Another Oldie Memory: Roger Miller

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FullerH

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About 1963, the Kingston Trio came to Washington, DC, to play a concert or so at the Carter Barron Amphitheater. Of course, I attended. Come time for intermission, they said that they had a new act for us, a fellow that we would all enjoy named Roger Miller. Miller came out and struck an off-key chord on his guitar and sort of warbled, "Roses are red and violets are blueish; If it wasn't for Christmas, why we'd all be Jewish." After a moment of surprise, the crowd chuckled at that and he started into a repertoire that included, IIRC, "Chug-A-Lug", "Do-Wacka-Do", and "Dang Me". By the time that he had finished, he had the audience eating out of the palm of his hand. A year later, he broke through into the pop hit parade with "King of the Road". I have always found him to be delightfully funny and light with hs songs, but I think that this one takes the cake, I cannot explain why, but I do:

DO-WACKA-DO

I hear tell you're doin' well
Good things have come to you
I wish I had your happiness
And you had a do-wacka-do-wacka-do-wacka-do-wacka-do-wacka-do

They tell me you're runnin' free
Your days are never blue
I wish I had your good luck charm
And you had a do-wacka-do-wacka-do-wacka-do-wacka-do-wacka-do

Yeah, I see you goin' down the street in your big Cadillac
You got girls in the front, and got girls in the back
Yeah, and way in the back, you got money in a sack
Both hands on the wheel, and your shoulders right back

I hear tell you're doin' well
Good things have come to you
I wish I had your happiness
And you had a do-wacka-do-wacka-do-wacka-do-wacka-do-wacka-do

Yeah, you're goin' down the street in your big Cadillac
You got girls in the front, and got girls in the back
Yeah, and way in the back, you got money in a sack
Both hands on the wheel, and your shoulders right back

I hear tell you're doin' well
Good things have come to you
I wish I had your good luck charm
And you had a do-wacka-do-wacka-do-wacka-do-wacka-do-wacka-do
Click to expand...

How many of you remember him as happily as I do?
 
Much as I enjoyed Miller's many fine songs "King of the Road"...It was a tribute to the man's talent that he got a big hit on Broadway with "Big River" late in his career.
 
You oldtimers,unless I'm alone in this,remember Linda Vaughan,Miss Hurst Golden Shifter Girl in the '60s & '70 's . She & Roger were friends & met when he was operating a hotel elevator in Atlanta. She said he was cherming and witty without his goofiness. I won Hurst's Golden "Competition + " shifter in '69 as National sales champ. She & :) I shared a platonic friendship because we both worked the Chrome trade shows when the South was full of muscle cars.

Uncle [what great memories ] Alan
 
It's all his fault! These are the lines that got me started writing poems ...

Roses are red
and violets are purple
sugar is sweet
and so's maple syrple

:p
 
I love Roger Miller's songs!
One of my favourite ones is;
THE DAY I JUMPED FROM UNCLE HARVEY’S PLANE

Me ‘n’ Oliver ‘n’ Virgil was in the drugstore killing time
When my eyes fell upon this magazine
And I got to reading this article on sky-diving and parachuting
And it said jumping out of air-planes was the thing

Now being raised down on a farm and always ready for adventure
I knew that I could figure out a way
I said “Well Delmer Gill’s got a parachute and Uncle Harvey’s got an air-plane”
So I said “Call the boys together, today’s the day”

Well I found out too late what Uncle Harvey called an air-plane
Was nothing but an engine and a wing
And I could feel my fear a-rising as Delmer packed the parachute
‘Cos he kept telling me I was doing the right thing

Ron McLoughlin shook my hand as JD strapped me in the harness
And Tildon brought a jug and passed it around
I took one look at that parachute and that whisky and that air-plane
And I turned that bottle up and drank it down

Well I was drunker’n Cooter Jones when they poured me in the plane
The engine coughed and headed for the clouds
But I was sober as a judge by the time they opened up the door
And I’ve never known my heart to beat so loud

I said, “Harvey, I can’t do it” as he kicked me out the door
And I wrapped my hands around the landing gear
And I was holding on real good ‘til Harvey stepped down on my fingers
And Virgil said he heard me scream from way down there

Well I thanked God and Delmer Gill when my parachute finally opened
I said “Well, hell there ain’t no use in being afraid”
And I went crashing through the hen house, scattering chickens and breaking eggs
And I kissed the ground and fainted dead away

Now friends I’ve done some fighting, and I’ve been shot at once or twice
And I’ve durn near been run over by a train
But I don’t think I remember being any more afraid
Than the day I jumped from Uncle Harvey’s plane

:)
G2
 
uncle Alan said:
You oldtimers,unless I'm alone in this,remember Linda Vaughan,Miss Hurst Golden Shifter Girl in the '60s & '70 's . She & Roger were friends & met when he was operating a hotel elevator in Atlanta. She said he was cherming and witty without his goofiness. I won Hurst's Golden "Competition + " shifter in '69 as National sales champ. She & :) I shared a platonic friendship because we both worked the Chrome trade shows when the South was full of muscle cars.

Uncle [what great memories ] Alan
Click to expand...
Some of you may remember Jimmy Clark, the great Scots F-1 driver killed in Gerrmany in 1968. Apparently he an Linda Vaughan had a thing going for a while back in the mid-'60s, IIRC from her stories. They had met at the Daytona Continental, which was the sprts car race that preceded the current 24 hour race and then she and he met periodically at other American events.
 
He didn't write the song but had a big hit when he did a cover of Kristofferson's "Me and Bobby McGee".
 
Roger Miller's always been at or near the top of my list of great country music songwriters. Really his only competition is Willie Nelson, Hank Williams, and Tom T. Hall. Anyone who can write songs as diverse in feeling and subject matter as 'My Uncle Used to Love Me But She Died', 'The Last Word in Lonesome is Me', and 'England Swings' absolutely qualifies as a genius in my book.

James
 
Funny how a song title can bring back long forgotton memories.
King of the Road, I remember walking to grammer school past the coffee shop. It was cold, someone came out of the shop and with him came the song (on the radio) and the smell of jelly donuts and coffee.
 
He wrote the only song I know of that mentions my home town--Bangor, Maine. "King of the Road" is a perennial favorite back there.
 
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