I Had A King
by Joni Mitchell
I had a king in a tenement castle
Lately he's taken to painting the pastel walls brown
He's taken the curtains down
He's swept with the broom of contempt
And the rooms have an empty ring
He's cleaned with the tears
Of an actor who fears for the laughter's sting
I can't go back there anymore
You know my keys won't fit the door
You know my thoughts don't fit the man
They never can they never can
I had a king dressed in drip-dry and paisley
Lately he's taken to saying I'm crazy and blind
He lives in another time
Ladies in gingham still blush
While he sings them of wars and wine
But I in my leather and lace
I can never become that kind
I can't go back there anymore
You know my keys won't fit the door
You know my thoughts don't fit the man
They never can they never can
I had a king in a salt-rusted carriage
Who carried me off to his country for marriage too soon
Beware of the power of moons
There's no one to blame
No there's no one to name as a traitor here
The king's on the road
And the queen's in the grove till the end of the year
I can't go back there anymore
You know my keys won't fit the door
You know my thoughts don't fit the man
They never can they never can
© February 9, 1968; Siquomb Publishing Co
Transcriptions of I Had A King
- Guitar tablature by Jared White
- Guitar chords by Mia Ortlieb
- Guitar tablature by Howard Wright
Piano Transcriptions of I Had A King
- by Michael Dunn
I Had A King has been recorded by 48 other artists
- 2Tone(-)
- Alberstein, Chava (-)
- Alony, Efrat (from "A Kit for Mending Thoughts"-2012)
- Barbeau, Adrienne(from "True Companion"-1998)
- Big Yellow Taxi(from "A Tribute To Joni Mitchell"-2002)
- Black Crow(-2019)
- Buckley, Betty(from "Heart to Heart"-2000)
- Casale, Rossana(from "Joni"-2022)
- Colin Steele Quartet(from "Joni: Jazz Interpretations of the Joni Mitchell Songbook"-2020)
- Elliot, Cass(-1968)
- ENiid(from "A Celebration of Joni Mitchell; songs by & for her + stories"-2015)
- Evancho, Jackie(from "The Carousel of Time"-2022)
- Faulkner, Lisa(from "Hearth"-2004)
- Florencio Cruz Quartet(from "Alarò Sessions, Vol. 1"-2024)
- Hanco*ck, Herbie(from "River - The Joni Letters"-2007)
- Hartman, Patresa (from "Digital Single"-2022)
- Hedin, Gunilla(-)
- Henning Olsen Band(from "A Tribute Minus Mitchell"-2004)
- Irma Schultz Keller(from "Blank is sånger av Joni Mitchell "-2010)
- Jasmine Lovell-Smith's Towering Poppies(from "Yellow Red Blue"-2016)
- Kräutler, Simon (from "Mitchell Meets Waits "-2014)
- Martin, Gail(from "single"-1968)
- Mills, Josie(-2008)
- Moss, Ann(from "Now I Am"-2024)
- Omilian, Nina (from "(Pure)"-2014)
- Otero, Florencia(from "Nocturno Mundo (Músicas de Joni Mitchell)"-2012)
- Pallemaerts, Dré (from "Pan Harmonie"-2007)
- Piano Project(from "Piano Tribute to Joni Mitchell"-2021)
- Porteus, Barbara(from "Barbara Porteus"-2009)
- Puglia, Lara(from "Heart and Mind: Tribute to Joni Mitchell "-2014)
- Redman, Joshua(from "Timeless Tales (For Changing Times)"-1998)
- Renzo Jazz(-)
- Robin, Julia(from "Digital Single"-2023)
- Rommerts, Marjolijne(from "...een vrouw"-1971)
- Santing, Mathilde(from "Mathilde 'Choosy' Santing Live"-1996)
- Santing, Mathilde(from "Both Sides Now"-2016)
- Sieja, Dennis(from "Found Objects"-2019)
- The G-Stringers(from "The G-Stringers"-1969)
- The Kim Richmond & Kimberly Ford Ensemble(from "A Tribute to Joni Mitchell and Herbie Hanco*ck"-2017)
- Tilmann Höhn, Annette Marquard, & Kate Nelson (from "Circle Games"-2009)
- Toot Sweet(from "humans expressing themselves unabashedly"-2020)
- Turid(from "Bilder"-1973)
- Under The Sky(-)
- Urban, Robert(-2013)
- Werner, Kenny(from "Me, Myself & I"-2012)
- Werner, Kenny(from "Patricia Barber & Kenny Werner Live In Concert"-2011)
- Wertz, Stephane (from "Interlude"-2017)
- Wundrock, Tracy(from "Sea Dreams - A Tribute to Joni Mitchell"-2013)
- [more information on recordings by other artists]
Comments:
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georgecobbold on :
Not many artists can start this strong. This song is beyond beauty x
phenry on :
a song from that album that really sparked for me was "I Had A King"... immediately I remembered the afternoon when Joni was hanging at the Cellar, rehearsing and working on her writing... by way of explaining to me, the guy who booked the artists to play the weekends, why she had booked herself without Chuck. There is much emotional content in that song which really made sense but the most striking thing was regarding when she said to me that various venues around the circuit had started requesting Joni alone to play and so the end result was that at that point she and Chuck were already booked in advance at separate different clubs far in advance and wouldn't even be in the same city for the next year! If you know the song at all you already know where I'm heading with this... of all the lyrics in this most powerful song the most cryptic is "The king's on the road and the queen's in the grove till the end of the year" ...wow.
