Almanac Music: ‘King of Pain’ – Songs Involving Kings and/or Queens
Almanac Music: ‘King of Pain’ – Songs involving Kings and/or Queens
Hi, Almanackers! This piece in my long-running series about key popular song themes concerns songs involving kings and/or queens. By this, I mean songs mentioning the word king and/or queen. Other closely-related words such as kingly and queenly, and monarch, are also fitting in terms of the theme. Add a few words of explanation to your chosen song if you feel it’s necessary. (Let’s avoid listing songs dealing with other, lesser royal titles like prince and princess in this theme, unless they also involve kings or queens.)
So, dear readers, please put your relevant ‘king/queen’ songs in the ‘Comments’ section. Below, as usual, are some examples from me to get the ball rolling.
‘Now You Has Jazz’, written by Cole Porter, performed by Bing Crosby and Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra (1956)
‘Jazz is king’
‘King of the Road’, written and performed by Roger Miller (1965)
‘Cry, Baby Cry’, credited to John Lennon and Paul McCartney (written by John, except for Paul’s ‘Can You Take Me Back’ coda), performed by The Beatles (1968)
(both a king and queen are mentioned in this song)
‘Gudbuy T’ Jane’, written by Noddy Holder and Jim Lea, performed by Slade (1972)
‘She’s a queen…’
‘Killer Queen’, written by Freddie Mercury, performed by Queen (1974)
‘Denim and Lace’. written by Laurence Lister and Francis Lyons, performed by Marty Rhone (1975)
‘Making me feel like a king … I want you for my beauty queen’
‘King of Pain’, written by Sting, performed by The Police (1983)
‘King of Wishful Thinking’, written by Peter Cox, Richard Drummie and Martin Page, performed by Go West (1990)
…………………………………………………………………
Now, dear readers / listeners – it’s over to you. Your responses to this topic are warmly welcomed. In the ‘Comments’ section, please add your own choice of a song (or songs) involving kings and/or queens, along with any other relevant material you wish to include.
[Note: as usual, Wikipedia has been a solid general reference for this piece, particularly in terms of checking dates and other details.]
Read more from Kevin Densley HERE
Kevin Densley’s latest poetry collection, Please Feed the Macaws…I’m Feeling Too Indolent, is available HERE
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About
Kevin Densley is a graduate of both Deakin University and The University of Melbourne. He has taught writing and literature in numerous Victorian universities and TAFES. He is a poet and writer-in-general. His fifth book-length poetry collection, Please Feed the Macaws ... I'm Feeling Too Indolent, was published in late 2023 by Ginninderra Press. He is also the co-author of ten play collections for young people, as well as a multi Green Room Award nominated play, Last Chance Gas, published by Currency Press. Other writing includes screenplays for educational films.
Queen Jane Approximately -Bob Dylan is the first one that comes to mind KD.
My coffee’s gone cold: Australian Crawl
Way I’ve been: Australian Crawl
King sap (and the princess sag): Australian Crawl
Errol: Australian Crawl
Sun King: Beatles
Parade: Roger Daltrey
Ocean breakup/king of the universe: Electric Light Orchestra
Queen of the hours: Electric Light Orchestra
Rock ‘n’ roll is king: Electric Light Orchestra
Dancing bear: Mamas and the Papas
King of the mountain: Midnight Oil
King and queen: Moody Blues
Cherry blossom clinic: The Move
Cherry blossom clinic revisited: The Move
California Man: The Move
Reno: James Reyne
The girl you think you see: Carly Simon
Flowers never bend with the rainfall: Simon and Garfunkel
Goodbye stranger: Supertramp
Television man: Talking Heads
The acid queen: The Who
Thanks, Col, for opening the batting with Dylan’s ‘Queen Jane Approximately’. Of course, Bob is a wonderful friend of this Almanac series of themed songlists.
Thank you, Liam – you’ve really opened with a flourish in terms of our new king/queen theme! Incidentally, ‘Rock n’ Roll Is King’ is just about my favourite ELO song.
KD, some roundabout thinking from me this morning; see if you can follow the thread. Over a long period, your music themed collection has been pure gold in terms of length and breadth of responses. What would the opposite be? And so, naturally (?) I thought of The Hollies with ‘King Midas in reverse’!
Good morning KD & thanks for the new theme.
I’ll open my innings with an obvious but cheeky single
Sex Pistols – God Save The Queen (1977)
God save the Queen
‘Cause tourists are money
And our figurehead
Is not what she seems
Thanks, IJH, for ‘King Midas in Reverse’. Clever, indeed!
Thank you for your cheeky Sex Pistols single, Karl. An excellent choice!
