Maybe my favorite Dan song. No, it isn't as epic or experimental as "Aja" -- it's radio-ready soft rock, maybe even a little Laurel Canyon-ish. But between the percussive piano, dramatic background vocals, and amazing fuzz guitar playing, it has a throbbing, manic tension that I can't help but (gently) bang my head to.
As to the meaning: Richard Lionheart might be there in the verses, but I think we all assume that "King Richard" is allegorical.
I'd be surprised if it was directly about Nixon, in the way that Kid Charlemagne is about Bear Stanley. Don't forget that JFK preceded Nixon, with LBJ in between. But perhaps he did inspire it.
Richard Daley, on the other hand, didn't start his six-term run as mayor of Chicago until 1989. I doubt even Fagen is nerdy enough to have written a song about a DNC backroom boy running for Illinois state government. (Robert Hunter, on the other hand...) And when had he "plundered far and wide?"
Anyway, since so much of the song is about the narrator's experience, no one person strikes me as the subject -- his "subjects" are. More than once, we're shown a group of people pretending to praise a ruler who doesn't deserve it. Richard obviously doesn't, because he let people starve. And "Good" King John has only been king for a day, tops.
So I think it's mostly a song that's about how folks are obliged to carry water for a leader or idea that doesn't warrant it, as with groupthink, or the "The Emperor's New Clothes."
Moreover, and I think this is the true point of the song, there's a sense of resignation about all this, like it's just another day at the office. "Roll out the bones!" Wheel that damn corpse out here so we can toast him and go home. These arrows aren't going to fletch themselves. (Or, if you like, "Pick up my guitar and play / Just like yesterday"...)
So, in my view, even if it was about Nixon running for re-election in '72, it's still not so much direct satire as an ode to political malaise.
also, while it's still on my mind, another theory: Imagine that you're Fagen in '72. You consider yourself a beat, but in the music scenes of NYC & LA, you're surrounded by hippies who are anti-Nixon and hoping he'll lose the election. "Kings" is the rebuttal -- in essence, who cares who sits on the throne? You'll still be a serf.
also, while it's still on my mind, another theory: Imagine that you're Fagen in '72. You consider yourself a beat, but in the music scenes of NYC & LA, you're surrounded by hippies who are anti-Nixon and hoping he'll lose the election. "Kings" is the rebuttal -- in essence, who cares who sits on the throne? You'll still be a serf.
@jmc1 ...and I also just read that Nixon was actually named after Richard Lionheart. That cements it being about Nixon for me. But I definitely think this song is, in addition to being a criticism of him, a criticism of the folks who thought a potential defeat of Nixon in '72 would somehow bring about utopia.
@jmc1 ...and I also just read that Nixon was actually named after Richard Lionheart. That cements it being about Nixon for me. But I definitely think this song is, in addition to being a criticism of him, a criticism of the folks who thought a potential defeat of Nixon in '72 would somehow bring about utopia.
And it is hard to see how things would have gone much differently, at least in Vietnam, since the peace accords were signed not long after Nixon's re-election.
And it is hard to see how things would have gone much differently, at least in Vietnam, since the peace accords were signed not long after Nixon's re-election.
I've already written too much about this song, but will also add this: if McGovern is in some sense "Good King John" -- it's interesting to note that he did have a huge part to play in the reforming of the DNC process, and that in 1972 those reforms created seats at the table for the anti-war movement, gay rights' advocates, and others. So maybe it's not fair to compare the US to a monarchy after all.
@jmc1 Richard M Daley was a nobody compared to his father, Richard J Daley. I had originally thought the song was about him, except that his successor was Michael Bilandic (I lived in Chicago in 1977-78). The lyrics certainly match the character of "The Boss" as he was known.
@jmc1 Richard M Daley was a nobody compared to his father, Richard J Daley. I had originally thought the song was about him, except that his successor was Michael Bilandic (I lived in Chicago in 1977-78). The lyrics certainly match the character of "The Boss" as he was known.
