Kings Can Keep It

“Kings Can Keep It”, a Hello Doggo recording.

Tempo: 145 BPM

Song, lyrics, recording and artwork: CC0 1.0.

Kings Can Keep It — release page

I was down in the numbers
Down where nobody calls
Counting every door
That opened for somebody else

Luck had its hands in other pockets
Praise went walking past my name
I threw my pain at a silent sky
And wore my want like rain

I wanted his friends
I wanted her chance
I wanted one sweet little break
I had my own good life in my hands
And still could feel it ache

Then one thought of you
Came cutting through
Like a wren on a wire

Kings can keep it
Keep the crown
Keep the bright parade downtown
I was low, I was lost
I was sick of my own skin
Then your love came back to me
And I rose up again
Kings can keep it
Kings can keep it
I would not trade this in

I know the taste of comparison
Metal on the tongue
I know the sad little prayer
That wants another life begun

Give me his reach
Give me that face
Give me that seat at the top
The more I named what I did not have
The more my breath got stopped

Then one thought of you
Came breaking through
Like a coal catching fire

Kings can keep it
Keep the crown
Keep the bright parade downtown
I was low, I was lost
I was sick of my own skin
Then your love came back to me
And I rose up again
Kings can keep it
Kings can keep it
I would not trade this in

No throne, no gold
No borrowed name
No richer coat
No better game
Just your hand once holding mine
And my poor old world turned fine

Kings can keep it
Keep the crown
Keep the bright parade downtown
Let them count what they can hold
Let them call it everything
I was dust under my own boots
Then I heard that lark sing
Kings can keep it
Kings can keep it
I would not trade this in

Inspired by Shakespeare’s Sonnet 29.