Saturday 9: Eastbound and Down

 

Saturday 9: Eastbound and Down (1977)

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

1) This week's song was featured in the movie Smokey and the Bandit, the surprise box office hit of 1977. Have you seen it?

A. I have seen this movie, but it has been many years ago.

2) Though not well received by critics, Smokey and the Bandit had one very famous fan: Alfred Hitchcock. The classic film director enjoyed re-watching the movie on video at home, often while having dinner. Do you ever watch TV with your meal?

A. We generally watch the local news when we have dinner. We are farmers. We like to know what the weather people predict (even if it's the same "no rain" day after day after day).

3) Jerry Reed not only wrote and performed the movie's theme, he appeared in the movie as truck driver Cledus "Snowman" Snow. Have you ever driven, or ridden in, a big rig?

A. I have ridden in my husband's dump truck, but not a tractor trailer.

4) He sings, "We've got a long way to go and a short time to get there." Have you recently felt rushed?

A. I almost always feel rushed. I have to make sure to add time for backups on the interstate due to blasting when I am driving.

5) Director Hal Needham asked Jerry Reed for a song that explained the plot of the movie. He wrote this overnight and always considered it a happy accident. Can you think of a time when something turned out better than you expected?

A. My concert experience with Melissa Etheridge turned out much better than I expected, since I actually was able to hug her at the end of the show.

6) Reed was born in Atlanta and, coincidentally, he mentions Atlanta in the lyrics. Has your hometown been immortalized in song?

A. My hometown has not been immortalized in song, as far as I know. Virginia couldn't even settle on a state song for years. It used to be "Carry Me Back to Ol' Virginia," but that has racist overtones and was demoted to "state song emeritus" in 1997. In 2015, the state government representatives finally settled on a song called "Our Great Virginia," (which I personally have never heard, not once). It is sung to the tune of "Oh Shenandoah." The state government also recognized "Sweet Virginia Breeze" as the official popular state song in the same year.

7) Jerry met Priscilla Mitchell at Capitol Records, where Jerry was a session musician and Priscilla was backup singer. Though she was only 18 when they wed, it seems their union was a happy one, and they were together until his death almost 50 years later. If a newly engaged 18-year-old asked you for advice, what would you say?

A. I would tell that newly engaged 18-year-old to give back the ring and go out and live a little before making such a momentous decision. I married at 20 and that was too young.

8) In 1977, when "Eastbound and Down" was on the radio, nostalgia for the 1950s topped the TV ratings. The two most popular shows that year were Laverne & Shirley and Happy Days. If you magically transported back to the 1950s, what do you think you'd like about it? What do you think you'd miss about your life in 2026?

A. If I were transported back to the 1950s, I doubt there would be much I would like, except maybe chocolate milkshakes and jukeboxes. I think the 1950s are highly overrated. I would miss all of the rights women now have, like being able to open a bank account, have a credit card without a male cosigner, and being able to buy property. I would also miss color TV.

9) Random question: Were you ever afraid of monsters in your closet or under your bed?

A. I was not afraid of monsters in the closet or under my bed, but that is because I had a ghost that came and sat at the foot of my bed at night.

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