus represented the band's first German-language country song. The arrangement was written by Erich Doll and Holger Grabowsky.
While the woman was clothed in the original only with a towel, it was in the German version, in the course of the advertising campaign for the seat belts to a seat belt . The text accordingly dispenses with the punch line of the original version and instead is a plea for compliance with seat belts. The German Road Safety Council used the song together with Buckle up , also from Truck Stop, for a safety campaign. The Road Safety Council's "Hallo Partner danke schön" campaign also provided the context for the lyrics: to encourage people to buckle up in the car, the campaign posted photos of women wearing seat belts in their clothes, for example with the title "Experts wear belts". A motif from 1974 showed a woman who was obviously not wearing any other clothing under the belt and the wide open denim jacket: “Up with is better”.
The song was released in 1977 as the lead single on the first German-language album Heimat . It was deliberately chosen as the first single, but the radio preferred to play their song I would like to hear Dave Dudley so much , which became their first hit in 1978.
The Road Hammers
Canadian country rock band The Road Hammers released a version of the song in 2006 that peaked at number 5 on the Billboard Canada Country Charts.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Girl on the Billboard at Discogs . Retrieved August 12, 2020
- ↑ a b c d Manfred Vogel: Girl On The Billboard - Hank Mills & Walter Haynes. In: Country.de - online magazine. June 13, 2014, accessed on August 12, 2020 (German).
- ↑ Hot Country Songs Chart. In: Billboard.com. Retrieved August 12, 2020 .
- ^ The Hot 100 Chart: June 26, 1965. In: Billboard.com. Retrieved August 12, 2020 .
- ↑ Joyce Paul: I'm the Girl on the Billboard at Discogs
- ↑ a b Truck Stop. In: laut.de. Retrieved August 12, 2020 .
- ↑ n-tv NEWS: Help, my blouse is wrinkling! Retrieved August 13, 2020 .
- ↑ Trucker romance is gone: the audience changes with the music from Truck Stop. In: Rhein-Neckar-Zeitung . Retrieved August 12, 2020 .
- ↑ The Road Hammers in the Hot Country Charts ( Memento from May 11, 2018 in the Internet Archive )