"East Bound and Down" is a song written by Jerry Reed and Deena Kaye Rose, and recorded by Reed for the soundtrack for the film '' Smokey and the Bandit''. The song features Reed on the lead vocal, and vocalist Gordon Stoker of

the Jordanaires The Jordanaires were an American vocal quartet that formed as a gospel group in 1948. Over the years, they recorded both sacred and secular music for recording companies such as Capitol Records, RCA Victor, Columbia Records, Decca Records, Vo ...

on the harmony vocal. It was released in August 1977 as a single on

RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records (its former longtime rival), Arista Records and Epic R ...

. The song's lyrics tell the basic plot line of the movie (leaving out the runaway bride element) of making a 28-hour round-trip run from

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

, to

Texarkana, Texas Texarkana is a city in Bowie County, Texas, United States, in the Ark-La-Tex region. Located approximately from Dallas, Texarkana is a twin cities, twin city with neighboring Texarkana, Arkansas. The Texas city's population was 36,193 at the 2 ...

, and back to illegally transport 400 cases of Coors beer for an after-race celebration. The song spent 16 weeks on the U.S. country music charts, reaching a peak of No. 2. It also reached No. 3 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100. The "...and Down" in the title and lyric is

CB radio Citizens band radio (CB radio) is a land mobile radio system, a system allowing short-distance one-to-many bidirectional voice communication among individuals, using two-way radios operating near 27 MHz (or the 11-m wavelength) in the high freq ...

jargon for driving with the accelerator pedal all the way to the floor, which is known as having the "hammer down". "I got the hammer down" or "I'm down" means "I'm driving as fast as I can". " irectionbound and down" remains a common sign-off for truckers on CB radio.

Chart performance

Cover versions

* A variant version of the song, titled "West Bound and Down," was also recorded by Reed and included on the '' Smokey and the Bandit'' soundtrack. This variant is played during the westbound portion of the movie. The lyric "East bound and down -- loaded up and truckin'" is changed to "West bound and down -- eighteen wheels a-rollin'." The music and the rest of the lyrics remain the same; however, there is additional instrumentation which includes strings and horns. * A cover was recorded in 2005 by Canadian country music group The Road Hammers. Other cover versions include Aaron Tippin, Supersuckers,

Dave Dudley Dave Dudley (born David Darwin Pedruska; May 3, 1928 – December 22, 2003) was an American country music singer best known for his truck-driving country anthems of the 1960s and 1970s and his somewhat-slurred bass. His signature song was "Six ...

, and Tonic. * The song was recorded by punk rock cover band Me First and the Gimme Gimmes on their sixth album, '' Love Their Country''. * "East Bound and Down" was recorded by Jessy Lynn Martens for the TV series '' Archer'' under the pseudonym "Cherlene." * "East Bound and Down" was recorded by the Supersuckers on their 2005 album '' Devil's Food''. * "East Bound and Down" was performed by Midland at the 52nd

Country Music Association Awards The Country Music Association Awards, also known as the CMA Awards or CMAs, are presented to country music artists and broadcasters to recognize outstanding achievement in the country music industry. The televised annual presentation ceremony f ...

in 2018. The band now regularly includes the song in their live shows. * "East Bound and Down" was recorded by Po' Ramblin' Boys featuring Jason Carter & Bronwyn Keith-Hynes as a single in 2021. * The

Ford Motor Company Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational corporation, multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. T ...

revived the song's popularity as part of its F-Series truck advertisements in 2018, where a host of pickups from different years and towing various items, such as barbecue grills, a 1960s-era

Ford Bronco The Ford Bronco is a model line of SUV, SUVs manufactured and marketed by Ford Motor Company, Ford. The first SUV model developed by the company, five generations of the Bronco were sold from the 1966 to 1996 model years. A sixth generation of ...

, and a statue of the Big Boy mascot, is seen driving down the highway. * An instrumental version of "East Bound and Down" was recorded by

Herb Alpert Herb Alpert (born March 31, 1935) is an American trumpeter, pianist, singer, songwriter, record producer, arranger, conductor, painter, sculptor and theatre producer, who led the band Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass (sometimes called "Herb Alpe ...

on his 2023 album ''Wish Upon A Star''.

Notes

References

1977 singles Jerry Reed songs Songs written by Jerry Reed The Road Hammers songs Aaron Tippin songs Songs written by Deena Kaye Rose 1977 songs RCA Records singles Smokey and the Bandit Songs written for films Songs about alcohol Songs about truck driving {{1970s-country-song-stub