This song is New Orleans through and through. Anyone who lives in the Big Easy (such as myself) will be able to tell you that "gutter punks" are the homeless or runaway or otherwise rebellious teenagers who live on the streets of the French Quarter. Seen as a blight on the city by its more well-to-do residents, they are a true subculture in themselves. They roam the streets at night, panhandling ("gonna make $20 before the weekend'd over) and hte disdain of other inhabitants of the city can be seen throughout the song ("Did you kick him in the face? Did you see the blood run down?", "Did you think aloud, 'How dare they even look me in the eye?'", one of the punks is even punched when he opines that Cat Stevens was the greatest singer). Of course, this is brought symbolically to a head in the song with the quip of a passerby, "You gutter punks are all the same." Kevin Griffin, however, sees them in a softer light and implores, "Just give him one more chance, try to see the beauty in his world," this entailing that the gutter punks see the good in their own existence. The "King" is a personification of all the gutter punks, for they truly do see themselves collectively as the "Kings of New Orleans," and Kevin declares "God save the King!"
diggit18on July 09, 2002 Link
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