Do-Wacka-Do

You ever chug-a-lug, chug-lug?

Ever wish you had someone’s happiness, and they had a do-wacka-do-wacka-do-wacka-do?

Do you know the level of difficulty of rollerskating in a buffalo herd? (Or changing film with a kid on your back?)

If you don’t know what I’m talking about, then you don’t know the music of Roger Miller as well as you should.

Miller was a country song writer, most famous for “King of the Road.” He also played the voice of Alan-a-Dale in the Disney ROBIN HOOD, and sang all those songs.

This truly American poet could be sentimental (“One dyin’ and a buryin’, one dyin’ and a buryin’, some cryin’ and six carryin’ me- I want to be free”), silly (“My uncle used to love me but she died, a chicken ain’t a chicken ‘til he’s lickin’ good fried…”), or sentimentally silly (“Atta boy, girl, atta way to break my heart…”)

When it came time to turn Twain’s all-American HUCKLEBERRY FINN into a Broadway musical, the producers knew they couldn’t just get any songwriter; they wanted the definitive voice of pure America to match Twain’s voice.

So they turned to Miller for BIG RIVER, one of my favorite musicals of all time.

Today marks Roger’s birthday, a man taken from us with too much music left in him.

So in his honor, listen to some Miller today.

Just my thoughts,

Sean

Selection from “Where Have All the Average People Gone?”

Some pious people point and call me sinner,
Because to them I've never seen the lights.
Other folks think of me as a preacher.
I'm just doing what I think is right.

The wealthy people think that I am a hobo,
Lean and hungry, writing mournful songs.
And the poor, poor people think I am a rich man,
But really, I'm just trying to get along.

It's funny I don't fit.
Tell me where have all the average people gone?