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18 Wheels – Bobtail YouTube Official video

18 Wheels was written about my good friend Lee and his family. The truck driving lifestyle is a hard one. Our friend, Steve, once told me that it takes a certain breed to do that for a living. He was right.

Lee and I had been buddies since our second year in high school, even though we never went to the same school. We met on the 34th street cruise where all the kids hung out, a lot like American Graffiti. I even had a hot-rod 58 Chevy pickup truck. He either drove his grandpa’s 68 Ford pickup, his dad’s 74 Ford pickup, or his mom’s 83 Buick. He always drove carefully, safely, and slowly to the point we called him Grandpa. Most of the rest of us kids drove wild and crazy most of the time. There were many nights of partying in our youth, and many times we were the last ones to leave. We were usually a comedy duo and didn’t care how dumb we were or how stupid we looked as long as we were laughing. There were times we laughed so hard that we couldn’t breathe. There were times we just sat in the pickup and talked all night. Lee could explain an entire movie longer than it would take to just watch the movie. We were truly bigger than brothers and I miss those long talks. I miss my friend.

In the early 90’s, we had a plan to support each other and go to Los Angeles after I graduated graphic design school in Tempe, Arizona. I wanted to be a comedian or an actor and I assumed he did too. He even lived in Arizona with me and my school roommates as a jump off point to Hollywood but he had a change of heart. I think he discovered he was better suited to a more simple life and went back home to Lubbock, Texas, and that was okay. I never had any hard feelings and honestly never even thought about it until very recently. But now, I kinda wish we would’ve had that adventure.
For about six months in the mid 90’s, we were team driving across the country in an 18 wheeler. We had many adventures from San Francisco to Boston and everywhere in between. We never once had an argument and constantly entertained each other, even through the hard times with no showers and negative number paychecks. Trucking was hard but we remained the best of friends.

Sadly, Lee was a victim of Cancer and passed away in 2019. Even more sad is that he never got to hear the song or see the video. I finished it a few months after his passing. The video is footage from our driving days. I regret not playing the song for him when I was around in his final days, but I didn’t feel like it was appropriate. I didn’t want to make it about me, although in hindsight, he probably would’ve been fine with it and even appreciated the sentiment. For some reason, I felt like we were friends before I was playing music, but now I realize he was always a part of my music. We used to make comedy skit recordings on cassette tapes in the late 80’s and make up parody songs. I usually played a keyboard or guitar on the tapes.

18 Wheels is dedicated to his life and our amazing friendship.

18 Wheels – Sidney Vance Stephens © BMI

He follows the never ending white line
Got to keep his family behind
They say this lifestyle takes a certain creed
And he does his best to give his children what they need

Now she’s at home making all the ends meet
Takes the kids to school and ties the shoes on their feet
She’s got a job down at the Dairy Queen
Keeps her mind off the highway and preserverves her sanity

(chorus)
And if you listen to the night time
You can hear a certain sound
Eighteen wheels crying as they
Roll across the ground
The moon above is shining light on his way home
But sometimes the moon is crying too, cause’
That ain’t the way those eighteen wheels roll

Sometimes the road of marriage gets a little rough
And sometimes they wonder if life this way is just too much
And it’s hard to communicate a thousand miles away
So they put it all on hold til’ he gets home in a few more days

And making up is good, but never long enough
The highway pulls the tension and tests the strength of love
She can hear a teardrop fall as he pulls out on the road
And life goes on, til’ he gets back home