Abba: Dancing Queen
Tom Petty: It’s good to be king
Pogues: 5 green queens and Jean
Pogues: Every man is a king
Sade: Your love is king
Elvis Presley: King Creole
Doors: Crawling king snake
Nice bunch of songs there – thanks, Smokie. (Actually, I meant to include ‘Dancing Queen ‘ in my initial songlist as a good representative example of the theme.)
Kings first
Brilliant Mistake – The Costello Show
“He thought he was the King of America”
The Court of the Crimson King – King Crimson (double points)
Also Sprach The King of Euro Disco – Ed Kuepper
King of Vice – Ed Kuepper
King Horse – Elvis Costello
King Of The Surf – The Trashmen
Kings Of The World – Mississippi
I Must Be King – Jonathan Richman
The King Of Rock and Roll – Prefab Sprout
King Of Birds – REM
Who Wants To Be The Disco King – Wonderstuff
Adelaide – Paul Kelly
“All the King’s horses, all the King’s men, wouldn’t drag me back again”
A few Queens
The Queen Is Dead – Smiths
Glycerine Queen – Suzi Quatro
Gypsy Queen – Country Radio
Like Wow Wipeout – Hoodoo Gurus
“You’ll never be a beauty queen
Won’t feature in no magazine
But you’re the best that’s ever been
I’m glad that I met you”
Penny Lane – Beatles
“And in his pocket is a portrait of the Queen”
Sydney – Skyhooks
“Somewhere in Sydney there’s a lady so pretty
When she crosses the harbour
She’s the Queen of the city”
Flag Day – Housemartins
“It’s a waste of time if you know what they mean
Try shaking a box in front of the queen
’cause her purse is fat and bursting at the seams”
Queen Bitch – Bowie
The KIng is Gone (So Are You), George Jones (Last night I broke the seal on a Jim Beam decanter/That looks like Elvis/I soaked the label off a Flintstone Jelly Bean jar/I cleared us off a place on that/One little table that you left us/And pulled me up a big ole piece of floor/I pulled the head off Elvis/Filled Fred up to his pelvis/Yabba Dabba Doo, the King is gone/And so are you)
The King of Rock’N’Roll, Prefab Spout (Now my rhythm ain’t so hot/But it’s the only friend I’ve got/I’m the king of rock ‘n’ roll completely/All the pretty birds have flown/Now I’m dancing on my own/I’m the king of rock ‘n’ roll completely/Up from, suede shoes, my baby blues/Hot dog, jumping frog, Albuquerque)
From a Jack to a King, Ned Miller (From a Jack to a King/From loneliness to a wedding ring/I played an Ace and I won a Queen/You made me King of your heart)
Aint Got You, Bruce (I got a house full of Rembrandt and priceless art/And all the little girls they wanna tear/me apart/When I walk down the street, people stop and stare/Well you’d think I might be thrilled, but baby, I don’t care/’Cause I got more good luck honey than old King Farouk/But the only thing I ain’t got baby, I ain’t got you)
King Tut, Steve “Crazy Guy” Martin (Dancin’ by the Nile (Disco Tut, Tut)/The ladies love his style (Boss Tut, Tut)/Rockin’ for a mile (Rockin’ Tut, Tut)/He ate a crocodile/He gave his life for tourism (King Tut) … Born in Arizona, moved to Babylonia/He was born in Arizona/Got a condo made of stone-a (King Tut)
Love the separate kings and queens lists, Swish – fine lists in their own right, as well as working very well in a dichotomous sense. Collectively, the two lists also indicate to me that we’re in for a long and interesting ride in terms of this new theme. I never quite know what to expect when I post a new theme piece.
Thanks, Rick, for your excellent initial foray into our new theme – a special nod to the oddball and comic ‘King Tut’, which is typical Steve Martin but I wouldn’t have thought of it in a million years. (Note: Swish already listed the Prefab Sprout song you put forward – but doesn’t the song have a wonderfully outré official video clip?)
Heroes – Bowie
“I, I will be king
And you, you will be queen”
Ballad of a Teenage Queen – Johnny Cash
“Dream on, dream on teenage queen
Saddest girl we’ve ever seen”
Oh Oh I Love Her So – Ramones
“I met her at the Burger King, we fell in love by the soda machine”
Take Down The Union Jack – Billy Bragg
“Is this the 19th century that I’m watching on tv?
The dear old Queen of England handing out those MBEs
Member of the British Empire – that doesn’t sound too good to me”
Hey hey KD!!
A couple of comments, mainly to reinforce my deep appreciation of your music theme series, before I make my next offering to the ‘gods’.
