Ten Favorite Train Songs: Train of Life (#5)
By Four Walls
@FourWalls (7972)
United States
March 7, 2017 7:28pm CST
Here's another song on my list of ten favorites that have the word "train" in the title. And I noticed something while looking at the list today: most of these are country songs. Understandable, given that most rock songs about trains are along the lines of the Grateful Dead's "Casey Jones." 
Here's the next song on the list...from someone who showed up yesterday on the other list.
#5: Train of Life - Roger Miller
Roger Miller certainly wasn't the only person who got "pigeonholed" into one thing -- in his case, lighthearted or novelty-type songs. In addition to the songs he did that had a "silly" notion to them, there was his delivery: "In the Summertime (You Don't Want My Love)" is hardly a "novelty" song, but Miller's "woo-dee-doop-de-doop-diddaliddle" singing certainly made it sound that way.
Oh, could he write some heartbreakers. One of his best songs was "The Last Word in Lonesome is Me" (granted, I didn't get the joke of the title when I was six...but I was six!), which is dripping with ache in both his version and the Eddy Arnold cover. "Husbands and Wives" is another sad one (covered back in the late 80s by Brooks & Dunn).
And here Miller used the analogy of a train to describe loneliness: "I'm tired of sitting on the side track just watching the main line run." It's a great song, one of Miller's best...and sadly, forgotten because people are still singing along to "Do Wacka Do."
Train of Life
Written by Roger Miller
Recorded by Roger Miller
From Words and Music By Roger Miller, 1966
Train, train, oh let me ride:
Here's the next song on the list...from someone who showed up yesterday on the other list.
#5: Train of Life - Roger Miller
Roger Miller certainly wasn't the only person who got "pigeonholed" into one thing -- in his case, lighthearted or novelty-type songs. In addition to the songs he did that had a "silly" notion to them, there was his delivery: "In the Summertime (You Don't Want My Love)" is hardly a "novelty" song, but Miller's "woo-dee-doop-de-doop-diddaliddle" singing certainly made it sound that way.
Oh, could he write some heartbreakers. One of his best songs was "The Last Word in Lonesome is Me" (granted, I didn't get the joke of the title when I was six...but I was six!), which is dripping with ache in both his version and the Eddy Arnold cover. "Husbands and Wives" is another sad one (covered back in the late 80s by Brooks & Dunn).
And here Miller used the analogy of a train to describe loneliness: "I'm tired of sitting on the side track just watching the main line run." It's a great song, one of Miller's best...and sadly, forgotten because people are still singing along to "Do Wacka Do."
Train of Life
Written by Roger Miller
Recorded by Roger Miller
From Words and Music By Roger Miller, 1966
Train, train, oh let me ride:
Discussion at "Random Topics" http://randomtopics.org/index.php
4 people like this
3 responses
@JohnRoberts (32908)
• Los Angeles, California
8 Mar
Well Dang Me, he could get serious!
1 person likes this
@teamfreak16 (30257)
• Manitou Springs, Colorado
9 Mar
I still remember when Dionne Warwick interviewed him about his serious side on Solid Gold in the 80's.
