Hotels/Motels: King of the Road

King of the Road
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It is standard lore that musicians on the road used to tend to excesses. It cannot be a great life: days/months on the road. Grueling hours. Consider this: you start “work” at 10PM.  Yes, back stage, they “accommodated”  groupies. Their contractual  “riders” included requirements that would make the average Joe blanche – more bottles than even a hard-drinking band could put away between 10 and 12 midnight. Moreover, when the show was over and they retired to their accommodations, the show went on. There are legends about their use/abuse of the lodgings/the hotel.

I recall – 30 or so years ago – a night in Zagreb (Yugoslavia). The hotel staff was complaining about a Middle Eastern customer who had elected to grill their dinner – en-suite. Burning a hole in the center of the room rug in the process. And the staff said this was just standard form for a family from Arabia. Certainly plausible in light of what we think we know about rock bands and hotel rooms. 

It's more than likely that today's rock star on tour  gets charged for damage to the room: that appears to not have been the case in the 70s - or maybe the damages were just billed as part of the collateral damage. Not being a hotelier, in today’s atmosphere of airport security normality, I naively assume that even hard core rockers toe the line a bit more.

There are a number of stories about my choice this time around: King of the Road.

Roger Miller sang and played the guitar back in the 50s and 60s (OK .. and beyond).

As such, he hit the road.

Legend has it that on one such trip, he saw a sign advertising “trailers for sale or rent”, and the phrase stuck with him. Apparently, more than once, while on the road, he managed with rooming that we probably wouldn’t put up with in this day and age. At a later date, he worked this phrase into the lyrics of what would eventually become King of the Road.

Specific references to hotels/motels in the song are limited: the early 60s was a different time and place. The lyrics include the lines:  “8 x 12 4-bit rooms” and “Rooms to let, fifty cents/ No phone, no pool, no pets” – much of it still recognizable to travelers 50 years later. The culture of the American roadside motel is essentially the same today.

The Internet has it that Roger Miller went on in later years to purchase and operate more than one hotel/motel himself.

Getting There: On Roller Skates

Roger Miller: You Can't Roller Skate in a Buffalo Herd

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Melanie: Brand New Key

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Roger McGuinn & Chris Hillman: Skate Date

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I really wanted to contribute an entry about roller skating -- sure, partly because it fits in with this week's theme. But, mainly because I was looking for an excuse to use this wonderful picture of Edvard Petrini's pedaled roller skates.

Problem is, the first two songs that came to mind actually aren't about skating. The first was Roger Miller's "You Can't Roller Skate in a Buffalo Herd." The title may mention roller skating, but it's merely a non sequitur -- though the advice offered is sound.

Then, of course, there's Melanie's "Brand New Key." But, even when it was released in 1971, few listeners thought the song was really about the missing key to her quad skates. (“I don’t go too fast, but I go pretty far” indeed.) The song's lascivious reputation was cemented by its insertion into the Boogie Nights soundtrack, during a memorable audition scene.

Finally, I remembered a song about skating that really is...a song about skating: "Skate Date" by ex-Byrds Roger McGuinn and Chris Hillman. It appeared on their 1980 album City, made just after Gene Clark bolted what had been McGuinn, Clark & Hillman. The harmonies, as always, are nice, but it's not among McGuinn's most profound songs. "Skate Date" would have benefited from a dash of "Brand New Key" double-entendre.

But, "Skate Date" is definitely about skating.

And now I feel fully justified using the picture.

Tobacco: King Of The Road

Roger Miller: King of the Road

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When I announced this week's theme on our little collaborative's backchannel listserv, I noted that smoking and tobacco references often function as signifiers of class or social status, and as earlier entries have demonstrated aptly, it's true - though of course, as times evolve and smoking goes underground, old songs can take on new meanings, too, changing one-time rebels into more pitiful social outcasts in the eyes of the beholder. But smoking and its references can also signify mood - of post-sexual or post-prandial satisfaction, of nervousness or nerve, and of a dozen more connotive, memetic associations, that live in culture like spores, familiar to us all.

