"Teddy Bear" is a song co-written 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
Red Sovine
Woodrow Wilson "Red" Sovine (July 7, 1917 – April 4, 1980) was an American country music singer and songwriter associated with truck driving songs, particularly those recited as narratives but set to music. His most noted examples are "Giddyu ...
. It was released in June 1976 as the title track to Sovine's album of the same name.
The song — actually, a recitation with an instrumental backing — was one of Sovine's many recordings that saluted the
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
truck driver. "Teddy Bear," released during the height of the
citizens' band radio
Citizens band radio (also known as CB radio), used in many countries, is a land mobile radio system, a system allowing short-distance person-to-many persons bidirectional voice communication among individuals, using two way radios operating on ...
craze of the mid-1970s, is titled after the song's main character, a young
paraplegic
Paraplegia, or paraparesis, is an impairment in motor or sensory function of the lower extremities. The word comes from Ionic Greek ()
"half-stricken". It is usually caused by spinal cord injury or a congenital condition that affects the neural ...
boy whose
semi-trailer truck-driving father had been killed in a
road accident, and is left with a CB radio to keep him company.
Content
In the song, the little boy, who refers to himself as "Teddy Bear", gets on the CB radio and asks for somebody to talk to him. The narrator (also an over-the-road truck driver) answers Teddy Bear's call, and listens as the boy tells a heart-rending tale. Aside from his health and the father being deceased, his mother has been forced into the workplace to provide a meager income. Teddy Bear then says his wish had been to go for a ride in a tractor-semitrailer truck (he and his mother were to have joined the father on the road that summer), and is resigned to never getting to realize his dream.
The narrator is so taken by his tale that he decides to risk being late with his delivery to answer the boy's dream. However, when he arrives at the boy's home ("Jackson Street, 229"), numerous truck drivers — who also have been listening to Teddy Bear's call — are lined up at the boy's home, giving him rides in their trucks. The boy thoroughly enjoys his experience.
At the end of the day, the truckers take up a collection for Teddy Bear's mother. Later, his mother ("Mama Teddy Bear") goes on the air to express her gratitude, telling them Teddy Bear's dream had just come true. She offers a special
prayer
Prayer is an invocation or act that seeks to activate a rapport with an object of worship through deliberate communication. In the narrow sense, the term refers to an act of supplication or intercession directed towards a deity or a deified a ...
to the truckers for their act of kindness.
Sequels
Two different singles — one by Sovine — were billed as sequels to "Teddy Bear". The two songs told conflicting stories about the boy's future.
Not long after "Teddy Bear" peaked in popularity, singer Diana Williams (who was signed to
Capitol Records
Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007) is an American record label distributed by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-based record label of note ...
) released a song called "Teddy Bear's Last Ride." This story, told from the point of view of a friend of Teddy Bear's mother (who cared for the lad while the mother was at work), suggests that the boy's paraplegia is part of a terminal health condition, one that eventually kills him. The song's ending has a group of truck drivers attending the boy's funeral, with one of the semitrailer trucks serving as the hearse. This song was also recorded by Nev Nicholls.
Sovine's follow-up-of-sorts to "Teddy Bear" is "Little Joe" (the tale of a truck driver's dog, who saves his master's life after an accident). In this song, in which Teddy Bear is a character, Sovine says that there was a miracle and that the boy — now older and apparently healthy — could now walk. Teddy Bear is instrumental in helping reunite Little Joe with his now-blinded master. This song was also recorded by Ferlin Husky and
Dave Dudley
Dave Dudley (born David Darwin Pedruska; May 3, 1928 – December 22, 2003) was an American country music singer best known for his truck-driving country anthems of the 1960s and 1970s and his semi-slurred bass. His signature song was "Six Day ...
.
Neither song reached 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 Singles Top 40.
Cover versions
The song has also been recorded by
Hank Hill
Hank Rutherford HillSeason Five, Episode Ten: Yankee Hankie (at time 04:42 of 22:30) Birth Certificate has his name listed as Hank Rutherford Hill (born April 15, 1953) is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the Fox animated tele ...
(
Mike Judge
Michael Craig Judge (born October 17, 1962) is an American actor, animator, writer, producer, director and musician. He is the creator of the animated television series ''Beavis and Butt-Head'' (1993–1997, 2011, 2022–present), and the co-cre ...
),
Ferlin Husky,
Boxcar Willie
Lecil Travis Martin (September 1, 1931 – April 12, 1999), whose stage name was Boxcar Willie, was an American country music singer-songwriter, who sang in the "old-time hobo" music style, complete with dirty face, overalls, and a floppy hat. ...
,
The Jackson Southernaires
The Jackson Southernaires is an American traditional black gospel music group from Jackson, Mississippi, producer Frank Crisler formed the group in 1940, yet they did not become active until 1969, with the release of ''Too Late'' by Song Bird R ...
, Australian country singer
Nev Nicholls
Nev or NEV may refer to:
* Nev, a shortened form of the given name Neville
* Nev, a common abbreviation of the U.S. State of Nevada
* nev, the ISO 639-3 language code for the Nyaheun language native to Laos
People
*Nev Chandler (1946–1994), ...
(who also recorded a remake of the sequel), in the
Dutch language
Dutch ( ) is a West Germanic language spoken by about 25 million people as a first language and 5 million as a second language. It is the third most widely spoken Germanic language
The Germanic languages are a branch of the Indo-Europea ...
by
Gerard de Vries
Gerard is a masculine forename of Proto-Germanic origin, variations of which exist in many Germanic and Romance languages. Like many other early Germanic names, it is dithematic, consisting of two meaningful constituents put together. In this ca ...
, and in the
German language
German ( ) is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language mainly spoken in Central Europe. It is the most widely spoken and Official language, official or co-official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and the Ita ...
by
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
n singer
Jonny Hill as "Ruf Teddybär eins-vier" (who also recorded a happy-ending sequel "Hallo Teddybär" and a song "Papa, ich bin Teddybär" about his own, handicapped son identifying himself with a teddy bear). A danish version also exists recorded by
Peter Belli
Peter Belli (born Georg Peter Brandt; 19 June 1943 in Kiel) is a Danish singer and actor.
Career
Peter's debut as a singer was in 1959, for a band called ''Trefters''. In the 1960s, Belli became Denmark's first rock star, alongside his band, ...
.
Chart success
Released in June 1976, "Teddy Bear" was the last of three ''Billboard'' Hot Country Singles No. 1 hits in Sovine's 25-year recording career. "Teddy Bear" climbed to #1 in five weeks and was his first since 1966's "Giddyup Go". In addition, "Teddy Bear" was a crossover hit, peaking at No. 40 on the
''Billboard'' Hot 100.
"Teddy Bear" was certified gold for sales of 1 million units by the
Recording Industry Association of America
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...
.
[RIAA Gold & Platinum Search](_blank)
- Accessed April 24, 2008
The song charted in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
five years after its original release, in 1981, peaking at #4 on the
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
. Diana Williams' song also charted in the UK in the same year, reaching number 54.
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Sources
* Roland, Tom, "The Billboard Book of Number One Country Hits" (Billboard Books, Watson-Guptill Publications, New York, 1991 ()
{{Trucking industry in the United States
1976 singles
Red Sovine songs
Ferlin Husky songs
1976 songs
Starday Records singles
Citizens band radio in popular culture
Songs about truck driving
Recitation songs
Songs written by Red Sovine