![]() He’s had to defend that copyright as recently as 2005. But, because of a copyright mishap, his work was actually deemed public domain until 1977. The artist eventually threatened lawsuits against those using the image without his permission. ![]() Shortly after it was published, his comic began being printed on T-shirts, bumper stickers, and other items, including, aptly, mudflaps. Interestingly, Robert Crumb, not a fan of the hippie counterculture, wasn’t happy that his comic and the phrase caught on like wildfire. The Grateful Dead weren’t the only band to use the phrase around that time, however: In 1972, Hot Tuna released the album Burgers, which included a song called “Keep On Truckin.’” (It featured many of Fuller’s lyrics.) Then, in 1973, Eddie Kendricks, of the Temptations, released a song with the same title. Indeed, the iconic band the Grateful Dead released a song called “Truckin’” in 1970 while it doesn’t use the exact phrase keep on truckin, its lyrics include “keep truckin’” and “keep truckin’ on.” As a touring band, the lyrics to their song hit on both the literal and figurative meanings of the phrase: to keep actually trucking like truck drivers from show to show, but also the idea of getting back up when you’re knocked down. Why? Because the hippie era of the 60s and 70s was defined by optimism. In fact, it became a sort of hippie slogan. Crumb’s comic made the phrase extremely popular. It was called, you guessed it, “Keep on Truckin’.” It featured illustrations of different men walking in a stylized way-almost dancing, or strutting-across various backgrounds while saying “keep on truckin’” and “truckin’ my blues away.” R. Natural, who he used regularly in his comic strips) created a one-page comic for the first issue of Zap Comix, a comic book. Taking inspiration from Blind Boy Fuller’s song, in 1968, the cartoonist Robert Crumb (known for the character Mr. ![]() It’s thought that porters associated trucks and the idea of trucking with the concept of moving along, sometimes saying they were going to “truck on home after work.” And, it’s certainly possible that today’s meaning came about because long-haul truckers, faced with long drives across the country, have to keep moving on down the road. Other possibilities for how the expression came to be synonymous with persisting or moving ahead? When trains were a popular form of travel, baggage “trucks” were used in railroad stations. Young dancers would keep moving and dancing all throughout the night, which may be how the term truckin and the phrase keep on truckin came to have the meaning we know today. The phrase is repeated throughout the song in the lines “keep on truckin’ mama” and “keep on truckin’ baby.” While we can’t know for sure what Fuller meant when he used the expression, he may have been alluding to a popular 1920s and 30s dance, similar to the Lindy Hop, called trucking or truckin.ĭuring this time period, marathon dance contests were quite popular. It’s possible that the phrase has its origins in the 1936 song “Truckin’ My Blues Away” by the blues guitarist and singer Blind Boy Fuller. I know you’re having a hard time, but tomorrow is a new day.I kept sending out resumes until a great company hired me. After I lost my job, I had to keep on truckin.Jim was the kind of man who would always keep on truckin, no matter how many tragedies he faced.Just keep on truckin, and you’ll finish in no time! (encouragement) Of course, the phrase can also be used not to offer encouragement, but rather to describe someone who is continuing to move forward or continuing to try it can be used to talk about someone who is persisting-generally in the face of adversity. Put simply, it is often written or said to inspire someone to not give up. It’s used to help motivate someone to stay focused on a particular task or job, or to otherwise persist with an effort or undertaking, usually one that is challenging. As you can probably tell from the paragraph above, the idiomatic phrase is typically used to provide encouragement. Keep on truckin means to keep going-to continue on or to carry on.
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