Music Monday ~ "This country's bigger than Texas"

In the UK, in the 1990s I became interested in country music. Back then country music there was a scarce commodity, known to few. In those days, before I owned a computer, I got my information from a monthly country music magazine; I'd search high and low for records and buy a few "bootleg" tapes someone acquired, recorded foggily from American TV shows. BBC radio programmes would occasionally feature a popular country-ish record, a rare treat.

The song title from which this post's heading comes is a little-known number sung by Gene Watson. Embedding has been disabled for the video, but here's a link.
The lyrics tell how country music has no boundaries - an apt thought for this post.

Over several years I managed to familiarise myself with a bunch of American singers nobody I knew had ever even heard of. Heck, back then in England few had even heard of Merle Haggard and Waylon Jennings! Willie Nelson? Yep, some had heard of him!

Within the songs I grew to love, were words in the lyrics I couldn't quite understand. I guessed from context, but was never confident I had guessed correctly. So, for Music Monday today, three of those songs, with notes of the words that used to make me wonder.

Six Days on the Road - Dave Dudley

My wonderings:
What is Georgia overdrive? I've discovered the answer to this one while preparing the post!

"Georgia Overdrive" is truck driver slang for placing your trucks transmission in neutral at the top of a large hill. Then you allow the truck to coast down the hill. Gravity pulls the truck faster and faster, the truck will continue to build speed until the the truck reaches the bottom of the hill. This is a dangerous practice. (See HERE)

And what about
I just passed a 'Jimmy' and a 'White'

Husband enlightened me that these are two brands of big trucks: "Jimmy" is slang for GMC (General Motor Corporation).

I.C.C. is checking on down the line - I gathered that his must be some authority figure, and discovered it stands for Interstate Commerce Commission, the federal authority regulating transport companies who do business across different state lines.





Georgia in a Jug - Johnny Paycheck

First line:
Mason jar on the dresser filled with dollars and quarters

I didn't know what a Mason jar was - now I do! And "jug", for me meant a ceramic vessel for holding milk to put in my cup of tea. I know better now.





Wichita Lineman - Glen Campbell

In spite of the context ("I hear you singin' in the wire, I can hear you through the whine") I originally had a vision of a railway line repair man. Electricity linemen are not as common a sight in Britain, where most power lines are buried rather than strung across the land.