The Country Classics
Chart Topping Truck Driving Song “Big Wheels In The Moonlight” by Dan Seals
As The Country Classics continues to honor America’s truck driving men and women we go back to 1989. Country music was long overdue for a truck driving song at #1 on the charts. A song written by Dan Seals and Bob McDill hit it big. “Big Wheels In The Moonlight” went to number 1.
There is poetry in the words as Seals and McDill wrote:
But at night when I’m setting here
All alone in a living room chair
Sometimes I close my eyes
And see big wheels in the moonlight
For many of us Vietnam caused us to see more of the world than we ever wanted to. After the war ended many Vietnam Vets turned to truck driving. Many vets had a case of wanderlust, preferring not to be tied down. Many of the men didn’t want to be inside, feeling trapped without sunshine and freedom.
By 1989 I had served in the Marine Corps for 20 years, and thought I had a few more good years to give to the Corps. Just like in “Big Wheels In The Moonlight” I grew up in a small town. Seals and McDill wrote “I’d lie awake with the windows up, Out on Highway Fifty Nine, I could hear some big ol’ diesel whine.” For me it was US 99 in Redlands California. “She was going through all the gears, Headed out to who know’s where. I fell asleep most every night, Dreaming about big wheels in the moonlight.”
Back in Redlands California, long before the war, 1989 was thirty years in the future. Now it is twenty years in the past.
Seals and McDill wrote “How I got here it’s hard to say, So many things got in my way.” Now you understand why I said there is so much poetry in the words to “Big Wheels In The Moonlight”.
The Country Classics salutes all the men and women who drive those trucks, and we salute all the brave men and women who keep America safe. They are the ones who let our children sleep peacefully at night, dreaming about big wheels in the moonlight.
Related posts:
- David Lynn Jones Truck Driving Song Bonnie Jean (Little Sister)
- TCC adds Truck Driving Music category
- Saluting Truck Drivers and Truck Driving Songs – Roll On Big Mama
- Red Simpson Sings Diesel Smoke, Dangerous Curves and Roll Truck Roll
- Remembering Dave Dudley and “Where’s The Truck”
If you enjoyed this post, please leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
Bring the music to life by visiting our dedicated country music video libraries
