Posted on 04/01/2022 5:00:28 PM PDT by hoagy62
From the FB page of Mannheim Steamroller:
Chip’s good friend Bill Fries passed away today. Bill and Chip teamed up to create the fictional CW McCall — voiced by Fries — for a series of award-winning commercials, including the #1 classic hit, “Convoy”.
Chip just spoke about his friend, “Bill Fries, ‘Breaker Breaker 19’ is how that big song started— selling millions of copies worldwide. It made an impressive impact on millions of people. I had a great time writing with ‘Willy’. I’d go over to his house and we’d talk about the topic of a song while having a ‘silver bullet’— Bill’s name for a martini. I wrote the music separately and I never heard his words until we got into the studio. What a wordsmith and what a voice. You won’t have to keep the pedal to the metal anymore. Rest up Willy, you deserve it.”
It was the success of " Convoy" that allowed Chip Davis to form Mannheim Steamroller.
Catch you on the flip flop, RIP.
Always reminded me of Hoyt Axton’s voice.
I had all of his work in 8-track. Loved it all. Maybe Wolf Creek Pass was the best. Sloan was good, too. NOT Convoy.
RIP.
10-4 Rubber Duck ...
So he was an executive pretending to be an actor who was pretending to be a singer who was pretending to be a trucker. That's a lot of mileage out of one character! RIP
I looked him up on Wikipedia just two weeks ago.
RIP.
Watching him lip sync “Convoy” on some TV show was one of the most disturbing experiences of my childhood.
RIP
Probably American Bandstand. That was pretty awful.
“I’m a dude who is just a dude playing another dude”
-Tropic Thunder
I always wanted to take a drive over Wolf Creek Pass to see if there really was a feed store in downtown Pagosa Springs.
Don’t forget “Roses for Mama,” another classic. His other really big one besides “Convoy.”
Wow, no idea that connection was there. I can’t think of a more different pair of musical styles than “Convoy” and early Mannheim Steamroller.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pY9__9u2S0Y
ff
“We took that top row o’ chickens of slicker than scum off a Louisiana swamp.”
“And I’m about to put the hammer down”
Drive safe mate... RIP.
We’ve been following and have joined in the People’s Convoy to stop the mandate orders.
Convoy and CW have been on my mind a lot
The sequel to Convoy or the follow up single “Around the world with the Rubber Duck” is nuts. It picks up where the first song left off...on the Jersey Shore and guess what...they go across the Atlantic like “snakes on glass” another line describes how they lost “200 trucks at sea”. Just hilarious. It was a major flop as a single. But hey, the song Convoy is practically part of the culture so cheers to C.W. I hope he doesn’t have to fill out any “swindle sheets” in heaven.
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