“King of the World”—last song, side two of Countdown to Ecstasy (1973)

I don't know why this isn't one of my favorite Steely Dan songs, seeing how it's called King of the World, and it has a nice build to it, a nice feel, and there's a really weird bridge, kind of double bridge, or triple, actually—there's an instrumental part, then a really weird part (kind of a sound collage), and then more of a classic bridge part. I guess the thing that bugs me is the instrumental part, which is this simple little synthesizer thing that's after the second chorus, that's either the first part of the bridge, or leads to the bridge. Kind of strange, because you could cut that whole thing out and you'd still have the song—and an infinitely better song, in my opinion. Of course, that's just my opinion. I imagine for a lot of people, that synthesizer thing is essentially the hook in this song. Not for me. It's the opposite of a hook. Sorry, it's hard to describe this thing in words, you'd have to listen to it, and I'm sure many of you would say, “I love that part.” That's okay, I understand, but to me it's like a musical fart, or a stain, or an off flavor. The best I can describe it is to say it reminds me of a cheap jingle, or the annoying theme song of a cheapo TV production. You feel like it should be followed by an ad for breakfast cereal. Anyway, as it stands, that instrumental part both leads into the bridge and then comes in again after the last chorus and just keeps repeating into the fadeout, so it ends up being the defining element of this song, and so it leaves me with a bad taste, and what's worse, since it's the last song on the album, leaves the whole record on a bad note.

The lyrics have a pleasing sound and flow to them—short alternating rhyming lines in the verse, and longer lines in the chorus. They sound like they probably make sense and tell a story, but when you look at them closely, what are they about, really? It's another story narrated by some fringe character from a romantic distant land in some kind of hardboiled situation. It's both too general and too specific to know exactly what the deal is unless you get the direct references, which I don't, so I'm content to leave it at that, until the day I connect the lyrics to their source. One clue, though, and the most compelling detail to me, is a reference to marigolds, the flower, and though I don't know the specific reference, I looked up something about marigolds and their symbolism. That was worth a laugh. There's a list as long as your arm about what marigolds represent. Some of it's good, some of it's bad... so I guess the only way to know what they represent, in each case, is by the context—and the context in this case is the Steely Dan song, “King of the World.”

—Randy Russell 11.17.19