Girl on the Billboard

"Girl on the Billboard"
Single by Del Reeves
from the album Girl on the Billboard
B-side "Eyes Don't Come Crying to Me"
Released February 1965
Format 7" single
Genre Country
Length 2:37
Label United Artists
Songwriter(s) Hank Mills
Producer(s) Kelso Herston
Del Reeves singles chronology
"Talking to the Night Lights"
(1964)		 "Girl on the Billboard"
(1965)		 "The Belles of the Southern Bell"
(1965)

"Talking to the Night Lights"
(1964)		 "Girl on the Billboard"
(1965)		 "The Belles of the Southern Bell"
(1965)

"Girl on the Billboard" is a 1965 single released by American country music singer Del Reeves. The novelty song was Reeves' fourth entry on the U.S. country chart and his only No. 1 single. "Girl on the Billboard" spent two weeks at No. 1 and a total of 20 weeks on the chart, in addition to reaching No. 96 on the Billboard Hot 100[1] and has become one of many country standards about lust.

The Song's Story

The song is about a truck driver who falls in love with a picture of a beautiful young woman, whose scantilly clad likeness is plastered as part of a roadside billboard advertisement along Route 66. The truck driver, who drives a daily freight route from Chicago to St. Louis along the highway where the billboard is located, begins fantasizing about having a relationship with the woman. He also takes note at how many traffic accidents have occurred near the billboard (supposedly due to motorists becoming distracted by the billboard).

Early one morning (4:45 AM), while his diesel idles nearby, the trucker knocks on the door of the artist who painted the billboard and (presumably) asks for the model's contact information. The painter curtly tells the trucker that the "girl wasn't real" and that he'd "better get the (censored) on his way." (An electric guitar riff is used in place of the profanity). Disillusioned at his fantasy being ruined, the trucker moans that along the highway, "You'll find tiny pieces of my heart scattered every which a way."

Cover versions

In 2005, Canadian band The Road Hammers released a cover version on its debut album. It was later released in the U.S., peaking at No. 54 in 2008.

Chart performance

Del Reeves

Chart (1965) Peak
position
U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles 1
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 96
Canadian RPM Top Singles 31

The Road Hammers

Chart (2008) Peak
position
US Hot Country Songs (Billboard)[2] 54

References

  1. ↑ Whitburn, Joel (2008). Hot Country Songs 1944 to 2008. Record Research, Inc. p. 344. ISBN 0-89820-177-2.
  2. ↑ "The Road Hammers – Chart history" Billboard Hot Country Songs for The Road Hammers.
Preceded by
"This Is It"
by Jim Reeves		 Billboard Hot Country Singles
number-one single
May 15-May 22, 1965 		Succeeded by
"This Is It"
by Jim Reeves


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