"Chicken Truck" is a song co-written and recorded by American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

artist

John Anderson John Anderson may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * John Anderson (jazz trumpeter) (1921–1974), American musician * Jon Anderson (John Roy Anderson, born 1944), lead singer of the British band Yes * John Anderson (producer) (1948–2024 ...

. It was released in August 1981 as the second single from album '' John Anderson 2''. The song reached number 8 on the ''

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Hot Country Singles & Tracks Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data along with digital sales and streaming. ...

chart. The song's

b-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...

, "I Love You a Thousand Ways", charted at number 54 in the U.S. and number 11 in Canada. Anderson wrote the song with Monroe Fields and Ervan James Parker. "Chicken Truck" was later the

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...

to Anderson's 1984 single " Eye of a Hurricane".

Content

The song features Anderson (in first person narration) discussing an experience of getting stuck behind a Georgia truck hauling a load of chickens (Georgia is a major poultry-producing state), on Alabama State Route 65 (a winding, 2-lane highway in Jackson County in the northeast corner of Alabama) heading to Tennessee in mid-July. The driver is unable to pass the truck, which is causing a potential crash as the feathers from the chickens are clouding up the driver's windshield. In the second verse Anderson is finally able to pass the truck, and notices the driver has a box of "Colonel Sanders" on the dashboard while carelessly tossing the scraps out the window (and on to Anderson's vehicle).

Chart performance

References

1981 singles 1981 songs John Anderson (musician) songs Songs written by John Anderson (musician) Song recordings produced by Norro Wilson Warner Records singles Songs about truck driving {{1981-country-song-stub