Nowhere do these several functions come together more sharply and effectively than in the dual references to tobacco found in King of the Road, Roger Miller's 1964 country celebration of the free-traveling underclass. First, the notation that our narrator "ain't got no cigarettes", coming as it does at the end of a litany of housing and other household signs which are absent in the life of the titular hobo, casts sharp relief upon the unpinned lifestyle, combining as it does the constant requests to "bum" a smoke we've all experienced in the wild, and the sheer triviality of owning so little that cigarettes themselves fall into the "too heavy to carry" category. And second, the subsequent verse's beginning, with its potent imagery of smoking "old stogies" that the narrator has found, reveals deep truths about the hobo's sense of inner worth incarnate - a king indeed, smoking such high-class rolls, even if his royal trappings are scavenged.

Teddy Thompson & Rufus Wainwright: King of the Road

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The Proclaimers: King of the Road

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As a homecoming - I've been away for the past few weeks, and just returned home today - I've included two favorite versions of the oft-covered song. Teddy and Rufus slow the thing down, and it just sounds good, especially when placed in the context of its origin in the Brokeback Mountain soundtrack. And The Proclaimers' 1990 cover is a bonus I couldn't resist - delightfully accented, proving primarily, to American ears at least, that the sentiment is more universal than you might think.

Cool Kidsongs: Classic Disney Edition

There seems to be a love/hate relationship with Disney for many people. Some people look at them as corny or overly corporate, but it's hard to deny that over the years there's been some absolutely brilliant music that's been produced for their films. These days, Disney music is often nominated for Oscars, but most people forget that there were many famous musicians that graced Disney films back in the day.



Louis Prima: I Wan'na Be Like You

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Perhaps one of the most impressive (to me, at least) pieces of music in the Disney library is the classic "I Wan'na Be Like You" from The Jungle Book (1966). The song was sung by the legendary Louis Prima in a scat jazz style (though written by the amazing Sherman Bros.). As fun as this song is, and as accessible to children, it's difficult to miss the talent and grown-up styling to this music. It's one of my favorites. The character in the movie that sings the song is King Louie, fitting.



Roger Miller: Oo-De-Lally

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Roger Miller seems like the perfect fit for doing a kid's song considering his music is often on the silly side, or at least, smirk-worthy. That is part of his charm, part of the reason I like him at least. He wrote and performed the theme the Disney's 1973 telling of Robin Hood. He also did a number of other songs for the movie and had the part of the story-telling rooster Alan-a-dale. I love this song, I think it's classic Roger Miller and could easy stand alone in his catalog without the movie.



Peggy Lee: He's a Tramp

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Last, but not least, the fantastic Peggy Lee. She co-wrote all the music for Lady And the Tramp (1955), including the famous "Bella Notte", and performed a few of the songs herself, including this one, "He's a Tramp". The character in the movie who sang the song was named "Peg", after Peggy, and sung in Peggy's signature sultry nightclub style. There's really nothing childish about the song other than the use of dog barks for backing music, but even that somehow doesn't seem like it would be so strange back in the day when things all seemed more innocent. This is one of those things that I always thought was just "sung in the style of Peggy Lee" and was surprised later to find out that it was, in fact, the REAL Peggy Lee, and she had written it herself. Fanastic.

Silly Songs: You Can't Roller Skate In A Buffalo Herd

Roger Miller - You Can't Roller Skate In A Buffalo Herd [purchase box set]

According to the absurdist laureate of country music, you can't do the following:

• Roller skate in a buffalo herd
• Take a shower in a parakeet cage
• Swim in a baseball pool
• Change film with a kid on your back
• Drive around with a tiger in your car
• Fish in a watermelon patch

But, you know what you can do?

• Be happy if you've a mind to.