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Suck It Up Trucker – Drive On Official Video

‘Suck it up, Trucker, Drive On’ means to ignore what we leave behind us, keep going, and never look back, even though we know it’s probably bad. It’s difficult to understand why decent, hard working, generous people vote against their own beliefs and interests. The song highlights the hypocrisy and irony of some of us standing up for ourselves but not for others in the name of freedom and liberty. “You say you gotta have respect and you gotta be free, but you’re cussin’ at a man down on one knee” is a reference to the protesting of police brutality towards Black citizens. It also is meant to question the perceived intelligence of a person solely based on their wealth. Something that many of us naturally assume. “Boss must be smart because he got rich”. Sidney’s personal inspiration for this song came from the experience of living in small towns and a very basic understanding of why people sometimes choose their political beliefs. “Theoretically, the culture of our environment, especially work, shapes our beliefs. Fitting in is part of our survival. We sometimes wouldn’t stay employed if we didn’t have the same common beliefs as our employers and co-workers. Especially in a small town where we all know each other and word gets around. Individuality is not encouraged down at the factory, oil field, or the gravel yard.” The lyrics, ‘Push the blame’ is a reflection of a Presidential administration that often openly denies responsibilities for their own actions, and has even made it acceptable for citizens to act the same. ‘Hard Rain’ is a reference to Bob Dylan’s song warning of an inevitable storm of social and political upheaval. ‘It’s all a hoax til it’s personal, then it’s real’ refers to the personalities of some people who are convinced that worldly challenges do not exist, but change their minds when it actually affects them and they see it with their own eyes.

The album cover art is a photograph taken by Sidney while traveling to a friend’s memorial service in 2015. The image of the decaying sign of the once most popular bar and dance hall in town partially inspired the song. It was a coincidence that the billboard in the background is of a wrecking ball. He was mainly struck by the overall slow decline of the once beautiful town where he once lived . “I guess you don’t notice when time moves slow, but damn, you really let my town go”. The sounds of a spaceship throughout the recording represent the feeling that we’re living in an alien world. Also, the town that inspired the song is famous for an alien spaceship crash in 1947.

It was later discovered the phrase, “Suck it up, trucker. Drive on”, may have been a mantra of U.S. Military convoy truck drivers during the war in Iraq. They were instructed to ignore the trucks that were hit by enemy fire and to keep driving.

Suck it up Trucker, Drive On – Sidney Vance Stephens © BMI

Take blind pride in a dried up town
Vote for the politicians that are keeping you down
Boss must be smart because he got rich
He said life ain’t fair and life’s a bitch
Suck it up trucker, Drive on

I don’t understand why you don’t understand
Shoot yourself in the foot and blame it on the Man
You say you got to have respect and you got to be free
But you’re cussing out a man down on one knee

Suck it up trucker
And drive on
Suck it up trucker
And drive on

Push the blame-Hard rain was never real
It’s all a hoax ‘til it’s personal, then you feel
Well, suck it up trucker, drive on

Blame it on the river for stopping the flow
Can’t see the world past your nose
Another government conspiracy
It’s always got to be a fight for what you think you believe

Now it’s been twenty years since I’ve been to this town
And it sure was prettier when I was around
I guess you don’t notice when time moves slow
But damn you really let my town go

Suck it up trucker, drive on