Graham Parker - When I Was King Lyrics

When I was king I was not really the man I am now
I was like anyone sitting on a throne made out of china
When I was king I had already abdicated
Already melted my crown down to sell as scrap

But they'd run the first run of stamps
People had cashed in their post office savings
To buy some and lick the back of my neck
I just let them get on with it, arrange the coronation

I just didn't turn up, I just didn't turn up

You became queen to a regime of fixed ideas
The subjects just outlines like figures in a shadow cabinet
And then we ruled over some green and pleasant land
With a frog and a princess not necessarily in that order

But if you want it to be, what you want it to be
You'll have to dethrone me or have me decapitated
I didn't want to be king anyway, I always preferred to hang out
With the servants, the servants when I was king

When I was king there was no country left to rule
Jesters and fools were leaders all of them a royal pain
Now I'm a serf but I'm still trying to be a king
But putting the crown on is like putting a silk purse on a sow's ear

And if I want it to be like I want it to be
I'll have to assassinate someone with a guitar as a gun
On it's good to be king, I know that I've been there
Many, many, many, many kingdoms ago when I was King

When I, when I, when I
When I, when I, when I
When I, when I, when I
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