Slog - Comments on Dept. of Squaresville http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/reincarnation Randy Newman and Roger "King of the Road" Miller are my favorites for Great American Songwriter. Randy for his savage humor, Roger for his goofy wit. Some favorite Roger Miller stories. From Wikipedia: 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. From the Roger Miller box set: Roger Miller: I was raised in Erick, Oklahoma. Interviewer: What's that near? Roger Miller:... Copyright 2008 Tue, 08 Jul 2008 11:04:39 -0800 Tue, 08 Jul 2008 22:59:27 -0800 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=3.34 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Comment by JMW My vote for G.A.S. goes to Paul Simon.

]]> JMW http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/reincarnation#c1067680 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/reincarnation#c1067680 Music Tue, 08 Jul 2008 11:26:05 -0800 Comment by ReverendZ Sadly there are fewer and fewer Roger Miller fans in the world. I'm 37 and grew up on his music (as well as a plethora of various songwriters and performers of 'great american' and other origins) - and am happy to see him tributed on SLOG. A fantastic songwriter if only for his 'everyman' take on modern life. Thank you for bringing him a bit more of a too quickly shuttered spotlight.


"I see you rollin' down the street in your big cadillac..."

]]> ReverendZ http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/reincarnation#c1067717 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/reincarnation#c1067717 Music Tue, 08 Jul 2008 11:47:16 -0800 Comment by Paul Constant "Kansas City Star" is one of my all-time favorites. He's also fun to sing at karaoke, if you can keep up.

]]> Paul Constant http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/reincarnation#c1067737 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/reincarnation#c1067737 Music Tue, 08 Jul 2008 11:56:56 -0800 Comment by raisedbywolves "It's close to extinction".

LOL - I love it! What a witty guy.

]]> raisedbywolves http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/reincarnation#c1067761 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/reincarnation#c1067761 Music Tue, 08 Jul 2008 12:13:02 -0800 Comment by Fnarf So you people have never heard of Cole Porter, Harold Arlen, Hoagy Carmichael, or the Gershwins, eh?

Don't get me wrong, Roger Miller's a treasure, but he operated in a pretty narrow sphere. Nothing wrong with that; Harlan Howard had a pretty narrow one too. Do I hear a vote for Jimmy Webb? But yeah, Roger Miller was a good one. And Jim Stafford wouldn't have had a clue what to do without him, that's for sure.

]]> Fnarf http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/reincarnation#c1067771 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/reincarnation#c1067771 Music Tue, 08 Jul 2008 12:16:27 -0800 Comment by scary tyler moore my uncle used to love me, but she died!

]]> scary tyler moore http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/reincarnation#c1067796 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/reincarnation#c1067796 Music Tue, 08 Jul 2008 12:35:02 -0800 Comment by irl I remember his teevee show, he'd walk on the top of the train in the opening singin' King of the Road.
I couldn't say Roger Miller at that age, only Rawler Migger.

]]> irl http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/reincarnation#c1068113 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/reincarnation#c1068113 Music Tue, 08 Jul 2008 15:49:05 -0800 Comment by Luke Baggins One important thing to note: The over-fuckin-priced internet jukeboxes in bars around Seattle usually have that King of the Road boxed set. It feels a little like ass-rape to pay that much for jukebox songs, but when you can sit back in Baranof and hear Roger Miller in the background, it's completely worth it. I would love it if I was not the only one playing those songs out there.

There are a bunch of hidden treasures on that set and you will probably do some good digging yourself, but here are ones I haven't heard mentioned yet, just for the record and all.

Also that album is on Rhapsody, I have listened to that set more than anything else since discovering it 5 years ago. There's still very little that comes close, but here's my list of tracks everyone should check out on that set:

The Wrong Kind of Girl (there aren't enough country songs about whores. Every time I hear this song I feel like a giant middle finger just went up the ass of all that family valuin bullshit pop country music has become and I order more whiskey and the evening gets better from there)
Dang Me (my favorite one to karaoke, only because no place has the following tracks)
The Moon is High and So Am I (there are plenty of country songs about being fucked up, but this one is the best)
I've Been a Long Time Leavin, but I'll be a long time gone. (Best 2 minutes of music ever fuckin recorded! period. If you don't agree with that, you're a kitten molester.)
It happened Just That Way (it also makes reference to whorish sluttiness briefly and that's not the only good thing about the song)
One Dyin and a Buryin (This song is fucked and wrong and bad, but I can't stop listening to it. It's wrong for a song about a death-wish to be so soothing, but there it is)

Doo Wacka Doo (Retarded, but in a good way)

There's a couple of songs that are just regular country songs that rule:

Invitation to the Blues
Less and Less
When Your House is Not a Home

I used to think of Merle Haggard as the greatest voice in country, now I think Roger Miller is actually close or maybe even better.

]]> Luke Baggins http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/reincarnation#c1068405 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/reincarnation#c1068405 Music Tue, 08 Jul 2008 22:59:27 -0800