Not much needs to be said about this song other than it’s from the GREATEST MOVIE EVER! Written and performed by a finger picking genius, who also happens to be in this very same movie, this song oozes with nostalgia for me. Few memories from my childhood are as fond as watching this movie at the drive-in in Port Elgin during our family summer vacation at Sauble Beach.
I loved everything about Smokey and the Bandit (for proof read my treatise here) and when we relived the entire experience a couple years later when the sequel came out I loved everything about that too. I’ve spent the thirty-five years since dreaming of that beautiful damned car! That movie and this song go together like, well, like Snowman and Bandit. You just can’t love that movie and not love this song. And you can’t hear this song and not think of that movie. Such a great memory.
And now my own little family is heading out on an epic journey of memory making ourselves. In our own way we’re living this song as we camp our way across Canada from Alberta to Ontario. Our SUV is not as fast as Bandit’s Trans Am and our travel trailer is not as pretty as Snowman’s rig but nonetheless we are east bound and down, loaded up and truckin’.
I’m kicking off the weekend and commemorating our departure with the greatest song from the GREATEST MOVIE EVER (not sure if I mentioned that but it’s worth repeating ad nausea) this is “East Bound and Down” by Jerry Reed from the Smokey and the Bandit soundtrack released in 1977.
Single:
Live: