Sun King (2:26)
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Listening now: stevenbconrad
“Sun King” is a song by The Beatles that appeared on the Abbey Road album. It is the second song of the B-side’s climactic medley.
The working title was “Here Comes the Sun King”, but was shortened to “Sun King” to avoid confusion with the song “Here Comes the Sun”. The lyrics to start the song are the same as the title and lyrics of “Here Comes the Sun”, but with the word “King” inserted afterwards, although George Harrison wrote the former and “Sun King” is written by John Lennon. Later, the song, in minor key with an organ in the background, breaks into a faux Romance language mixing English, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese. The song is in three-part harmony, sung by Lennon, Paul McCartney, and Harrison. At the end of the song, the music stops abruptly and a Ringo Starr drum fill leads into the next track, “Mean Mr. Mustard”.
The faux mixing of Romance languages occurs in the last three lines of the song. In 1969, Lennon was interviewed about these lyrics and said, “We just started joking, you know, singing ‘quando para mucho.’ So we just made up… Paul knew a few Spanish words from school, you know. So we just strung any Spanish words that sounded vaguely like something. And of course we got ‘chicka ferdy’ in. That’s a Liverpool expression. Just like sort of— it doesn’t mean anything to me but (childish taunting) ‘na-na, na-na-na!’”
Paul McCartney recalled that one of the expressions that he meant to include was “Los Paranoias”, a name by which he and Lennon would refer to The Beatles. A version of McCartney playing with this theme was released on Anthology 3.
The working title was “Here Comes the Sun King”, but was shortened to “Sun King” to avoid confusion with the song “Here Comes the Sun”. The lyrics to start the song are the same as the title and lyrics of “Here Comes the Sun”, but with the word “King” inserted afterwards, although George Harrison wrote the former and “Sun King” is written by John Lennon. Later, the song, in minor key with an organ in the background, breaks into a faux Romance language mixing English, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese. The song is in three-part harmony, sung by Lennon, Paul McCartney, and Harrison. At the end of the song, the music stops abruptly and a Ringo Starr drum fill leads into the next track, “Mean Mr. Mustard”.
The faux mixing of Romance languages occurs in the last three lines of the song. In 1969, Lennon was interviewed about these lyrics and said, “We just started joking, you know, singing ‘quando para mucho.’ So we just made up… Paul knew a few Spanish words from school, you know. So we just strung any Spanish words that sounded vaguely like something. And of course we got ‘chicka ferdy’ in. That’s a Liverpool expression. Just like sort of— it doesn’t mean anything to me but (childish taunting) ‘na-na, na-na-na!’”
Paul McCartney recalled that one of the expressions that he meant to include was “Los Paranoias”, a name by which he and Lennon would refer to The Beatles. A version of McCartney playing with this theme was released on Anthology 3.
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Rare photos of some of the most successful bands of the 1960s and 1970s.
The people featured in this film are (in order):
Bob Dylan with Jake
Mick Jagger
Karen Carpenter
Jimi Hendrix and his…
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The people featured in this film are (in order):
Bob Dylan with Jake
Mick Jagger
Karen Carpenter
Jimi Hendrix and his…
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Albums featuring this track
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Abbey Road
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Shouts
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johnny7gun wrote:
cumgum.....i only ever skip Revolution 9.....anyone that says it is not complete tripe,is deluding themselves....
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johnny7gun wrote:
shinohiro929.....i can see how....
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Retro_Saiyan wrote:
I like this a lot.
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shinohiro929 wrote:
how can I confuse this with "Because"?
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todd2 wrote:
crickets
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cumgum wrote:
i hate people that skip this song.
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vlov wrote:
Well, when I first heard it, it was 10 years ago and I hated it immediatly. And years didn't change anything so... But let's wait and see, maybe you're right :)
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tomkash wrote:
haha weird i also hated this song but now i love it :) cant have the melody without it!
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WiJoCo wrote:
vlov, I felt that same way YEARS ago, when I first heard it, but I'll tell you it grew on me so much. There's no Beatles song (after Rubber Soul) that I don't like.
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vlov wrote:
it must be the only Beatles song I don't like
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doodlebugs-91 wrote:
really relaxing tune
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scarboro wrote:
Here comes the sun, king.
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axbesm_starr wrote:
such a blissful song. but i don't like that cricket noise.
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Retro_Saiyan wrote:
I always confuse this with "Because".
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shinji03 wrote:
Quando para mucho mi amore de felice corazón.. Mundo paparazzi mi amore chicka ferdy parasol.. Presto OBRIGADO tanta mucho Kay can eat it carousel.. I fkin love that part!
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jemptymethod wrote:
The crickets remind me of Pink Floyd's Grantchester Meadows
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bunnykisses wrote:
it is not "que canite carousel", its k (or kaye) can eat it carousel, in john lennon's humor "cake and eat it, carousel", much like snore wife and some several dwarts humor...for the people who have no idea what im talking about, you need to read some more of john lennon's writings and get to know him better.
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squiggins wrote:
They were so on when they made this album.
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colorfuldreams wrote:
everybody's laughing, everybody's happy... ok
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jaigurudevaom_ wrote:
bedtime music. :)
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stevenbconrad
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Recent Activity
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geofdog added Sun King to their Loved Tracks. yesterday evening
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LastSoeri added Sun King to LastSoeri’s library. yesterday afternoon
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LastSoeri added Sun King to the playlist Beatles. yesterday afternoon
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Lady_Elaine added Sun King to her Loved Tracks. yesterday afternoon
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Lady_Elaine tagged Sun King with ‘soulsongs’. yesterday afternoon
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chunkyman39 added Sun King to his Loved Tracks. yesterday morning
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jtruex3, FARMusic and sgtjack added The Beatles – Sun King to their libraries. yesterday morning
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StarberryX1337, cappel95, joseperezcuervo and 2 other people loved The Beatles – Sun King. Friday morning
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pandalove59 and OmniAnton added The Beatles – Sun King to their libraries. Thursday morning
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pandalove59 added Sun King to the playlist Abbey Road. Thursday morning
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