Girl on the Billboard

Last updated
"Girl on the Billboard"
Single by Del Reeves
from the album Girl on the Billboard
B-side "Eyes Don't Come Crying to Me"
ReleasedFebruary 1965
Genre Country
Length2:41
Label United Artists
Songwriter(s) Hank Mills, Walter Haynes
Producer(s) Kelso Herston
Del Reeves singles chronology
"Talking to the Night Lights"
(1964)		"Girl on the Billboard"
(1965)		"The Belles of the Southern Bell"
(1965)

"Girl on the Billboard" is a 1965 single released by American country music singer Del Reeves. The novelty song was Reeves' fourth entry on the U.S. country chart and his only number-one single. "Girl on the Billboard" spent two weeks at number one and a total of 20 weeks on the chart, [1] in addition to reaching number 96 on the Billboard Hot 100. It has become one of many country standards about lust.

Contents

Song meaning

The song is about a trucker who falls in love with a picture of a beautiful young woman, whose towel-clad likeness is plastered as part of a roadside billboard advertisement along Route 66. The trucker drives a daily freight route from Chicago to St. Louis along the highway where the billboard is located. He also notes how many trucker accidents have occurred near the billboard.

Early one morning, while his truck idles nearby, the trucker knocks on the door of the artist who painted the billboard and (presumably) asks for the model's contact information. The painter curtly tells the trucker that the "girl wasn't real" and that he'd "better get the [censored] on his way." (An electric guitar riff is used in place of the profanity.) Disillusioned at his fantasy being ruined, the trucker moans that along the highway, "you'll find tiny pieces of my heart scattered every which-a-way."

Cover versions

Chart performance

Del Reeves

Chart (1965)Peak
position
U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles1
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 [3] 96
Canadian RPM Top Singles31

The Road Hammers

Chart (2008)Peak
position
US Hot Country Songs ( Billboard ) [4] 54

References

  1. ↑ Whitburn, Joel (2008). Hot Country Songs 1944 to 2008. Record Research, Inc. p. 344. ISBN   978-0-89820-177-2.
  2. ↑ Brakes, Rod (July 25, 2023). ""The Sound Is Monstrous, Dirty and Twangy": Watch Brian Setzer's "Girl on the Billboard" Music Video Featuring the Quintessential Rock and Roll Tone of a 1957 Gretsch Jet Fire Bird". Guitar Player . Retrieved July 31, 2023.
  3. ↑ Whitburn, Joel (2013). Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles, 14th Edition: 1955-2012. Record Research. p. 699.
  4. ↑ "The Road Hammers Chart History (Hot Country Songs)". Billboard.


This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.