This is about a truck driver journeying from Glasgow to the South (probably England)in a lorry called an Albion Reiver (makers name: Albion Motors of Scotstoun) They used to have a 'rising sun' emblem on the grill at the front of the truck, and were known for reliability, the company has long since gone, Mark sings of his paperwork being OK and of having enough sleep, that would have been the 'log sheets' that drivers had to fill out daily telling of their journey details and rest periods etc. this is the only tune I can recall that mentions trucks and trucking, especially British trucks.

such a beautiful song~ the melody is so enjoyable~ you just wanna dance to it.

The truck driver seems to gloating about his government job being a license to steal.

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excellent catch on the lyric!

not sure if the six foot driver "can't" or "can" adjust the seat. sounds like MK is streaching out the "n" sound rather than a "t".

In that stanza, the driver is describing the attributes of his Albion & being able to move the seat back is necessary for a 6 foot driver with a "crash box & lever" that "needs the heel & toe". My 1949 Dodge truck with the unsyncronised gear box needed double clutching & not being able to move the seat closer (I'm not 6 foot) was inconvenient at best.

walterbyrd: don't believe this trucker has a government job; reference to the Ministry is the regulatory agency for truck drivers. What he is stealing is "time". He's driving fast "whistling down the hillsides & tearing up the climbs", using the heel & toe to shift quickly, to make a decent wage. He may be cheating a bit in his logs about sleep time.

He loves his truck; he repeatedly stresses that "It's an Albion". Not so much gloating as praising his Scotstoun lassie, sure as the sun rise, it's an Albion!

Retrograde: the truck is the "Reiver", an Albion Reiver. Albion named their truck models to imply toughness. The driver is just a working man trying to make a decent living. Don't think is a bad guy, just a hard worker.

"Stealing time" when driving is like "making time" and is a euphemism for speeding.

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"Crash box and lever
- she needs the heel and toe"

This seems to be a reference to a manual transmission without a synchroniser. Such transmissions require double-clutching to shift gears. The driver pushes on the clutch to shift to neutral, then releases the clutch and immediately depresses it again to shift to the new gear.... hence "she needs the heel and toe."

Wonderful song! Being in the US I will likely never see an Albion, but will certainly keep an eye out for them.