Ten Favorite Songs About Trains: Engine Engine #9 (#6)

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How about another song that references a train without actually mentioning "train" in the title? I know, I'm doing them backwards today, but I had a rough day at the hospital. You know that old saying, "Up your nose with a rubber hose"? I had it. The scope didn't hurt because they numbed my nose....that was the unpleasant part! Okay, let's blow that off (see what I did there?) and get to the next song about trains. #6: Engine Engine #9 - Roger Miller In the world of country music there aren't a whole heck of a lot of people that "everybody" outside the world of country music knows. The six Grammy awards he won in 1965 stood as a record for one year until broken by Michael Jackson (now there's some "tall tall trees" [a song that Miller wrote] for a comparison!!). How massively popular was this guy? He had his own network TV show in 1966. R.E.M. covered "King of the Road," no less (although their liner notes accurately admit that he should've sued them for what they did to the song). So...why did Roger Miller have to die to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame? Criminal. From Miller's third consecutive mega hit album, The Third Time Around, this song about a man searching in vain for his former love who "got on in Baltimore" and somehow has disembarked. Roger Miller got a bum rap for being a novelty singer ("Do-Wacka-Do," "Dang Me"). He wrote some great songs that were far from funny. This one might seem a little more lighthearted than, say, "Husbands and Wives," but it still expresses the pain of a lost love. Engine Engine #9 Written by Roger Miller Recorded by Roger Miller From The Third Time Around, 1965 110 miles ain't much distance: