Big Wheels in the Moonlight explained

Big Wheels in the Moonlight
Type:single
Artist:Dan Seals
Album:Rage On
B-Side:"Factory Town"[1]
Released:September 1988
Genre:Country
Length:3:54
Label:Capitol
Producer:Kyle Lehning
Prev Title:Addicted
Prev Year:1988
Next Title:They Rage On
Next Year:1989

"Big Wheels in the Moonlight" is a song co-written and recorded by American country music artist Dan Seals. It was released in September 1988 as the second single from Seals' album Rage On. It peaked at number one, his ninth to do so. The song was written by Seals and Bob McDill.

Content

The song—one of many in country music to pay salute to the American truck driver—is about a young man's childhood memories of watching semitrailer trucks travel along a nearby highway, listening at night to the roar of the trucks' diesel engines in the distance and dreaming one day of being a truck driver. The dream never comes to pass, as he begins a family and is working at other jobs, but still finds peace in envisioning the trucks in his mind, the trucks illuminated only by their lights and the moonlight of a clear evening.

Music video

The music video was directed by Neil Abramson, and was one of three videos filmed specially for Seals' 1991 video compilation, A Portrait.

Chart positions

Year-end charts

Chart (1989)Position
Canada Country Tracks (RPM)[3] 14
US Country Songs (Billboard)[4] 24

Notes and References

  1. Book: Whitburn, Joel. Hot Country Songs 1944 to 2008. Record Research, Inc. 2008. 372. 978-0-89820-177-2.
  2. Web site: RPM 100 Country Singles. RPM. February 27, 1989.
  3. Web site: RPM Top 100 Country Tracks of 1989. RPM. December 23, 1989. August 28, 2013.
  4. Best of 1989: Country Songs . . . 1989. August 28, 2013.