The White Knight (Cledus Maggard song)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| “The White Knight” | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Cledus Maggard & The Citizen's Band from the album The White Knight |
|||||
| Released | December 1975 (U.S.) | ||||
| Format | 7" | ||||
| Recorded | 1975 | ||||
| Genre | Country | ||||
| Length | 4:05 | ||||
| Label | Mercury Records 73751 | ||||
| Writer(s) | Jay Huguely | ||||
| Producer | Leslie Advertising | ||||
| Cledus Maggard & The Citizen's Band singles chronology | |||||
|
|||||
"The White Knight" was a novelty country music song made famous by Jay Huguely, who - recording as Cledus Maggard & The Citizen's Band - enjoyed a brief run of national popularity with the song when it became popular in 1976.
Contents |
[edit] Song story
Huguely was working as an advertising salesman at an agency named Leslie Advertising in Greenville, South Carolina in the mid-1970s when he was approached to help with an advertising campaign centering on the then fast-growing citizens' band radio craze. According to writer Tom Roland, Huguely knew little about the CB radio but agreed to help out.
After taking notes and getting help from his co-workers on deciphering the jargon, he went to work on writing a song.[1]
[edit] Plot
Huguely's finished product was a story about an over-the-road truck driver who receives a CB call from an individual claiming to be a truck driver. Identifying himself as "The White Knight," the other driver broadcasts information to the main protagonist that there are no "smokies" (police officers) in sight and that he can drive as fast as he wants to.
Unfortunately for the song's hero, The White Knight is a corrupt highway patrolman who has used the CB radio to broadcast misleading traffic information to truck drivers, hoping to lure them into a speed trap. The plan works, and the hero is pulled over for going "40 miles over the speed limit" (i.e., 95 mph). The main hero is left to exclaim "Bubblegum-machine done hit the jackpot" as he is being pulled over and taken to jail.
[edit] Chart performance
"The White Knight" reached No. 1 on the Billboard magazine Hot Country Singles chart in February 1976 and was a modest pop hit, peaking at No. 19 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was Maggard's only nationwide release to reach the Top 40 on either chart.
The song was one of three No. 1 songs where the CB radio is central to the plot to top the Hot Country Singles chart during 1976. The other songs were:
- "Convoy" by C.W. McCall; four of its six weeks atop the chart were in January.
- "Teddy Bear" by Red Sovine, peaking in July.
[edit] References and sources
[edit] References
- ^ Roland, Tom, "The Billboard Book of Number One Country Hits" (Billboard Books, Watson-Guptill Publications, New York, 1991 (ISBN 0-82-307553-2)), p. 161
[edit] See also
- Whitburn, Joel, "Top Country Songs: 1944-2005," 2006.
[edit] Succession
| Preceded by "Sometimes" by Bill Anderson and Mary Lou Turner |
Billboard Hot Country Singles number one single by Cledus Maggard and The Citizen's Band February 14, 1976 |
Succeeded by "Good Hearted Woman" by Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson |
