keh leh feh

I woke up today thinking about what makes “A King and a Queen” a good song.

The first thing that came to my mind was the closing verse.

“But the best thing for you would be queen, so be queen. You’re all that I need. Though I know that it never can be, I’d be pleased to post your decrees, to fall at your knees, to name all your streets and to sit down and weep when you’re carried back through them and set down to sleep, and to lie by your side for sublime centuries (until we crumble to dust when we’re crushed by a single sunbeam)”

It’s true for the entire song as well, but the central rhyme is most apparent here. The rhyme is the long e. “Queen”, “need”, “be”, “pleased”, “decrees”, “knees”, “streets”, “weep”, “sleep”, “centuries”, “sunbeam”. It’s repeated in short bursts, echoing in each line in an anapaest. There’s a great sense of comforting regularity and progression.

And then there’s also the poetic imagery. Of course, there’s this line:

“Be the princess in that stone tower, crying for that handsome butcher’s plight. And as some princess might she still calls him a knight”

It’s a striking imagery, and the brass crescendo in the background puts a spotlight on it. But truth be told I don’t love this line. It has an accusational tone to it.

I think more importantly it’s the progression of imagery of what the narrator wants her to be:

1. Be a little sheep
2. Be hands holding a knife / be a being of two feet
3. Be a princess in that stone tower
4. But the best thing… be queen

It sounds like the narrator is asking for her to grow. Especially in “be a being of two feet” — he’s asking her to stand upright. Don’t just be the sheep, but be someone with a weapon.

There’s also the idea of moving from being a victim - “learning who’ll shear and who’ll feed”, “the hands come and they leave”, “in the stone tower”, “handsome butcher”, contrasted with the final idea that “the best thing” is to “be queen”. He’s saying the best thing for her is to move from being a victim to become in power, to be in control.

The final lies are full of affection, but it’s especially interesting because it gets you thinking about who the narrator is. Interestingly, the song is titled A King and a Queen, and not simply Queen. The one saying all of this is a King. So the one who would submit, kneel, carry out her instructions, and lie by her side is the King. Although there are hints of an accusational, instructional tone in the song, ultimately he wants her to grow and be powerful — not just his equal, but someone whom he will gladly serve, and die together in a fairy-tale ending. It’s a remarkable metaphor.

There’s a few more interesting things in the song but I won’t explore them here:

1. From “be a little sheep” to “be hands holding a knife”, isn’t he asking her to become a butcher herself?
2. “With his heart trembling, butchering for a king he believes in though he’s never seen” — what does this mean? The gender switches and his heart is trembling. Is the king in this line the same king as the final lines? Or is this king a religious figure?
3. What is the significance of the opening lines? There’s a “dark dress” and “make a scene”, and “don’t lie on your bed … honey you’re murdering me” — the first accusation?
4. Why does he say “and though it never can be”? So he thinks this princess is never able to become a queen, and it is only a fantasy?
5. It’s interesting that the final line has a doomed image: they’re “crumbled to dust”, but at the same time it’s uplifting, “in a single sunbeam”. What does that mean?