Song written by Dave Loggins, was recorded by the country rock band Alabama, was recorded on November 10, 1983, and was released on January 6, 1984, for the RCA label, with the production Harold Shedd. It would reach number one on the US country charts, on March 24, 1994, it also won number one on the Canadian charts. The song would be included on the album, Roll On (RCA 1984), The album also reached number one in the US lists Billboard Top Country Albums. This album got 4 platinum records, selling more than 4 million copies. It was the twelfth number one in the band.

With this song, Roll On (Eighteen Wheeler), Alabama, pays tribute to the American truck driver. As you know, in country music, truck drivers have their own section, Trucker Music, singers such as Red Simpson, Dave Dudley, Red Sovine, Dick Curless or Del Reeves, were its maximum representatives of this style.

Returning to the song, it is the story of a man who drives a semi-trailer truck to support his wife and three children. On one of his long trips, children sadly meet their mother and ask about their father, when he returns, the mother tells them to remember the song that their father had taught them, (“Roll on the road, roll forward, roll over Daddy until he returns home, rolls over the family, rolls on the crew, rolls on the mother as I asked you to do “). One night the mother receives a call from the police, saying that they have found the truck, lying on a snowbank, but they did not find the driver, in any highway motel. The woman had the hope that her husband would be fine, so with her three children they prayed, singing the song that their father had taught them. They waited all night, until the phone rang again, it was the father’s voice saying that I was fine, I asked if they had been singing that song during the search for him.

Versions :

Randy Parton 1982 ( RCA )
David Allan Coe 1996 ( TeeVee Records )
Saddle Tramps 1998 ( Universal Music Australia )
Aaron Tippin 2009 ( Nipit records )

Alabama – Roll On (Eighteen Wheeler) lyrics

[Chorus:]
Roll on highway, roll on along
Roll on daddy till you get back home
Roll on family, roll on crew
Roll on momma like I asked you to do
And roll on eighteen-wheeler, roll on. (roll on.)

Well, it’s Monday morning, he’s kissin’ momma goodbye
He’s up and gone with the sun
Daddy drives an eighteen-wheeler
And he’s off on a midwest run
As three sad faces gather round momma
They ask her when daddy’s comin’ home
Daddy drives an eighteen-wheeler
And they sure miss him when he’s gone (yeah they do)
Ah, but he calls them everynight
And he tells them that he loves them
And he taught them this song to sing.

[Chorus:]
Roll on highway, roll on along
Roll on daddy till ya get back home
Roll on family, roll on crew
Roll on momma like I asked you to do
And roll on eighteen-wheeler roll on. (roll on.)

Well, it’s Wednesday evening, momma’s waitin by the phone
It rings but it’s not his voice
Seems the highway patrol has found a jackknifed rig
In a snow bank in Illinois
But the driver was missin’
And the search had been abandoned.
‘Cause the weather had everything stalled
And they had checked all the houses and the local motels
When they had some more news they’d call
And she told them when they found him
To tell him that she loved him
And she hung up the phone singin’.

[Chorus:]
Roll on highway, roll on along
Roll on daddy till ya get back home
Roll on family, roll on crew
Roll on momma like I asked you to do
And roll on eighteen-wheeler roll on.

Momma and the children will be waiting up all night long
Thinkin’ nothing but the worst is comin’
With the ringin’ of the telephone
Oh, but the man upstairs was listening
When momma asked him to bring daddy home
And when the call came in it was daddy on the other end
Askin’ her if she had been singin’ the song, singin’.

[Chorus:]
Roll on highway, roll on along
Roll on daddy till ya get back home
Roll on family, roll on crew
Roll on momma like I asked you to do
And roll on eighteen-wheeler roll on (roll on)

Eighteen-wheeler
Eighteen-wheeler
Eighteen-wheeler
Eighteen-wheeler

Roll on
Roll on…