I’ve always associated a Roger Miller song with my early youth, since he put out a lot of his albums and singles in the early to mid 1960s, although he had his last top-20 country hit in 1982. A lot of his tunes have been covered by a lot of other people, which I suppose is one of the better compliments one could pay an old-fashioned country singer/songwriter. This compliment is doubtless due to Roger Miller’s combination of a snappy, honky-tonk style with some memorable, often humorous lyrics.
Roger Miller’s songs were generally brief – some came in at only a skosh over two minutes. But they were all memorable. And the great thing is, at least if you grew up in a small town and rural environment in the late 1960s and 1970s, as I did, you can tie a lot of his songs to particular incidents in your own young years.
Here are six fun ones.
My Pillow (1957): Roger Miller didn’t do all that many sad songs, but this is one. It has the typical twangy, late ‘50s country beat, with a laconic tempo, and a sad message of loneliness.
Pillow you're catching my tears again,
Why can't these lonely nights come to an end,
I once loved someone, but now she is gone,
Oh why must I cry on and on.Pillow you're catching all of my blues,
I lay here crying every night through,
She won't even write me, or call on the phone,
Oh why must I cry on and on
Read More: Start Your Weekend Right With 6 Great Honky-Tonk Tunes
Dang Me (1964): This is a fun, snappy and short song about a man living a reckless life, and leaving a wife and child at home with no one to care for them. It manages to combine a happy tune with a cautionary tale about responsibility in the lyrics:
Just sittin' around drinkin' with the rest of the guys
Six rounds bought, and I bought five
And I spent the groceries and half the rent
I lack fourteen dollars havin' twenty-seven cents
Well, dang me, dang me
They oughta take a rope and hang me
High from a highest tree
Woman, would you weep for me?
I get the feeling she won’t.
Chug-a-Lug (1964): Roger Miller claimed that this song was based on an old friend of his who could down a glass of beer in three seconds. I don’t know if that’s true or not, but it makes for a good story. Like most of Roger Miller’s songs, the lyrics are cheerful and fun, if a bit, well, alcoholic.I swallered it with a smile
I run ten mile!
Chug-a-lug, chug-a-lug
Makes you want to holler, 'Hi-dee-ho!'
Burns your tummy, don't ya know
Chug-a-lug, chug-a-lug.
King Of The Road (1965): Now this song takes me back a long way, when I was a little kid, listening with fascination to tales of the Great Depression from my great-uncle Lee. Lee was married to my grandma’s baby sister, and he had at one point been the black sheep of his own family; he was, as the saying went, a “knight of the road,” hitchhiking, riding the rails, or just walking from town to town looking for any work he could find – north in the spring, south in the fall, east or west wherever there were rumors of work. He settled down and started a career as a carpenter before he married my great-aunt Florence, but boy, howdy, could that old man spin a yarn.
Read More: Start Your Weekend Right With 5 Great Country Songs
Walking In The Sunshine (1967): Now this one has more good cheer and less obvious vice and irresponsible behavior; it is, literally, a song about walking in the sunshine. No, it has no connection to the later Katrina and the Waves song. It’s just a simple song about the simple joys of life:
Country Girl (1970): Back to more pep in the step with this one, an ode to a country girl – and who doesn’t love a country girl? The only bad thing: Like so many country songs of the era, it doesn’t end well. The girl takes off for another guy, leaving our protagonist all alone, while she’s wearing the shoes that he bought her while she dances with that new fella. That has to be a hard pill to swallow.Walkin' in the sunshine, sing a little sunshine song
Put a smile upon your face as if there's nothing wrong
Think about a good time had a long time ago
Think about forgetting about your worries and your woes
Walkin' in the sunshine, sing a little sunshine song
If you are, like me, an aging Boomer – or maybe even if you’re younger – you may have some Roger Miller favorites, or some memories to share. As ever, the comments are all yours!Now you've gone and left me you're with somebody new
But I wonder if you told him I bought the clothes on you
When you two are dancin' and you whisper soft and sweet
I wonder if you'll tell him I bought the shoes on your feet
