Before Charlie Daniels met up with the devil in Georgia, the outlaw country singer had an early hit in 1973 with “Uneasy Rider” on his album “Honey in the Rock”. The tune is mostly a “sing-song” type of country narrative that is mostly spoken instead of sung over a guitar melody. There have been other novelty hits similar to this in country music, but this one sticks out because it was the merger of redneck southern social attitudes of the time and progressive hippie marijuana smoking culture of the youth at that time.

The song’s narrator, who represents the hippie pot-smoking youth, is driving a Chevrolet that sports a “peace symbol, mag wheels, and a four on the floor,” as described by one of the redneck southern antagonists in the song. The song’s narrator was on a trip to Los Angeles on the West Coast from somewhere in the deep south when he experiences car problems in the form of a flat tire.

Could this be the “Uneasy Rider” car? Photo from www.wikipedia.org

According to the song, the flat tire happens in Jackson, Mississippi on Saturday night and our hippie hero finds himself in a redneck joint called “The Do Drop Inn.” While waiting for his tire to be fixed, the narrator encounters several of the local citizens which leads to a hilarious adventure when the two cultures collide.

As the story is told, we can close our eyes and see a green 1971 Chevy Nova SS Coupe with a peace sign in the back window and a Muncie four on the floor transmission that was available in 1970-1972. We’d like to think that the Nova was jacked up in the back and on slapper bars.

Give it a listen and tell us which Chevy you think the song is referring to.