King Strut

(Blegvad/Partridge)

King Strut & Other Stories

Recordings Art Lyrics Chords and Tablature

Recordings

1. Album version.
   Co-written by Peter Blegvad and Andy Partridge.
   Performed by Peter Blegvad.
   Released in July 1990 on the Peter Blegvad album King Strut & Other Stories in the U.K.

2. Reprise.
   Performed by Peter Blegvad.
   Released in July 1990 on the Peter Blegvad album King Strut & Other Stories in the U.K.
   Peter Blegvad - vocal, acoustic guitar & harmonica
   Andy Partridge - everything else

3. demo excerpt with Andy Partridge.
   Performed by Peter Blegvad and Andy Partridge.
   Released in 1990 on the Peter Blegvad sampler Peter Who? in the U.K.

4. 2nd demo excerpt with Andy Partridge.
   Performed by Peter Blegvad and Andy Partridge.
   Released in 1990 on the Peter Blegvad sampler Peter Who? in the U.K.

5. demo excerpt with Anthony Moore.
   Performed by Peter Blegvad and Anthony Moore.
   Released in 1990 on the Peter Blegvad sampler Peter Who? in the U.K.

6. Acoustic version.
   Performed by Peter Blegvad.
   Released in 2001 on the Peter Blegvad retrospective Choices Under Pressure in the U.K.

7. Live version.
   Performed by Peter Blegvad with Michael Penn's band on 3 March 1990 at The Roxy Theatre, West Hollywood.
   Released on 12 February 2010 on the Ape Loves Haiti digital download charity compilation in the U.K.

Art

King Strut single

Meantime single

Peter Who?

Lyrics

King Strut was just a baby back in 1951
His howls woke the neighborhood, they had his parents done
For negligence or cruelty, I forget which one
And the state took custody of their sickly son
Well, no one ever dreamed that one day he'd become King Strut

Short of temper, highly-strung, with a shadow on his lung
King Strut flew off the handle if his vanity was stung
He could cut a foe to pieces using nothing but his tongue
And a technical vocabulary vast for one so young
Throughout the noisy orphanage, his name was widely sung, King Strut

Imagination, like a muscle, will increase with exercise
King Strut developed his by having dreams and telling lies
He'd describe a situation or a piece of merchandise
He could summon it from nothing to appear before your eyes
Who was that masked man? Why was he in disguise? King Strut

Now a man without a moral code is just an appetite
King Strut was on a diet growing luminous by eating light
He'd left the institution under cover of the night
And was looking for employment, answering to Dwight
Sleeping in a doorway, minus 20 Fahrenheit, King Strut
His Majesty, Dwight Strut

Yeah, he sheltered under cardboard, above a subway vent
And one night took in the victim of a suspicious accident
As dawn came up he knew the man's death was imminent
The man called out a number, King Strut asked him what it meant
It meant the man had something valuable he wanted to present King Strut

Some say it was a diamond, like the crown jewel Koh-i-noor
Or a talisman empowered by an ancient conjurer
A hot tip or a claim check, no one knows for sure
All we know is King Strut changed overnight from being poor to being an
authority
Philanthropist, connoisseur who paid for what he wanted with a simple
signature, King Strut

Yeah, he paid to house the homeless, they worked for him to pay their rents
And they recruited others to help spread his influence
He fed a hundred million hungry at his own expense
Popes and potentates applied and were denied an audience
"He's got too damn many dollars", they said, "not enough sense"
King Strut

Now man believes his dreams are real, he's said to be deranged
His dreams are compensation for the things he cannot change
A man can be in slavery, he doesn't have to be in chains
He's waving out the window, the infirmary's in flames
But instead of crying "Fire", he pronounced the name of names
King Strut

[transcribed by Erich Sellheim]

Chords and Tablature

[YOUR CONTRIBUTION GOES HERE]

Go back to XTC Reel by Real.