An arrangement of the evergreen top hit song from 1964 ''King of the Road'', set for classical Brass Quintet.

"King of the Road" is a song written by country singer Roger Miller, who first recorded it in November 1964. The lyrics tell of the day-to-day life of a hobo who, despite being poor (a "man of means by no means"), revels in his freedom, describing himself humorously and cynically as the "king of the road". It was Miller's fifth single for Smash Records.


The popular crossover record hit No. 1 on the US Country chart, No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100, and No. 1 on the Easy Listening surveys. It was also No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart, and in Norway. Miller recalled that the song was inspired when he was driving and saw a sign on the side of a barn that read, "Trailers for sale or rent".[6] This would become the opening line of the song.

The song has been covered by many other artists, including George Jones, Dean Martin, Val Doonican, Jack Jones, James Booker, The Fabulous Echoes, Boney M., R.E.M., Johnny Paycheck, Glen Campbell, Alvin and the Chipmunks, Boxcar Willie, Randy Travis, Rangers, James Kilbane, John Stevens, the Statler Brothers, Rufus Wainwright and Teddy Thompson, Giant Sand, Peligro, The Proclaimers, Ray Conniff Singers, The Reverend Horton Heat, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Jim White. James "The King" Brown (an Elvis impersonator) performed the song for a 2001 Audi commercial on German TV.[7] Of R.E.M.'s version, a shambolic, drunken, offhand rendering, guitarist Peter Buck would later comment, "If there was any justice in the world, Roger Miller should be able to sue for what we did to this song."

"King of the Road" was performed live by Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson, Marty Stuart, Dwight Yoakam and Dolly Parton during Miller's posthumous induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame at the 1995 CMA Awards ceremony.

The song is featured in Wim Wenders' 1976 film Im Lauf der Zeit (In the Course of Time; English title Kings of the Road). It is also played at the beginning of Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, Brokeback Mountain, Into the Wild (2007), Traveller (1997), and Swingers (1996). Miller performs it in the concert film The Big T.N.T. Show. The recording by The Proclaimers is included in the film The Crossing (1990). Near the end of their official music video, the pair are shown reading a newspaper whose headline is "Roger Miller, King of Plugs".

Miller's recording appears in an episode of the Super Dave TV show, where Super Dave Osborne (Bob Einstein) sings along while sitting at a piano mounted on top of his tour bus. The bus eventually goes into a low tunnel, slamming into the piano and Osborne and pushing them off the bus and onto the ground.

A send-up version by English entertainer Billy Howard was a British chart hit in 1976.

A German take by the band Wise Guys exists, the parody referring to speeding on the Autobahn.

ISBN 9781619116849. 8.5 X 11 inches. This anthology includes both new pieces and outstanding previously published fingerstyle tunes. Veteran performers and talented young upstarts are given a forum for their best work. Intermediate to advanced in difficulty with nearly all pieces appearing in standard notation with tablature. Includes access to extensive online audio.The contributors are: Jonathan Adams, Muriel Anderson, Seth Austen, D.R. Auten, Douglas Back, Duck Baker, Steve Baughman, William Bay, Pierre Bensusan, Larry Bolles, Ben Bolt, Bill Brennan, Thom Bresh, Rolly Brown, Robin Bullock, Jonathan Burchfield, Michael Chapdelaine, Mike Christiansen, William Coulter, Marcel Dadi, Peppino D\'Agostino, Craig Dobbins, Pat Donohue, Doyle Dykes, Steven Eckels, Tim Farrell, Peter Finger, Tommy Flint, Rick Foster, Stefan Grossman, Ole Halen, Todd Hallawell, Roger Hudson, Jack Jezzro, Buster B. Jones, Laurence Juber, Phil Keaggy, Pat Kirtley, Jean-Felix Lalanne, Jay Leach, Paul Lolax, Woody Mann, Dennis McCorkle, El McMeen, Dale Miller, Franco Morone, Stevan Pasero, Ken Perlman, Al Petteway, Bill Piburn, Chris Proctor, Harvey Reid, John Renbourn, Don Ross, Vincent Sadovksy, Dylan Schorer, John Sherman, Martin Simpson, Johnny Smith, Fred Sokolow, Tim Sparks, John Standefer, David Surette, Guy Van Duser, Al Viola, Paul Yandell, Andrew York, and John Zaradin.