King of the Road - Roger Miller (cover-live by Bill Sharkey)

King of the Road (Roger Miller, 1965). Live cover performance by Bill Sharkey, Home Studio, Hawaii Kai, HI. 2022-01-12. "Keeping the Oldies Alive"

"King of the Road" was Roger Miller's third top 10 Billboard Hot 100 song landing at the #4 position in 1965 (Whitburn, 2013) and hitting the #1 position on the Billboard Top Country Singles' chart (Whitburn, 1994). "During the summer, [Miller] was on the road outside of Chicago when he saw a sign that read ‘Trailers for Sale or Rent’. He began writing the first draft to “King of the Road”, though he got no further than the first verse. In Boise, Idaho, Roger noticed a hobo statue in an airport gift shop and bought it in hopes of finding inspiration for the rest of the lyrics;" the song took him six weeks to complete writing (rogermiller.com, 2022). Conversely, in 1969 on the Mike Douglas Show, Miller stated "I was doing a show in a place you have probably never heard of called Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, and I saw a statue of a hobo in a cigar shop were I was staying. I purchased it and took it to my room and wrote the song" (songfacts.com, 2022). Be that as it may, at the 8th Annual Grammy Awards in 1965, Miller and his song walked away with the most awards: Best Country & Western Song award (Artist), Best Male Country Vocal Performance, Best Contemporary Song, Best Male Pop Vocal Performance, Best Country Song (Writer), Best Contemporary (R&R) Performance (Single), Best Contemporary (R&R) Performance (Male Vocal Performance) (awardsandwinners.com, 2022).

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Lyrics:

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 pushin' brooms
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 suits 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

Every engineer on every train
All of their children, and all of their names
And every handout in every town
And every lock that ain't locked when no one's around

Trailers 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 pushin' brooms
Buys an eight by twelve four-bit room
I'm a man of means by no means, king of the road

Trailers 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 pushin' brooms
Buys an eight by twelve four-bit room
I'm a man of means by no means, king of the road