King Of The Road

Buck, Billo and Maxi sing "King Of The Road" by Roger Miller.
Roger Dean Miller (January 2, 1936 October 25, 1992) was an American singer, songwriter and musician, best known for his mid-1960s country/pop hits such as "King of the Road", "Dang Me," and "England Swings." He also wrote the music and lyrics for the Tony-award winning Broadway musical Big River (1985).

Roger Miller, the youngest of three boys, was born in Fort Worth, Texas, to Laudene Holt Miller (mother) and father Jean Miller. Jean died when Roger was only a year old, and he was subsequently sent to live with his aunt and uncle, Elmer and Armelia Miller, in Erick, Oklahoma.
Miller had a lonely and unhappy childhood. Heavily influenced by the Grand Ole Opry on Saturday nights and the Light Crust Doughboys on Fort Worth radio, he desperately wanted to be a singer-songwriter. When he was seventeen, he stole a guitar, but turned himself in and chose to join the Army rather than go to jail. He later quipped, "My education was Korea, Clash of '52." Upon leaving the Army, he went to Nashville to work on his music career. In 1959 he wrote his first number-one song, "Billy Bayou" recorded by Jim Reeves.

Although usually grouped with country music singers, Miller's unique style defies easy classification. He had a string of pop hits in the 1960s, and also his own TV show in 1966. Many of his recordings were humorous novelty songs with whimsical lyrics, coupled with scat singing or vocalese riffs filled with nonsense syllables. Others were sincere ballads, which also caught the public's fancy, none more so than his signature song, "King of the Road", a major 1965 hit, about a presumed hobo who relishes his life and freedom, riding the rails.

Miller wrote and performed three songs in the 1973 animated Robin Hood film as the rooster/minstrel Alan-a-Dale. (One of these songs was later sampled and sped up to form the basis of the Hampster Dance.) In the 1970s, Miller appeared in ads for Monroe shock absorbers, backed by a re-recording of "King of the Road". Miller was married to Mary Arnold, who herself was a musician, a member of Kenny Rogers' backing band, Kenny Rogers and The First Edition. Band leader Kenny Rogers introduced the two. Arnold now manages Miller's estate.

Miller provided the voice of Speiltoe, the equine narrator of the Rankin/Bass holiday special Nestor, The Long-Eared Christmas Donkey (1977).
A lifelong cigarette smoker, Miller died of lung and throat cancer in 1992. In a TV interview, he once explained that he composed his songs from "bits and pieces" of ideas he wrote on scraps of paper. When asked what he did with the unused bits and pieces, he half-joked, "I smoke 'em!" One of his songs, "A Man Can't Quit", centered on the subject of addiction to cigarettes.

In addition to 11 Grammy Awards, Roger Miller won Broadway's Tony award for writing the music and lyrics for Big River, which won a total of 7 Tonys including best musical in 1985.
He was voted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1973 and the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1995. In Erick, Oklahoma where he grew up, a thoroughfare was renamed "Roger Miller Boulevard."

A high-pitched sample of his song "Whistle Stop" was used as the musical accompaniment for the internet phenomenon the Hampsterdance. The chorus of one of his songs, "England Swings", was used for the 1998 BBC radio program, 15 Minutes of Misery. The song was also featured in the 2003 movie Shanghai Knights.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Buck
• and
• Billo
• Maxi
• Classic
• Country
• Roger
• Miller

[hopplaschorsch]

Kings and queen of music

[buckandbilloshow]

:) Clever Marta and Thanks.

[ninjabluewings]

Hey You Guys & Doll I Gotta Say I LOVE! Your New Take On This GREAT CLASSIC! You Picked Up The Beat And Gave It Some GREAT NEW GUITAR LICKS! To, Add To That A New Vocal Line Up And It's REAL COOL! I Just Had Me A Thought.....When You Guys Go Out To Your Shows Maxi Can Join You On Stage For Some Guest Vocals

[buckandbilloshow]

Thanks so much Matthew, as always there are many ways to do a song. We are ofter stuck with what our "band" can do as opposed to the exact beat of the original. Most of the time that is not bad in my opinion.

[Urankar3]

GREAT MUSIC,folks 5*****

[buckandbilloshow]

Appreiciate it.

[Chilidogs1]

nice mobile homes... ha ha

[Awdrey2002]

oh boy....

[SafeRoughneck]

If you ain't got no cigarettes then you must have some as two negatives is equal to one positive. OK Well sung 5*****'s for that old classic.

[OldTimeVoice]

Great Guys love this one 5*****+++...Colin.

[buckandbilloshow]

Thanks very much Rene.