When I was King I was not really the man I am now
I was like anyone sitting on a throne made out of china
When I was king I had already abdicated
Already melted my crown down to sell as scrap
But they'd run the first run of stamps
People had cashed in their post office savings
To buy some and lick the back of my neck
I just let them get on with it arrange the coronation
I just didn't turn up, I just didn't turn up

You became Queen to a regime of fixed ideas 
The subjects just outlines like figures in a shadow cabinet 
And then we ruled over some green and pleasant land 
With a frog and a princess not necessarily in that order

But if you want it to be What you want it to be 
You'll have to dethrone me or have me decapitated 
I didn't want to be King anyway I always preferred to hang out 
with the servants, the servants
When I was King
When I was King there was no country left to rule 
Jesters and fools were leaders all of them a royal pain 
Now I'm a serf but I'm still trying to be a king 
But putting the crown on is like putting a silk purse on a sow's ear 
And if I want it to be Like I want it to be 
I'll have to assassinate someone with a guitar as a gun 
On it's good to be King I know that I've been there
Many, many, many, many kingdoms ago When I was King

Repeat when I when I