Tag: Roll On Down The Highway

I’ve always liked the guitar riff in this song.

This Canadian’s band name is a combination of the members’ last names and Overdrive, the trucker magazine. It’s been said that Randy and Frank were sitting around a table at a Husky Restaurant (which is a big “Truck Stop” chain in Canada) and they were trying to think of a name for the band. Randy was reading the magazine and said as a joke, “We should name ourselves Overdrive.”

Randy Bachman and Fred Turner would often give themselves assignments as motivation to write songs, often writing something in the style of a current hit. This song evolved out of something they wrote for a Ford commercial. In our interview with Randy Bachman, he explained:

The song peaked at #14 in the Billboard 100, #4 in Canada, and #22 in the UK in 1975.

Randy Bachman – “It’s like getting an assignment: write a new commercial for Ford and you’ll get paid $100,000. Well, I’d sit down and I’d write a commercial for Ford, ‘let it roll down the highway.’ Ford never picks it up and I have a song called ‘Roll On Down the Highway.'”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gi0Opxwyino

Roll On Down The Highway

We rented a truck and a semi to go
Travel down the long and the winding road
Look on the map, I think we’ve been there before
Close up the doors, let’s roll once more

Cop’s on the corner, look he’s starting to write
Well, I don’t need no ticket so I screamed out of sight
Drove so fast that my eyes can’t see
Look in the mirror, is he still following me?

Let it roll down the highway
Let it roll down the highway
Roll, roll

Look at the sign, we’re in the wrong place
Move out boys and let’s get ready to race
Four fifty-four’s coming over the hill
The man on patrol is gonna give us a bill

The time’s real short, you know the distance is long
I’d like to have a jet but it’s not in the song
Climb back in the cab, cross your fingers for luck
We gotta keep moving if we’re going to make a buck

Let it roll down the highway
Let it roll down the highway
Roll

Let it roll
Let it roll
Let it roll
Let it roll

Let it roll down the highway
Let it roll down the highway
Roll, roll, roll

Down the highway
Let it roll down the highway
Roll, roll, roll

Let it roll down the highway
Let it roll down the highway
Roll, roll, roll