DOLLY YOUR ENTHUSIASM (10)
By:
January 30, 2023
One in a series of 25 enthusiastic posts, contributed by 25 HILOBROW friends and regulars, on the topic of favorite Country singles from the Sixties (1964–1973). Series edited by Josh Glenn. BONUS: Check out the DOLLY YOUR ENTHUSIASM playlist on Spotify.
ROGER MILLER | “THE MOON IS HIGH” | 1964
Powered by a propulsive guitar and clocking in at just under two minutes with nary a minor chord in sight, Roger Miller’s “The Moon is High” will nevertheless break your heart.
At least it breaks mine.
Miller is best known for his epic hit “King of the Road” as well as a string of country-tinged novelty songs like “You Can’t Rollerskate in a Buffalo Herd” and “Lou’s Got the Flu.” He was, according to one album cover, the “Madcap Sensation of Country Music.” Miller called himself a “Jekyll and Hammerstein” in a 1966 interview.
But Miller’s playful wordsmithing and cheerful melodies sometimes hid sad stories in plain sight. “The Moon is High is a perfect example, its lyrics rife with double-meanings (high / out / dawn) and homonyms (here / hear), and only Miller could get away with rhyming chilly, really, and Billy. In a few places, his signature vocal gymnastics threaten to break full-on into the hillbilly scatting known as eefing.
Sung in the first person, “Moon” tells of a relationship’s end as the protagonist, moments away from passing out on the “cold and chilly” ground, realizes his lover has had enough of his shenanigans. He loves her “so much” he can’t let her “get away,” but he’s also too stoned to do anything about it. He may have been her “Charming Billy” once upon a time, but one senses she’s had too many nights end up just like this one. “Love, don’t leave me,” he begs. But she’s gone, and he won’t remember anything about it until tomorrow morning. Heartbreaking.
“Moon” doesn’t specify exactly what its protagonist is high on, but in the mid-1960s, Miller was no stranger to either alcohol or amphetamines. In his 2015 memoir, Asleep at the Wheel’s Ray Benson called the song’s opening lines (“Well, the moon is high and so am I / The stars are out and so will I be pretty soon”) “real pill poetry.”
I can’t help but hearing “Moon” as the middle installment of an upbeat, funny-but-sad-when-you-really-think-about-it substance abuse trilogy. (To be clear, while all three songs appear on Miller’s 1964 debut album, Roger and Out, he doesn’t appear to have planned them as such.) In “Chug-a-lug,” Miller recounts his schoolboy experiences with homemade wine and moonshine. “Well, here I sit high” begins the third installment, and if the girlfriend in “Moon” takes back her errant lover, she may well end up the wife in “Dang Me,” “sitting home with a month-old child” while her husband’s “out at night, runnin’ wild.” Also heartbreaking.
DOLLY YOUR ENTHUSIASM: INTRODUCTION by Josh Glenn | David Cantwell on Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton’s WE FOUND IT | Lucy Sante on Johnny & June Carter Cash’s JACKSON | Mimi Lipson on George Jones’s WALK THROUGH THIS WORLD WITH ME | Steacy Easton on Olivia Newton-John’s LET ME BE THERE | Annie Zaleski on Tammy Wynette’s D-I-V-O-R-C-E | Carl Wilson on Tom T. Hall’s THAT’S HOW I GOT TO MEMPHIS | Josh Glenn on Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen’s BACK TO TENNESSEE | Elizabeth Nelson on Skeeter Davis’s I DIDN’T CRY TODAY | Carlo Rotella on Buck Owens’ TOGETHER AGAIN | Lynn Peril on Roger Miller’s THE MOON IS HIGH | Erik Davis on Kris Kristofferson’s SUNDAY MORNIN’ COMIN’ DOWN | Francesca Royster on Linda Martell’s BAD CASE OF THE BLUES | Amanda Martinez on Bobbie Gentry’s FANCY | Erin Osmon on John Prine’s PARADISE | Douglas Wolk on The Byrds’ DRUG STORE TRUCK DRIVIN’ MAN | David Warner on Willie Nelson’s WHISKEY RIVER | Will Groff on Tanya Tucker’s DELTA DAWN | Natalie Weiner on Dolly Parton’s IN THE GOOD OLD DAYS (WHEN TIMES WERE BAD) | Charlie Mitchell on Stonewall Jackson’s I WASHED MY HANDS IN MUDDY WATER | Nadine Hubbs on Dolly Parton’s COAT OF MANY COLORS | Jada Watson on Loretta Lynn’s DON’T COME HOME A DRINKIN’ (WITH LOVIN’ ON YOUR MIND) | Adam McGovern on Johnny Cash’s THE MAN IN BLACK | Stephen Thomas Erlewine on Dick Curless’s A TOMBSTONE EVERY MILE | Alan Scherstuhl on Waylon Jennings’s GOOD HEARTED WOMAN | Alex Brook Lynn on Bobby Bare’s THE WINNER. PLUS: Peter Doyle on Jerry Reed’s GUITAR MAN | Brian Berger on Charley Pride’s IS ANYBODY GOING TO SAN ANTONE.
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