Aired on Treasure Island Oldies – March 9, 2025

In October 1992, we lost one of the most unique American singer/songwriters ever to grace the Billboard charts. His long love affair with cigarettes cost him his life at the age of fifty-six.

An artist who went to the beat of his own drum, his quirky style was hard to categorize … but it sure was recognizable and has not been forgotten.

In May 1965, during the height of the British Invasion, his #1 country hit crossed over to the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at the #4 position. It would also reach #1 on both the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart and the UK Singles Chart that year.

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Widely known for his humorous honky-tonk-influenced novelty songs and his chart-topping country hits, many of his songs were a blend of whimsical lyrics, coupled with scat singing or vocal riffs filled with nonsense syllables.

Others were sincere ballads which caught the public’s fancy, like his signature song he released in 1965, a song that cleaned up at the 8th annual Grammy Awards in 1966, winning Best Contemporary Rock ‘n’ Roll Single, Best Contemporary Rock ‘n’ Roll Vocal Performance – Male, Best Country & Western Single, Best Country & Western Song, and Best Country & Western Vocal Performance — Male.

According to the singer/songwriter’s website, he only spent six weeks writing the song. Lyrical inspiration came from his travels on the road: He saw a sign on the outskirts of Chicago that said. “Trailers for Sale or Rent,” which spawned the first verse, and then was able to finish the rest of the song after spotting a hobo in an airport gift shop in Boise, Idaho.

However, Songfacts points out that on The Mike Douglas Show in 1969, Roger Miller gave a slightly different account of how the song came about: “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 where I was staying,” he said at that time. “I purchased it and took it to my room and wrote the song.”

Country singer Bill Anderson once remarked that “Roger was the most talented, and least disciplined, person that you could imagine.” Impulsive or not, Roger Miller certainly earned the title of “King Of The Road,” this week’s Tom Locke moment in time.

YouTube listing of the song: Just put your cursor over the song title.

This “Moments In Time” story is yet another example of a “golden oldie” or forgotten favorite that earned its place in the evolution of Rock & Roll.