Adopted genius

Texas-born singer-songwriter worthy of Oklahoma pride

You don’t have to be born in Oklahoma to be an Oklahoman. From artist Ed Ruscha to author Michael Wallis, examples abound. They claim us; we claim them. One of the most celebrated (yet perhaps still underrated) non-Okie Oklahomans is the late, great singer-songwriter Roger Miller (1936-1992). 

My first encounter with Roger Miller’s particular brand of genius came in the early 1980s upon my first viewing of Disney’s 1973 animated version of “Robin Hood.” I couldn’t have been older than five. The film opens with the endlessly catchy earworm, “Whistle Stop.” You know the piece. Miller served as both narrator (a rooster) and primary songwriter. Looking back, it’s hard to imagine how this strange and beautiful collaboration came to pass (American country music + classic British folklore), but we’re all the better for it. The centerpiece ballad of the film is the decidedly melancholy, “Not in Nottingham,” a song worthy of any great midcentury tear-in-my-beer roadhouse. 

Every town
Has its ups and down
Sometime ups
Outnumber the downs
But not in Nottingham

Roger Miller was born in Fort Worth on Jan. 2, 1936. After the death of his father not long after, Miller’s mother sent Roger and his three brothers to live with relatives outside the Southwestern Oklahoma town of Erick, Okla. The town (pop. 1,051) is now home to the 3,000-square-foot Roger Miller Museum. Between that cold January day in 1936 and the 2004 opening of the museum, Roger Miller became a legendary singer and songwriter, winning 11 Grammy Awards and a Tony Award for penning the hugely successful 1985 musical “Big River.” He’s in the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, the Country Music Hall of Fame, and of course, the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame. Not Texas. 

These are the facts, and they’re impressive by any standard. But it feels as if Roger Miller’s legacy is beginning to fade a bit. Many people know the semi-novelty hits, “Dang Me” and “King of the Road,” but Miller’s deep and deeply affecting catalog remains largely ignored. 

Here’s my advice, for what it’s worth: Listen to “The 3rd Time Around” (1965) and “Words and Music” (1966). Some humor, some heartache, all truth. Consider the song “Husbands and Wives”: 

The angry words,
spoken in haste
Such a waste of two lives
It’s my belief, pride is the chief cause and the decline
In the number of husbands and wives

Roger Miller means a lot to me. His words, music, and voice have been part of my life for longer than I can remember. A year or so ago, while driving to work one morning, a familiar melody came bursting through the speakers via Pandora. The voice was not as familiar. I’ll be damned. Those banjo-wielding Brits Mumford & Sons recorded a cover of “Not in Nottingham.” 

I prefer the original, but if that’s what it takes to get new ears for Roger Miller, so be it. 

More OKcool by Jeff: painter Joe Goode, author Dan Fagin and animator Mary Blair.