King of the road

King of the road

England swings like a pendulum do

King of the Road

King of the Road

They said that Roger Miller was on drugs when he wrote this but I sort of disagree. It's still funny (especially how he twisted the word syrup to make it rhyme with purple, lol) after all these years, IMHO.

No, Roger Miller did not have a transvestite uncle, nor was he drunk when he penned this ditty (although he might have been trying to meet a deadline). This is merely the King of the Road at his silliest. I still laugh when I recall the time he sang this on The Muppet Show (much to the consternation of a nearby group of muppet chickens).

Forcing a rhyme by intentionally mispronouncing a word (in this case, syrup) is cheating.

Nice try, Roger.

So the land of the free is the land of 'hush your mouth'? Whatever happened to freedom of speech?!??

In this song, Roger Miller is singing as if he's a TV personality in Kansas City, making him a local celebrity there. In these lines, he's citing some of the frills that come with his celebrity status, those being among the reasons why he's turning down a new job offer in Omaha. Everything in these lines might still make sense today, except the part about having credit down at the grocery story. Back when the song came out, grocery stores may have generally been cash only business for ordinary citizens, making his credit there a status symbol of his local celebrity status. But today most all grocery stores accept credit cards from whoever has them. So no longer would credit at a grocery store be anything to cite as a status symbol. Today's younger listeners may be mystified as to why the line about credit at the grocery store is in the song, and wonder how it is supposed to contribute to the song's meaning or theme.

"White Christmas" by Bing Crosby.

Jingle Bells

"I hear tell you're doing well, good things have come to you. I wish I had your happiness, and you had a do-wacka-do-wacka-do-wacka-do-wacka-do-wacka-do." Miller put these nonsense syllables in the song to represent something to replace the good things his friend had.

The line is "Sugar is sweet, and so is maple syrple". He was forcing a rhyme with "purple" in the previous line. I guess "syrple" means "syrup", but who knows for sure?

It should be "That's what I am"

This song mentions the city of Baltimore, Maryland.

Baltimore, Maryland

The word "England" is mispronounced throughout the song as "Engerland," probably to fit the meter of the song.

He alters "maple syrup" to "maple syrple" to force a rhyme.

I'm the number one attraction of every super carpet marking lot.