King of the POLLed: Roger Miller Singles

I was the words and you were the music
We were a song, sung out of tune
There is a light that brightens the night-time
Ah but there's a dark side of the moon

I was a house and you were my window
I could see light, but only through you
Now I'm a house without any windows
Ah there's a dark side of the moon

Love is a lovely, lovely feeling
Love is the light that shines from the moon
There is a light that brightens the night-time
Ah but there's a dark side of the moon

Love is a lovely, lovely feeling
Love is the light that shines from the moon
There is a light that brightens the night-time
Ah but there's a dark side of the moon

Torn between "Dang Me," "Do Wacka Do," "King of the Road," "Kansas City Star," "My Uncle..." and the stupendous B-Side "I"ve Been A Long Time Leavin'," which might have the greatest triumphant cackle in all of recorded music.

xpost aww, that's a shame.

surprised tall tall trees was never a single

I went with "Dang Me", but I really want to hear more of these. When he comes on the radio it's always a good time.

I have a disproportionate amount of Roger in my mp3 player and I never, ever skip him. Except "Bobby McGee," that's terrible.

jody miller's "queen of the house" pwns this thread

A house of queens, by no means...

is there a good collection worth picking up? All I really know (and I know them very well) are "Dang Me", "King of the Road", and "Chug-a-Lug"; well, I may know more, but these are the ones that come to mind.

I'm curious about that as well - given the assortment of labels he was on, one wonders...

Voted for One Dyin' And A-Buryin', which lately gets to me the most. I've got the All-Time Greatest Hits collection that Mercury put out a few years ago, which I like, but it's got all I know by him so I'm no expert.

"Little Green Apples" is one of the 45s that hang over my childhood. The line, "God didn't make the little green apples, and it don't rain in Indianapolis in the summer time," still makes me smile. Other songs people have cited are undeniably great, but that emotional connection trumps logic this time.

Cop: "Can I see your license?"
Roger Miller: "Can I shoot your gun?"

"Kansas City Star," though Golden Hits in toto is a real talisman for me.

There was a boxed set in the '90s on Mercury; don't know if it's still in print.

On This Mountain Top (with Donny Young) (Decca 1958)

Donny "Johnny Paycheck" Young!

My first live music ever! My mom took me to see him when I was 5 or 6 (probably Cloews Hall in Indianapolis - she also took me to see The Limelighters there later that same year). Miller was so out of it - he sang 2.66 songs incoherently then stood on stage, picking the mic apart, one wire at a time. "Engine Engine No. 9" gets my vote.

You mean, he made other stuff than "King Of The Road"?

Yeah. See, there's a list at the top of the thread.

http://www.youngandsmart.co.uk/Store/images/Milla6.jpg

You Can't Roller Skate In A Buffalo Herd

Voted "Academy Fight Song"

^^written and sung by the bass player, but nice try

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Don't know any of these apart from "King Of The Road," "England Swings" and "Little Green Apples"; we didn't get any of the others in Britain.

I remember him as a voice in Disney's terrible Robin Hood cartoon though.

(or maybe we did but they weren't played and didn't become hits)

wow, is this the only ilm roger miller thread? i was thinking of doing a poll but i see there was one and i missed it. he seems underappreciated to me. he was a great songwriter, and at least as great a singer. he brought a certain level of early hipster absurdism to country music, and he was jazzy too. his vocals have all that scatting: a-ree-dee-dee-dee-dee-pa-dee-doo. i only know the classic stuff, up to '66 or so, but i love it dearly.

he was also a multi-instrumentalist and a heck of a player:

pretty much the whole original dang me album is straight classic. has lots of weird stuff, like "lou's got the flu" (great little scat lines between each verse).

wow, great clips on the official roger miller site.

there are some good songs in big river, too. it was good to know he hadn't totally gone to hell by that point.

also, i love "billy bayou" (which he wrote for jim reeves):

I think he'd gotten sober before Big River, maybe a long time before that -- don't know exactly. I met him about a year before he died and he was a super nice guy.

Nice links, tipsy!

This guy sounds so perfect when drunk. Especially "Chug a Lug"

http://www.bsnpubs.com/mercury/smash/smash061a.jpg

Bought this today, maybe a new all-time favorite album cover.

I've heard a lot of Roger Miller before, but the one-two punch of "Do-Wacka-Do" being used in Raising Hope last night and "You Can't Rollerskate in a Buffalo Herd" in Jackass 3D makes this as good a time as ever for me to really bear down and get into this guy.

"We always do a highly informal show... the higher we get the more informal we are"

I've always love Roger Miller but I've never thought to seek out live stuff on youtube. Thumbs wearing a Batman shirt!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UI-Y0CMGwxo

That's great! Man, what a charmer. I have a huge grin on my face from watching that.

Roger Miller is a GOD.

Two broken hearts lonely, looking like
Houses where nobody lives

Finally picked up Roger's Smash debut, Roger and Out, under its reissue title of Dang Me, which really wants an exclamation point built in. It's terrific! I shouldn't be surprised, since I think all of his first three or four Smash releases came from the same long set of sessions - what a gold mine of material. It does feel like it has more 'novelty' songs than the other ones, with "Got 2 Again" based on a cute "give me a number" gimmick, and "That's Why I Love You Like I Do" being a gibberish love song on the premise that a tongue-tied sweetheart can't get the words to come out right. And of course, "Dang Me," "Chug-a-Lug," "Lou's Got the Flu" (mentioned upthread) and my favorite new discovery, "If You Want Me To."

I now have the first four records and I guess that means I can let go of Golden Hits, since the only thing it adds is the bonus single "England Swings." What a collection though! Love this guy, he really could throw a lot of warmth and personality into even the goofy songs. And he had a way with a goofy song!

Missed the poll, would have voted for "My Uncle Used to Love Me But She Died." So great and unique.

That was my gateway song! Picked up the single at a yard sale once, and my mom was like "oh, you're gonna like that one." Mom otm.

I first heard it on a compilation tape some friend had made and left at my house, circa 1993. The tape wasn’t labeled so I had to guess who the singer was and I guessed Hasil Adkins even though I had never heard Hasil Adkins at that point. I had heard “King of the Road” before but failed to make the connection.

I temporarily forgot the term “mixtape” just now, goes to show how distant that era is now

“Got 2 Again” = best song to incorporate math EVAH!!!

“This is a story about a boy that loved a girl. Loved her very much
In fact he loved her so much he couldn't seem to find the exact words to tell her exactly how much he did love her.
Oh he tried several times, but anytime he tried the words always came out backwards.
They came out something like this…”

I mean, when you hear an intro like that you just know the song’s gonna be a classic.

the sound of his voice alone is the best thing ever

last three posts all otm. thinking i might go on a Roger binge this week - it's been ages since I really spent time with the other albums of his that i've got.

just coming here to mention how great "Reincarnation" is