The King in the Tree Songtext
von Shriekback

There′s the Huns at the gate
They don't look like they′re messing
Why don't you turn your face to the wall if you find it distressing?
You can shiver in fear
Feel the heat of the moment
Then go ratchet it up in the sun as a kind of atonement
You can howl for the moon
With your feet in the water
You can flatten the corn in the rain with the clergyman's daughter
And the schlock of the new
There′s no rise to the bait
Why should we work with the kind of old fools who can′t recalibrate?

See the king in the tree
He's as mad as a bone
Holy and crazy and horribly sad
Better just leave him alone
The king in the tree
The king in the tree


Got to get through the day
But it′s never that simple
An epiphany, so they say, is like lancing a pimple
File it under "degraded"
Get you down if you let it
All of that wonderful animal grace, don't let′s live to regret it
It's a classic mistake
Bringing water to Venice
Out on the Lido, down on the lake, there′s an aura of menace
Secret words of the world
Are engulf and devour
Why is all this tyrannical shit in the soul of a flower?

See the king in the tree
He's a sign of the times
Screaming away in the dead of the night
With the terrors of his crimes
The king in the tree
He's been up there for days
Eating silent and scaring the birds
With the seas and terrible waves
The king in the tree


In the tango tree sits the mad old king
And the night is long
And the night is cold
And he howls with rage
At the rats and crows
And he won′t come down
And he won′t come down
In tango tree sits the mad old king
And the night is long
And the night is cold
And he howls with rage
At the rats and crows
And he won't come down
And he won′t come down
In tango tree sits the mad old king
And the night is long
And the night is cold
And he howls with rage
At the rats and crows
And he won't come down
And he won′t come down
And he won't come down
And he won′t come down