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Closet Chronicles Lyrics
Once carried through the current
And being swept away
The king is in the closet
He's hiding from today
And though he owns all fortunes
This room is where he'll stay
And his world is filled with darkness, turning grey
Gazing out the window
Of the 42nd second floor
He is separate from all others
No one knocks upon his door
And it might as well be raining 'cause the sunlight hurts his eyes
And his ears will never hear the children's cries
Once proud and full of passion
He fought the cause of man
Many people loved his courage
Many followed his command
He changed the old into the new
And the course of things to come
And then one day they noticed he was gone
At first it didn't matter
Nobody seemed to care
They all became too busy
To find him anywhere do no one knew hot even him
The problems he would find
On the day he journeyed deep into his mind
I close my eyes I go far away
Away from this battlefield
In my dreams well here I will enjoy it
Where innocence plays with all the laughing children
The kind who are crying right now
A taste of freedom from the pain
Of everything here I see
Life is sweet but I took it all for granted
And now I don't know if I could even tell you
Just what we permit, we allow
Allow me to forget the life I've made my own
I've held this nation in my hand
And yet it's not my home
Allow me just one answer just one reason why
Why this refugee of the family of man must die
Tell me why
Daydreams filled his nighttimes
And night dreams filled his days
Confusion and uncertainty
A puzzled mind of haze
You thought he was so powerful
And set upon his ways
Well he left us all to travel through this maze
I heard the king was dying
I heard the king was dead
And with him died the chronicles
That no one ever read
The closet's fully empty now
It's occupied by none
I'll draw the drapes now destiny is done
And being swept away
The king is in the closet
He's hiding from today
And though he owns all fortunes
This room is where he'll stay
And his world is filled with darkness, turning grey
Of the 42nd second floor
He is separate from all others
No one knocks upon his door
And it might as well be raining 'cause the sunlight hurts his eyes
And his ears will never hear the children's cries
He fought the cause of man
Many people loved his courage
Many followed his command
He changed the old into the new
And the course of things to come
And then one day they noticed he was gone
Nobody seemed to care
They all became too busy
To find him anywhere do no one knew hot even him
On the day he journeyed deep into his mind
Away from this battlefield
In my dreams well here I will enjoy it
Where innocence plays with all the laughing children
The kind who are crying right now
A taste of freedom from the pain
Of everything here I see
Life is sweet but I took it all for granted
And now I don't know if I could even tell you
Just what we permit, we allow
I've held this nation in my hand
And yet it's not my home
Allow me just one answer just one reason why
Why this refugee of the family of man must die
Tell me why
And night dreams filled his days
Confusion and uncertainty
A puzzled mind of haze
You thought he was so powerful
And set upon his ways
Well he left us all to travel through this maze
I heard the king was dead
And with him died the chronicles
That no one ever read
The closet's fully empty now
It's occupied by none
I'll draw the drapes now destiny is done
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Supposedly this song is about Howard Hughes.
@Fein Mess yesterday, I have read that also. It is sad they fed him pain medicine instead of seeking psychiatric help. He had a lot of pain from plane crashes. Why didn't they drug him enough to put him to sleep to cut his nails, hair, bathe him. It was all very strange. Maybe somebody wanted control of his money.
@Fein Mess yesterday, I have read that also. It is sad they fed him pain medicine instead of seeking psychiatric help. He had a lot of pain from plane crashes. Why didn't they drug him enough to put him to sleep to cut his nails, hair, bathe him. It was all very strange. Maybe somebody wanted control of his money.
hmm, i thought it was about somebody like Napolean because of the lines, "I've held this nation in my hand and yet it's not my home" Napolean ruled france, but he was from Corsica(correct me if i'm wrong, 'cause i'm not sure which island, but i know he wasn't from mainland france).
Howard Hughes makes sense too, because of the reference to "42nd floor", there were no buildings that tall in Napolean's day, so my theory is probably wrong.
The reference to the "42nd floor" was inspired from The Hitchhikers Guide.
The reference to the "42nd floor" was inspired from The Hitchhikers Guide.
That should help make sense the the song is definitely about Howard Hughes ...
That should help make sense the the song is definitely about Howard Hughes ...
Yep, It's about Howard Hughes, the guy from "The Aviator"
From Wikipedia: "The band Kansas did a song about Howard Hughes, which they named 'Closet Chronicles'. It was originally on their album Point of Know Return."
@yilduz yes, I believe they kept him too drugged up , no life at all. Who got his inheritance?
@yilduz yes, I believe they kept him too drugged up , no life at all. Who got his inheritance?
gazing out the window of the fourty secound floor is a refrince to the hitch hickers guode to the galixy, the meaning of life is 42.
Not true. This song is from 1977, but the first version of The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy is from 1978.
Not true. This song is from 1977, but the first version of The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy is from 1978.
"Closet Chronicles", was indeed a song about Howard Hughes. The organ intro by Steve Walsh has an almost church-like sound to it.
"Closet Chronicles", was indeed a song about Howard Hughes. The organ intro by Steve Walsh has an almost church-like sound to it.
