KING OF THE ROAD (Roger Miller) Trailer for sale or rent, Rooms to let, fifty cents. No phone, no pool, no pets I ain't got no cigarettes, Ah, but two hours of pushing broom Buys an eight by twelve, four-bit room I'm a man of means, by no means King of the road. Third boxcar, midnight train Destination Bangor Maine. Old worn-out suit and shoes, I don't pay no union dues. I smoke old stogies I have found, Short, but not too big around I'm a man of means, by no means King of the road. [Bridge] I know every engineer on every train All of the children and all of their names And every hand-out in every town And every lock that ain't locked When no one's around, I sing: Trailer for sale or rent... ©1964, Tree Publishing Company Source: Sing Your Heart Out, Country Boy, by Dorothy Horstman (1975, 1996, Country Music Foundation Press, Nashville), page 366 Roger Miller's comments about the song:You know, it's funny. One night in a motel in Phoenix, Arizona, I wrote "Dang Me" in just a few minutes. It took me six weeks to write "King of the Road." I was driving from Davenport, Iowa, to Chicago, and somewhere along the way I saw a sign on the road which read, "Trailers for Sale or Rent," and for some reason that phrase stuck in my mind. It wasn't until later, in Boise, Idaho, that I really sat down and made something out of it....although I had to induce labor to get it completed. I got stuck after the first verse, so I went out to a Boise store and bought a statuette of a hobo. I sat and stared at it until the rest of the tune came to me. I typed what's in the book - but, like Jeri, I hear "all of their children, and all of their names" on the Roger Miller recording.
|