I know you think you understand what I said but what you dont understand is that what I said is not what I meant
[l1]I[/l1] love singing along with Kansas City Star. It’s one of those silly songs Roger wrote that leaves out all the struggle and heartache, and puts in everything that’s right with our hearts and heads.
Besides, how often do you get a trombone solo and scat vocals in a country song? Yeah, Roger had a hard time coloring inside the lines. Continue reading “Better a Kansas City Star Than an Omaha Nobody”
[l1]L[/l1]ove is, even in the best circumstances, a complex thing. Good songwriters find the words to sing about it.
Great songwriters know there are no words for it. Continue reading “Words by Roger Miller. Lyrics by Love.”
[l1]P[/l1]retty sure Roger never meant us to take this one seriously.
My friend and I went to the picture show in town
They called his name and said his house and just burned down
I took his hand and offered him my sympathy
When suddenly, I remembered that he lived with me Continue reading “Happy Heartbreak #2: It Takes All Kinds to Make a World”
[l1]O[/l1]ne of Disney’s greatest soundtrack triumphs was getting Roger Miller to write and record the soundtrack to their animated version of Robin Hood.
The film doesn’t hang entirely on a single star. I can’t imagine the list of movies these folks have made: Continue reading “Not in Nottingham”
[l1]A[/l1] hallmark of Roger Miller’s songwriting is what I call his happy heartbreaks: the saddest stories, told with wit to cheerful music.
Just as Hitchcock makes pokes us with the incongruity of life by making us laugh during a terrifying scene, Roger reminds you that life isn’t the events, but our reactions. Even the poor guy standing in a train station somewhere 110 miles from Baltimore sounds more resigned than heartbroken when he says “I don’t think she loves me any more.” Continue reading “Happy Heartbreak #1: Engine, Engine #9”