@songofkansas he owned the whole top floor of one of the hotels in Vegas I think.
@songofkansas he owned the whole top floor of one of the hotels in Vegas I think.
One of my favorite songs i think it is about Howord Huges the 42 floor is about the pent house at the desert inn hotel and casino which he rented for a while and kept to himself but i never heard him called a king before as the song says the king is in the closet he is hiding from today and at the end i herd the king was dying i herd the king was dead if anyone can give me some help i would be greatful and what are the chronicles
It's really great to have Howard Hughes remembered and acknowledged. He was the Elon Musk of his day. But you'd never guess it was Hughes just from the lyrics. And even when you look at the lyrics through that lens, it's hard to make sense of all of it, and this site is supposed to be about explaining the lyrics, right?
So, except for the line about 42nd floor (which as best I can tell is not literally the case for Hughes' life, but just a rhythmically fitting line indicating someplace lofty and high up), try listening to the song as if it is about Pontius Pilate.
The first four verses, thought of as Hughes or Pilate, are straightforward enough. And then a narrator steps in to remark about how in the next three there'd be trouble to find when he ventured into his mind. Musically this change of perspective is signaled also. The crying children recalls Jesus' "suffer the little children."
With the verse that starts "Allow me to forget this life," who is talking here? Someone who has held the nation in their hand. If this is supposed to be Hughes talking (or Pilate), then how does the question about why this refugee of the family of man must die make sense? Why is the narrator claiming to hold the nation in his hands (that should be Hughes or Pilate holding the nation), but that means the narrator isn't the refugee. This is one of the spots where it really seems that the narrator is Pilate (talking about Jesus). Want a tasty pun while we're here? Hughes was famous as a pilot.
The next verse ("Daydreams filled his night-times") is again straightforwardly the narrator (talking about Hughes or Pilate), but the last verse gets tantalizing and strange again: "I heard the king was dying, I heard the king was dead. And with him died the chronicles that no one ever read. The closet's fully empty now, it's occupied by none I'll draw the drapes, now destiny is done."
This brings up the question that no one answers. Why is this song called Closet Chronicles. Hughes never lived in a closet and what secret chronicles would he have written anyway. Also, no one ever called Hughes a "king" even as the richest man in the world; maybe a "king" of Las Vegas. It's worth remembering that Point of Know Return came out in 1977 and Hughes died in 1976. I'll admit it is a stretch, but no one heard that Hughes was doing, only that Hughes was dead. His death was sudden and he'd been living in obscurity for a very long time. Pilate would definitely heard that the king was dying and that the king was dead. And with his closet chronicles (secret gospel) that no one ever read (because it was not written down yet). Why the closet's fully emptied and occupied by none, I can't say. And I know I'm out on a limb here.
But "I'll draw the drapes, now destiny is done" reminds me of the tearing of the veil at the death of Jesus. Also, ironically, after Hughes left the Desert Inn, it was discovered that the drapes in his penthouse had never been opened.
So, there. An out on a limb idea, but it goes along with the fact that "Portrait (He Knew)" is definitely about Jesus.
@Talastra It isn't biblical and neither was "Portrait". Livgren never said anything about the Christ when the song ("Portrait") came out. After his full-on conversion to an evangelical form of Christianity, he couldn't very well explain that the song was his and Steve Walsh's musings on Nostradamus, a figure that many religious people across many a deist and theist devotion believe was occultist. Evangelicals also take a dim view of Catholicism, the one Christian denomination identified with Michel de Nostredame.
@Talastra It isn't biblical and neither was "Portrait". Livgren never said anything about the Christ when the song ("Portrait") came out. After his full-on conversion to an evangelical form of Christianity, he couldn't very well explain that the song was his and Steve Walsh's musings on Nostradamus, a figure that many religious people across many a deist and theist devotion believe was occultist. Evangelicals also take a dim view of Catholicism, the one Christian denomination identified with Michel de Nostredame.
@Talastra Livgren's true conversion to Christianity was in July 1979, Closet Chronicles was 1977. Before 1979 Kerry was a spiritualist who was really into the book Urantia which supposedly was a cosmic vision from celestial beings detailing the structure of the universe, spiritual evolution, and the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Closet Chronicles is in fact a Howard Hughes allegory about a powerful figure who retreats into isolation, symbolizing a loss of touch with the world and regret over past actions. The song uses the metaphor of a king in his closet to represent someone burdened by their choices, disconnected...
@Talastra Livgren's true conversion to Christianity was in July 1979, Closet Chronicles was 1977. Before 1979 Kerry was a spiritualist who was really into the book Urantia which supposedly was a cosmic vision from celestial beings detailing the structure of the universe, spiritual evolution, and the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Closet Chronicles is in fact a Howard Hughes allegory about a powerful figure who retreats into isolation, symbolizing a loss of touch with the world and regret over past actions. The song uses the metaphor of a king in his closet to represent someone burdened by their choices, disconnected from humanity, and confronting the lonely consequences of their isolation. Steve Walsh and Kerry Livgren wrote Closet Chronicles with Steve listed as primary writer.