好歌赏析，听歌学英语 —— King Of The Road 道路之王

Weida "Gemini Perspective"

The creation of songs is generally regarded as a mode of performing arts, a kind of leisure and entertainment for the public!

Personally, I think that songs are not just performance arts or entertainment, and most songs are works with multi-layered cultural connotations. Songs have both poetic charm and touching rhythms, which express the author's views and emotions, and some lyrics will have a complete story that reflects the values and phenomena of contemporary society. Because of such a rich connotation, listening to and singing nostalgic English songs is the most suitable tool for me to learn about the culture of Western countries and learn their language.

This column "Appreciation of Good Songs, Listening to Songs to Learn English" hopes to share nostalgic English old songs, so that friends who want to improve their English skills can have an easier channel to learn English. By sharing the author's inspiration when writing the song and the background of the time at that time, this is equivalent to providing a "context" for learning English, so as to improve English thinking> improve flexible understanding of English> and improve English expression skills.

Most of the nostalgic English songs shared in "Gemini Perspective" are slower and easy to master, and some of them have story content, with simple and beautiful words and correct grammar. It is well worth using as a reference for learning English. At the back of each song, learning points are also integrated, and some noteworthy points are given to the friends to wake up.

"King Of The Road" is a piece of country-pop music recorded by singer-songwriter Roger Miller in 1964. This song once reached the number one spot on the pop song chart that year.

The lyrics of this song reflect the living conditions of some low-income people, and the content describes the daily life of a wandering and part-time worker; although the singer's life is difficult and difficult, he is still very optimistic and humorous to laugh at himself, describing his life as a very free and dignified "King of the road".

Because of their lack of pockets, singers do their best to make money, renting out their houses, renting or selling trailers, sweeping the floors, and even stealing on the train when there is luggage left unattended, picking up cigarette butts to smoke when they want to smoke, and so on.

King Of The Road 道路之王 --- by Roger Miller

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歌词：King Of The Road 道路之王

Trailer for sale or rent, rooms to let fifty cents, no phone, no pool (1), no pets (2), I ain't got no cigarettes (3).

Trailer for sale or rent, fifty cents for a room, no phone, no pool, no pets, I have no cigarettes (smoking).

Ah but, two hours of pushing broom buys a (4) eight by twelve (5) four-bit (6) room.

Ah, but two hours of pushing a broom (sweeping) can buy (meaning to rent for one night) an eight-by-twelve (8 feet x 12 feet) four-dollar room.

I'm a man of means (7) by no means (8), king of the road.

I'm definitely not a rich man, the king of the road.

Third box car midnight train, destination Bangor, Maine, old worn out suit and shoes, I don't pay no union dues (9).

The third car of the midnight train, the destination of Bangor, Maine, was an old and worn suit and shoes, and I did not pay the union dues.

I smoke old stogies (10) I have found, short but not too big around (11).

I smoke an old cigar (cigarette butt) that I have found, short, but not too thick.

I'm a man of means by no means, king of the road.

I'm definitely not a rich man, the king of the road.

I know every engineer on every train, all the children and all of their names and every handout (12) in every town and every lock that ain't locked when no-one's around (13).

I knew every engineer on every train, all the kids and all their names, and every handout (flyer) in every town, and every unlocked lock when no one was around.

I sing...

I sing...

Trailer for sale or rent, rooms to let fifty cents, no phone, no pool, no pets, I ain't got no cigarettes.

Trailer for sale or rent, fifty cents for a room, no phone, no pool, no pets, I have no cigarettes (smoking).

Ah but, two hours of pushing broom buys a eight by twelve four-bit room.

Ah, but two hours of pushing a broom (sweeping) can buy (meaning to rent for one night) an eight-by-twelve (8 feet x 12 feet) four-dollar room.

I'm a man of means by no means, king of the road.

I'm definitely not a rich man, the king of the road.

Trailer for sale or rent, rooms to let fifty cents, no phone, no pool, no pets, I ain't got no cigarettes.

Trailer for sale or rent, fifty cents for a room, no phone, no pool, no pets, I have no cigarettes (smoking).

学习点 Learning Points：

1. Pool --- is a noun but can be translated in two different ways, generally interpreting it as "pool", but in the UK it can mean "pool with a gambling nature". I think it's more appropriate to translate it as "swimming pool" here.
2. No pets --- There can also be two different interpretations here, "Tenants can't have pets" or "Haven't had pets (won't smell pets)".
3. I ain't got no cigarettes --- “Ain’t”是美式口语，是代表“is not, am not, have not, has not = 没有”的意思。
4. Buys a --- The singer sings the "a" pronunciation, but in regular English, if the noun that follows it begins with a vowel, we can't use the article "a", but must use "an".
5. Eight by twelve --- This is the general expression of mathematical multiplication = 8 x 12, which should mean 8 feet x 12 feet.
6. Four-bit --- "Bit" is an American colloquialism, which means "money".
7. The word Means --- is a noun here and also means "money".
8. By no means--- This is a phrase commonly used in colloquial language, which means "absolutely not". Here's another close phrase "By all means" = (signifies permission) Okay, of course you can.
9. I don't pay no union dues --- Because the singer is a casual worker (not a permanent worker) who does odd jobs everywhere, he does not belong to any union and does not have to pay union dues.
10. Stogies --- is a plural noun and was originally written as "Stogy = slender (low-grade) cigar smoke".
11. 因为“Stogy = 细长的（低级）雪茄烟”，所以烟蒂都是“short but not too big around 短，但不是太粗”。
12. Every handout in every town --- 这里说的“Handout 传单”应该是在火车上介绍每一个城镇的单张。
13. Every lock that ain't locked when no-one's around --- This sentence should imply that the singer will pay attention: every unlocked lock, when no one is around, there is a chance to steal (this is the editor's guess).

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