The first ‘bonus’ I get from these theme is when someone references a song or a lyric that for whatever reason hits a very pleasant & unexpected vibration within me. The latest example (& he seems to be good at it) is Swish’s:
Penny Lane – Beatles
“And in his pocket is a portrait of the Queen”
The second ‘bonus’ is that (every 3 weeks or so) it allows me to re-examine Dylan’s 1961 – 2001 (approx 350 song) anthology through a different (theme) lens. It is interesting to see where that leads and to pick up subtle insights that come in handy with my own series of Dylan articles. One song that will feature quite heavily in a future Dylan covers article is:
Ballad In Plain D (1964) – from Another Side Of Bob Dylan
‘And so it did happen like it could have been foreseen
The timeless explosion of fantasy’s dream
At the peak of the night, the king and the queen
Tumbled all down into pieces’
While this is a reference to the final final final ending of the relationship between Dylan and his girlfriend Suze Rotolo; elsewhere in Dylan’s world, Dylan & Joan Baez were often referred to as the King & Queen of folk music.
.
The Acid Queen, The Who and great cover by Tina Turner
Mary Queen of Arkansas, Bruce, maybe one of his weakest songs
My Boy Only Breaks His Favourite Toys, TS (My boy only breaks his favorite toys/I’m queen of sand castles he destroys)
Daydream Believer, The Monkees (Oh what can it mean to be a daydream believer and a homecoming queen)
Tulsa Queen, Emmylou, from one of my fave albums of hers
Sorry, I meant to say it’s a hard agree with Karl re KDs themes, it’s my wordle. Heroes, great pick up by Swish and the Sade song by Smokie, I love that song. I’m a huge fan of the Dylan song CR put in the ring, I reckon the first verse is Bob at his best.
Also, Dead Flowers, The Stones, with the line about thinking she’s the queen of the underground, and it is up there in my fave Stones songs, terrific version by Steve Earle in 1998 at The Corner, or maybe Central Club in Richmond.
I agree with RK re Bruce’s ‘Mary Queen Of Arkansas’ – weak/forced lyrics – although it was off his first album and he was still learning his craft..
A big tick to RK for ‘….and a homecoming queen’ lyric.
Before anyone says ‘how did we miss that one’?….here it is…..
‘If there’s a bustle in your hedgerow, don’t be alarmed now
It’s just a spring clean for the May queen
Yes, there are two paths you can go by, but in the long run
There’s still time to change the road you’re on
And it makes me wonder’
Thanks, Swish, for your latest song selections – what a wonderfully eclectic quartet. Without wishing to anticipate too much, your choice of ‘Ballad of a Teenage Queen’ reminds me of my expectation when initially thinking about our new theme that country songs will feature particularly strongly, as they often make use of ‘king’ and queen’ imagery and language.
So pleased, Karl, about your highly positive words about this thematic series, one that has, of course, been going for a long time now. (I have no intention of ceasing anytime soon.) I’m hoping that, overall, the series helps add to our understanding of popular song – mine as much as anyone else’s – and it certainly appears to be the case from all reports.
Thanks, also, for adding ‘Ballad in Plain D’ and ‘Stairway To Heaven’ to our list.
The B side of Rose Tattoo’s, Bad Boy for Love, was Snow Queen.
I don’t think the subject of this tune would be found in the opulent, tax free, settings we envisage a queen resides in.
Thanks Karl Dubravs for mentioning the obvious one.
Glen!
Thanks, Rick, also, for your kind words about this theme series. Contributors such as you, Karl, Swish, Dave Nadel, Col, Hauser (père et fils), Smokie – and indeed all who contribute, when it comes down to it – have made the series the fine thing it has become.
Thank you, also, for your most recent choices. I agree with Karl that ‘Daydream Believer’ deserves a special nod of approval.
Thanks, Glen, for Rose Tattoo’s ‘Snow Queen’. I certainly value your input, too, in terms of our overall theme series, especially when it comes to your knowledge about the Tatts and Stray Cats.
My My, Hey Hey – Neil Young
“The king is gone but he’s not forgotten
This is the story of Johnny Rotten”
Marie (sic) Provost – Nick Lowe
“Mary Provost did not look her best
The day the cops bust into her loneiy nest
In the cheap hotel up
on Hollywood West July 29
She’d been lyin’ there
for two or three weeks
The neighbors said
they never heard a squeak
For hungry eyes that couid not speak
Said even little doggie’s have got to eat
She was winner
The became the doggie’s dinner
She never meant that much to me
(But now I see) Oh poor Mary
Mary Provost was a movie queen
Mysterious angel of the silent screen
And run like the wind
the nation’s young men steam
When Mary crossed the silent screen
Oh she came out west from New York
But when the talkies came
Mary just couldn’t cope
Her public said Mary take a walk
All the way back to New York
Those twin balms didn’t help her sleep
As her nights grew long
and her days grew bleak
It’s all downhill
once you’ve passed your peak
Mary got ready for that last big sleep
The cops came in
and they looked around
Throwing up everywhere over
what they found
The handywork of Mary’s little dachshund
That hungry little dachshund
Poor Mary, poor Mary, poor poor Mary
Poor Mary”
This theme is made for folk music. Let’s start with some Scottish songs.
