Disco de Roger Miller: “All Time Greatest Hits”

All Time Greatest Hits nicely captures Roger Miller's evolution as an artist during his years on the Smash/Mercury label. It begins with his silly novelty hits "Dang Me," "Chug A Lug," and "Do Wacka Do" from 1964. Miller's 1965 follow-ups added wit to normally somber subjects like destitution ("King Of The Road") and abandonment ("Engine Engine #9"). He then played it straight with the painful observations "Last Word In Lonesome Is Me" and "Husbands And Wives" as well as the joyous "Walking In The Sunshine."

By 1968, Miller was no longer writing his hits. Instead, he gave exposure to new songwriters, being the first to chart with Kris Kristofferson's "Me And Bobby McGee" and Bobby Russell's "Little Green Apples." Miller left Mercuy in the early '70s and, except for some side projects not included here (scoring Disney's Robin Hood, recording "Old Friends" with Willie Nelson and Ray Price), experienced little success over the next decade. A final creative burst came in 1985, when he wrote the music for the Tony Award winning Big River (Miller's top 40 single "River In The Rain" from Big River serves as a collection-ending bonus track).

This twenty-track retrospective is easily the best single disc of Roger Miller's classic recordings. To get a more comprehensive look at his peak years (including the Christmas classic "Old Toy Trains"), you would need to get the three-disc King Of The Road box set.

I am a modest fan of country music, but a big fan of novelty tunes. Roger Miller's strengths were as a creative song writer, an outstanding interpreter of songs, a distinctive voice, excellent vocal control, a natural satirist/comedian, and exuberance, all of which are portrayed in most of his recordings. I consider him to be the best of all novelty song writers and performers. You Can't Rollerskate In A Buffalo Herd is a creative song characterized by ridiculous lyrics, a catchy melody, and exuberant vocals. One Dying And A Burying and My Uncle Used To Love Me But He Died are vintage, novelty songs, which should put a smile on your face. Chug-A-Lug has ridiculous lyrics, but is one of my favorite Roger Miller tunes. If you didn't know the meaning of the words, it would sound like a serious song because of Roger's interpretative ability and dead pan humor. The classic Dang Me has a bouncy melody and wacky lyrics which actually make sense. Engine Engine Number 9 is another favorite of mine. Do-Wacka-Do is a nonsense song with Roger's unique vocal gyrations.

He was a versatile song writer/performer who wrote several classics. England Swings is one of my all time favorite songs; a great, infectious, upbeat song with outstanding lyrics, which was covered by several artists, but none approach the quality of Roger's recording. I have listened to this song a few hundred times and enjoy it as much today as when I first heard it. Little Green Apples is another classic which was covered by many artists. I consider King Of The Road to be one of the best country songs of all time.

This is an outstanding moderately priced CD for fans of country music or novelty songs.

Roger Miller had a syncopation of lyrics that only he could sing. As a matter of fact, when he made the rounds of the publishers in Nashville they told him 'We like your stuff but our A&R guys can't find anybody who can sing them."

So he did.

Can't rhyme "Purple"? Roger did. He made the guitar a second voice to his singing like no other person did and the imagery of his lyrics is astounding. Pathos and humor...tenderness and silliness they were all his...

And about the time we got to where we reckognized his talent he was gone...

This CD says why we should miss him...

I always liked Roger's serious side even more than his crazy novelty song side---that is, if I can put "King of the Road" in the list of "serious" ones. I fell for that one the first time I heard it on the radio, when I was in college, back around 1965 or so. I haven't tired of it yet. There are 20 pretty good performances on this CD. My favorites, after "King" include "River in the Rain" from the Broadway musical he wrote, "Big River." That show has at least six great songs in it, and another six good ones. I would love to hear Roger do them all, even if it was just on a demo recorded in his kitchen. I also like "The Last Word in Lonesome is Me" and "Husbands and Wives" and "Little Green Apples" and his version of "Me and Bobby McGee" the Kris Kristofferson classic. Among the pure novelties, "Kansas City Star" and "England Swings" have always been my top choices. If all you want is one disc representing the long career of Mr. Miller, who died several years ago while a resident of Santa Fe, NM, this is a fine choice.

This digs deeper into Roger Miller's hits than Golden Hits or the Millennium Collection. It covers his career from 1964-1986. And best of all, it has all but one song from both of those CD's. Neither of those CD's has his Country hits of "Little Green Apples" or "Me and Bobby McGee", as well as his last Country Top 40, 1986's "River In The Rain" from the Broadway musical, Big River. Throw in updated liner notes, and at 20 tracks, you've got a great introduction to an original Country Music genius.