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“King of the Road:” Roger Miller’s Perfect Carefree Song for You

"King of the Road:" Roger Miller's Perfect Carefree Song for You
by
  • Arden is a Senior Country Music Journalist for Country Thang Daily, specializing in classic hits and contemporary chart-toppers.
  • Prior to joining Country Thang Daily, Arden wrote for Billboard and People magazine, covering country music legends and emerging artists.
  • Arden holds a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from the University of Tennessee, with a minor in Music Studies.

Do you ever think about leaving your hometown and go on a random trip? This is what the song of Roger Miller is giving me. His single “King of the Road” is a free-spirited track that makes us think of the things that we have in our life, but go unnoticed.

The song can even be perfect for today’s millennials since they are all about the Boho culture. I mean, they even have a yearly event called the Coachella, wherein they stay in a deserted place and jam to songs that people listen to nowadays.

king of the road, roger miller
An all smiles Roger Miller holding his guitar | Photo credit: grammy.com

“King of the Road” is a Hit

The inspiration behind the song was the travel that Roger Miller had during a tour. He was driving in Indiana when he saw signs of houses for rent or trailers for rent. Furthermore, he saw a hobo statue on the road and this, for some reason, inspired him to write a song. What he did was to immediately buy the statue, rented a room and wrote the song.

There may be other reasons for writing the song, but his main intention is to sing about a carefree lifestyle. He wrote it while traveling to a place and so, he called it “King of the Road.” The idea of living in a trailer is that you can easily leave and go somewhere else. Living in a trailer felt temporary so you are basically going from one place to another.

king of the road, roger miller
via Screengrab from YouTube

What is a carefree lifestyle like?

The idea of a carefree lifestyle may be hard for other people who are struggling to even meet their basic needs. However, when you are able to shift your mind into this thinking, it is basically a life with no worries, and who would not want that?

roger miller, king of the road
via Screengrab from YouTube

A life with no worries is so much better than constantly thinking about the problems you face. This kind of lifestyle is what others strive for, that is why they constantly seek it in the songs that they hear. Roger Miller is ahead of his times because if he would have released the song now, for sure, the millennials would fall in love with it.

Listen to “King of the Road” here:

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