| "Eighteen Wheels and a Dozen Roses" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Kathy Mattea | ||||
| from the album Untasted Honey | ||||
| Genre | Country | |||
| Length | 3:23 | |||
| Label | Mercury | |||
| Writer(s) | Gene Nelson and Paul Nelson | |||
| Producer | Allen Reynolds | |||
| Kathy Mattea singles chronology | ||||
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"Eighteen Wheels and a Dozen Roses" is a country song by Kathy Mattea from her 1987 album, Untasted Honey. The song was released as a single and hit number one on both the US and Canadian Country charts in 1988. The song is about a truck driver called Charlie who is retiring after 30 years to spend the rest of his time with his wife. The song mentions Charlie receiving a gold watch, a common retirement gift.
The video was directed by Jim May, & Coke Sams. The first scene takes place at The Pie Wagon, a small diner off Music Row in Nashville. It features a truck driver, who asks for Kathy's autograph, as a present for his wife. Throughout the video, there are scenes of Kathy on her tour bus, performing, with her band, and scenes of the trucker. In the end, the driver makes it home, his wife greeting him, and he hands her the dozen roses mentioned in the song's lyric, as they walk arm in arm into their house; Kathy turns off the lights to the bus, and the last shot is one also seen in the beginning of the video; various trucks driving on the highway.
| Chart (1988) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles | 1 |
| Canadian RPM Country Tracks | 1 |
| Preceded by "I'm Gonna Get You" by Eddy Raven |
Billboard Hot Country Singles number-one single May 21—May 28, 1988 |
Succeeded by "What She Is (Is a Woman in Love)" by Earl Thomas Conley |
| Preceded by "Baby I'm Yours" by Steve Wariner |
RPM Country Tracks number-one single June 4, 1988 |
Succeeded by "I Told You So" by Randy Travis |
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