Maybe my favorite Dan song. No, it isn't as epic or experimental as "Aja" -- it's radio-ready soft rock, maybe even a little Laurel Canyon-ish. But between the percussive piano, dramatic background vocals, and amazing fuzz guitar playing, it has a throbbing, manic tension that I can't help but (gently) bang my head to.
As to the meaning: Richard Lionheart might be there in the verses, but I think we all assume that "King Richard" is allegorical.
I'd be surprised if it was directly about Nixon, in the way that Kid Charlemagne is about Bear Stanley. Don't forget that JFK preceded Nixon, with LBJ in between. But perhaps he did inspire it.
Richard Daley, on the other hand, didn't start his six-term run as mayor of Chicago until 1989. I doubt even Fagen is nerdy enough to have written a song about a DNC backroom boy running for Illinois state government. (Robert Hunter, on the other hand...) And when had he "plundered far and wide?"
Anyway, since so much of the song is about the narrator's experience, no one person strikes me as the subject -- his "subjects" are. More than once, we're shown a group of people pretending to praise a ruler who doesn't deserve it. Richard obviously doesn't, because he let people starve. And "Good" King John has only been king for a day, tops.
So I think it's mostly a song that's about how folks are obliged to carry water for a leader or idea that doesn't warrant it, as with groupthink, or the "The Emperor's New Clothes."
Moreover, and I think this is the true point of the song, there's a sense of resignation about all this, like it's just another day at the office. "Roll out the bones!" Wheel that damn corpse out here so we can toast him and go home. These arrows aren't going to fletch themselves. (Or, if you like, "Pick up my guitar and play / Just like yesterday"...)
So, in my view, even if it was about Nixon running for re-election in '72, it's still not so much direct satire as an ode to political malaise.
also, while it's still on my mind, another theory: Imagine that you're Fagen in '72. You consider yourself a beat, but in the music scenes of NYC & LA, you're surrounded by hippies who are anti-Nixon and hoping he'll lose the election. "Kings" is the rebuttal -- in essence, who cares who sits on the throne? You'll still be a serf.
also, while it's still on my mind, another theory: Imagine that you're Fagen in '72. You consider yourself a beat, but in the music scenes of NYC & LA, you're surrounded by hippies who are anti-Nixon and hoping he'll lose the election. "Kings" is the rebuttal -- in essence, who cares who sits on the throne? You'll still be a serf.
@jmc1 ...and I also just read that Nixon was actually named after Richard Lionheart. That cements it being about Nixon for me. But I definitely think this song is, in addition to being a criticism of him, a criticism of the folks who thought a potential defeat of Nixon in '72 would somehow bring about utopia.
@jmc1 ...and I also just read that Nixon was actually named after Richard Lionheart. That cements it being about Nixon for me. But I definitely think this song is, in addition to being a criticism of him, a criticism of the folks who thought a potential defeat of Nixon in '72 would somehow bring about utopia.
And it is hard to see how things would have gone much differently, at least in Vietnam, since the peace accords were signed not long after Nixon's re-election.
And it is hard to see how things would have gone much differently, at least in Vietnam, since the peace accords were signed not long after Nixon's re-election.
I've already written too much about this song, but will also add this: if McGovern is in some sense "Good King John" -- it's interesting to note that he did have a huge part to play in the reforming of the DNC process, and that in 1972 those reforms created seats at the table for the anti-war movement, gay rights' advocates, and others. So maybe it's not fair to compare the US to a monarchy after all.
@jmc1 Richard M Daley was a nobody compared to his father, Richard J Daley. I had originally thought the song was about him, except that his successor was Michael Bilandic (I lived in Chicago in 1977-78). The lyrics certainly match the character of "The Boss" as he was known.
@jmc1 Richard M Daley was a nobody compared to his father, Richard J Daley. I had originally thought the song was about him, except that his successor was Michael Bilandic (I lived in Chicago in 1977-78). The lyrics certainly match the character of "The Boss" as he was known.