So, we’ve made it to the letter K in my musical trek through the alphabet inspired by Jackie over at Ambling & Rambling.

If you want to catch up with the rest of the class, just click on my Musical A to Z tag and you can see what we’ve been alphabetically inclined to sing about up until now.

But now?

It’s time to let you in on a secret.

Blythe, my moody musical dolly, here?

Super ambitious.

She doesn’t talk about it much.

Because she’s a girl and all, so she’s been socialized not to do that.

But sometimes, in her eyes, you can see that glint of blind ambition ….

…. that drive for POWER.

And really, who wouldn’t want to be:

King for a Day – Thompson Twins (1985)

I discovered this song in my (mid-1990s) teens on a mixed “Hits of 1985” cassette I found in a second-hand store and as soon as my thoughts turned to kings in song, my mind went here.  It’s just such a happy song, what with him giving it all up for love.

As for Blythe?  Yup.  You can just see the hunger in her eyes up there for something she can’t get at all.

Almost makes you want to become king for a day, so you can give it all away just to be with her, doesn’t it?

No?

Fine.  Why don’t you take your heart of steel and go become:

King of New Orleans – Better Than Ezra (1996)

This one was big my first year of university, so I always associate it with that stage of life.  As for wanting to be King of New Orleans?  A quick listen will probably land you firmly on no.  As far as I can figure, and confirmed by a basic quick and extremely cursory Google search in which I located one anonymous comment about the song which I will now cite from as though it’s from Rolling Stone (I can’t think why a career in journalism never panned out for me) it is

about the homeless or runaway or otherwise rebellious teenagers who live on the streets of the French Quarter (of New Orleans). Seen as a blight on the city by its more well-to-do residents, they are a true subculture in themselves … The “King” is a personification of all the gutter punks, for they truly do see themselves collectively as the ‘Kings of New Orleans.”

As for Blythe, I just feel all queasy when I think she might have ended up with the other Kings trying to make twenty dollars before the weekend’s over if I hadn’t given her a home and gainful employment over here on the successful sensation that is Baby Gates Down.

I’d say her gig over here on my wonderblog is better than what this guy’s doing right now:

King of Spain – Moxy Fruvous – 1992

I was in my early high school years when this one hit and owned the album on cassette.  When I was seventeen I even saw them live and got their autographs.  I know.  The King of Spain’s autograph!  The poster they signed hung in my bedroom until I finally moved out of my parents’ house.  It’s currently somewhere in our storage room.

But random fun facts on this song, which I have always love, courtesy of Wikipedia?  It’s apparently the second independent Canadian song to hit number one in Canada (after Barenaked Ladies’ ‘Be My Yoko Ono’).

I must admit, there are many times, when I experience slower than usual service somewhere that, because of this song, I remind myself that “slower pizza’s more luscious (the King of Spain never rushes!).”

But for the purposes of the stream of thought on this post?  Blythe is currently wondering if royalty is, like, totally out?  Is monarchy a dated concept that we should do away with?  Does NO ONE want to be king?

What?  Cool!  This guy does:

King of World – Dan Bern (1997)

Wait…. he wants to ship us all to China so he can hang out alone at the mall naked with his girlfriend watching movies and eating Cinnabons?

According to the song they “elected” him king of the world.  Which is nice and all.  You’ll be happy to know he doesn’t need you to bow down. But it might be nice if you kiss his feet and call him ‘all knowing leader of men’.

“So let it be written
Your highness.
So let it be done.”

I am the king.
The king of the world.
It could have been you.
But it’s me.

Let this just be a lesson to all of you who don’t vote.

Before leaving King Dan, alone at the mall in all his cinnamon-covered naked glory, I just wanted to say he is one of my favourite folk singers.  This isn’t one of his better known songs (and the only video I could find, which leads me to think I should start playing around with You Tube), but I’ve featured some of his stuff before on this blog here and here, if you want to see some more (as in, ACTUAL videos).

But we should wind this up.  Apparently no one save Dan actually wants to be king, which leaves us to ask: who should we empower?

I’m going to go with the kids in this video:

Kings and Queens – Audio Adrenaline (2012)

So this is yet another example of a song I didn’t know about until I started searching YouTube based on a specific theme (eg: Kings).  Audio Adrenaline is a Christian Rock Band (a genre I know very little about) formed in the 1980s which took a break and then got back together a few years back and came out with the album featuring this song.

The reference to “the least of these” is to Matthew 25:40 which is:

The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

The song is inspired by the band’s work with the Hands and Feet Project, a ministry to Haitian orphans.

For me?  Aside from thinking the song – and visuals in the video were both beautiful and powerful – it brought me back to being a child watching the ads from World Vision asking people to sponsor a child for (back then) “less than a dollar a day”.  I always said to myself when I grew up I’d do it.

I give to a number of charities and I believe in all of them.

And while I have given in someone’s memory to World Vision, I haven’t done this.

I’m starting to think it might be time to honour 9-year-old me who watched and didn’t understand how life was too “complicated” to just “fix” this.  I think it might be something I’ll do with my daughters.

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So that’s my musical musings for this week.  Blythe up there would love a comment and, if you liked this – or the blog in general, I’d love if you quickly clicked on the link below to show a blogger a little love.

Until next time, may we ALL – at least once in a while – get to be Kings and Queens.