Ain’t This a Countdown: I Ain’t Comin’ Home Tonight

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Let’s see what the leaves look like today. But first…lunch at Chuy’s and another song with “ain’t” in the title. Sorry, Linda, but the country music is back. Actually, this might not be so bad for you (no fiddles, so steel, no twang), so maybe only a minor migraine. Here we go! I Ain’t Comin’ Home Tonight - Roger Miller This would probably have made a great eight-minute blues song. You can probably hear John Lee Hooker or Buddy Guy moanin’ “I ain’t comin’ home tonight, my soul is restless and the moon is bright” with some guitar and harmonica. Instead, it’s a two-minute faux-country song from Roger Miller. I say “faux country” because this isn’t in the Buck Owens department. In fact, if you’re wondering why Miller sounds so lighthearted (as he did on most of this album, with his “rip-ba-de-de-diddadoo” vocalizations of guitar lines), it’s because he didn’t expect this to be a hit. He’d tried (with RCA Victor, after Jethro Burns’ brother suggested the young solider in Sgt. Burns’ platoon to Jethro, who passed the info on to brother-in-law Chet Atkins) and failed miserably. So Jerry Kennedy offered Miller a record deal, which was basically enough to get Miller to California so he could try his hand at acting. This “throw-away” album turned out to win five Grammy awards, and had even people in the pop music world singing along with “Dang Me” and “Chug-a-Lug.” Miller would win six more Grammys the next year with the follow-up album. The acting career was relegated to him voicing Alan A-Dale in the 1973 animated version of Robin Hood for Disney. With all of the success Roger Miller had (including being, to date, the only country music performer with a Tony [for Big River, for which he did the music]), he wasn’t inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame until after his death from throat and neck cancer. While this wasn’t a hit it was part of that malice first successful album of his. I Ain’t Comin’ Home Tonight Written by Roger Miller Recorded by Roger Miller From Roger and Out, 1964 The water in the well at home is bad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cC6gd8hqRWo