Sir Patrick Spens – Traditional (I have heard versions by Ewan MacColl, Jean Redpath, Fairport Convention, and Buffy Sainte Marie)
“The King sits in Dunfermline Town
Drinking the blood red wine
Saying where can I get a good Scots Sailor
To Sail this ship of mine”
The Skye Boat Song – a song from the ’45 Jacobite Uprising (no point in listing a singer, everybody has sung this song, we were taught it in school in the late 50s)
“Speed bonnie boat, like a bird on the wing
Onward! The sailors cry
Carry the lad that?s born to be King
Over the sea to Skye”
Mary Hamilton (also known as The Four Marys) – Joan Baez (I have posted this in an earlier thread)
[Verse 1]
Word is to the kitchen gone
And word is to the hall
And word is up to Madam the Queen
And that’s the worst of all
That Mary Hamilton’s borne a babe
To the highest Stuart of all
‘[Verse 9]
Last night I washed the queen’s feet
Put the gold in her hair
And the only reward I find for this
The gallows to be my share
The Wee German Lairdie – Ewan MacColl (another Jacobite song)
“Wha’ the deil hae we gotten for a king
But a wee, wee German lairdee
And when we gaed to bring him hame
He was delving in his yardie”
Scottish Breakaway – written by Hamish Imlach, popularised by Alex Campbell. A mid sixties song song sending up the royal family
Noo, Scotland hasnae got a king
It has nae got a queen
Cos how can you have a Lillibet the Twa
When the First yins never been
Nay Liz the First, Nay Lillibet the Twa
Nay Liz wiill be our Queen
We’ll mak our land Republican
In a Scottish breakaway
Her husband called the Duke of Edinbrough
He’s one of yon kilted Greeks
But it does not matter what he wears
Cos it’s Lizzie wears the breeks
Her sister Meg’s got a bonnie pair of legs
She wouldnae have a German or a Greek
Rebel Peter was her choice but he did not suit the boys
So they sent him up the creek.
(There’s a few more verses but I m writing from memory rather than published lyrics so the above will have to do)
That’s a few Scottish King and Queen folk songs, Irish and English songs to come next post. I also have pop and country and even at least one light classical to come if others don’t get in first.
When I woke up this morning, this lyric came to me…..
Theme From New York New York (1977) – written by John Kander (music) & John Ebb (lyrics)
Originally sung by Lisa Minelli, but more closely associated with Frank Sinatra’s 1980 cover version
‘Start spreading the news…….
I wanna wake up in that city, that doesn’t sleep
And find I’m king of the hill, top of the list’
And for good measure…a Bob lyric (with plenty more to come):
Gates Of Eden (1965)
‘Relationships of ownership/They whisper in the wings
To those condemned to act accordingly/And wait for succeeding kings
And I try to harmonize with songs/The lonesome sparrow sings
There are no kings inside the Gates of Eden’
Thanks Kev
Has Don McLean’s American Pie been mentioned?
(When the jester sang for the king and queen …)
Also Townes Van Zandt – Mr Mudd and Mr Gold
(Well the wicked king of clubs awoke
And it was to his queen turned …. )
Also the Townes version of Dead Flowers with a nod to Rick K
And the award to possibly the longest song title mentioning royalty goes to –
Long John Baldry – Don’t Try To Lay No Boogie-Woogie On The King of Rock & Roll from the great album
It Ain’t Easy
Thanks, Swish, for your latest two – good songs both. Interestingly, Marie Provost was a movie actress, mainly working in the silent era, who died pretty much destitute – though the song’s version of what her dog did was not true, but based on Kenneth Anger’s well-known, lurid Hollywood Babylon book, known for its various, er, uses of ‘artistic licence’ (I say, euphemistically).
Yes, Dave – I certainly take your point about the extent to which this current theme is suited to folk music. Thank you for your Scottish song choices and the accompanying material. I have a particular interest in things Scottish because a great-great grandfather of mine was from Scotland, born in Stirling, in 1856, who came to Australia as a child. And like you, I was taught ‘Sky Boat Song’ as a schoolkid – for me, it was the early seventies.
Correct spelling, above: ‘Skye Boat Song’, of course!
Thanks, Karl, for your latest pair. Bob makes a typically fine, thematically apt appearance, while ‘New York, New York’ is a particularly good example of an instance when the word ‘king’ is used figuratively, as opposed to literally – ‘king of the hill’.
Thank you, Peter C, for your range of interesting choices – with a special mention to ‘American Pie’, which I thought was an especially good pick-up. I was about to include this song in our list, but you beat me to it.