"Prisoner of the Highway" is a song written by Mike Reid, and recorded by American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

singer

Ronnie Milsap Ronnie Lee Milsap (born Ronald Lee Millsaps; January 16, 1943) is an American country music singer and pianist. He was one of country music's most popular and influential performers of the 1970s and 1980s. Nearly completely blind from birth, ...

. It was released in September 1984 as the second single from the album '' One More Try for Love''. The song was later included on one of his

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one or several Performing arts#Performers, performers. If by one artist, then generally the tr ...

s that was released in

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

; this album was entitled ''Greatest Hits Vol. 3''.

Content

The song tells the story of a truck driver who is enticed, but also "imprisoned", by the highway. Yet he somehow finds freedom behind the wheel. It is rumored that a

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

to the song was in post production earlier that year, but was later cancelled, although a video was filmed for the single's b-side "She Loves My Car".

Success and reception

The song was a major Top 10 hit on the ''

Billboard magazine ''Billboard'' (stylized as ''billboard'') is an American music and entertainment magazine published weekly by Penske Media Corporation. The magazine provides music charts, news, video, opinion, reviews, events, and style related to the music ...

Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sal ...

charts, peaking at No. 6. Although it didn't top the charts like many of Milsap's songs, it was very popular as it received heavy airplay on several major country stations. It is still played at many of his concerts today, and receives occasional airplay on the radio.

Mark Wills Mark Wills (born Daryl Mark Williams; August 8, 1973) is an American country music artist. Signed to Mercury Records between 1996 and 2003, he released five studio albums for the label – ''Mark Wills'', ''Wish You Were Here'', '' Permanently'' ...

recorded a cover of the song, as a duet with Milsap, on Wills's 2003 album ''

And the Crowd Goes Wild ''And the Crowd Goes Wild'' is the fifth studio album, and sixth album overall, by American country music artist Mark Wills. Released in 2003 as his last album for Mercury Nashville Records, the album produced two top 40 hit singles on the ''Billb ...

''.

Aaron Tippin Aaron Dupree Tippin (born July 3, 1958) is an American country music singer, songwriter and record producer. Initially a songwriter for Acuff-Rose Music, he gained a recording contract with RCA Nashville in 1990. His debut single, "You've Got to ...

recorded a cover version of the song on his 2009 truck-driving themed album "In Overdrive".

Chart positions

References

1984 singles Ronnie Milsap songs Mark Wills songs Aaron Tippin songs Songs written by Mike Reid (singer) RCA Records singles 1984 songs Songs about truck driving {{1984-country-song-stub