The Kingdom of Spain

This song has an intriguing way of setting up the listener's expectations, and then changing directions.

In the first verse, we start on what seems to be a positive note: "In the Kingdom of Spain / there are such colors / they defy any name / like drab and dolor". But on further consideration, this seems suspicious -- by saying the colors defy terms like "drab" and "dolor", it seems to imply that these terms would otherwise come to mind, as though the colors are covering up some underlying sadness. The verse continues: "But oh the King and the Queen of Spain / with their long unpronounceable names / grace the table at the long-lost kingdom of Spain" The phrase "long unpronounceable names" seems to imply some kind of elaborate formality, where the names (or identities) of the royalty are so entangled in history and convention that they have lost their practical use. (In Spain and other Spanish-speaking countries, people's full surnames sometimes describe their entire genealogy several generations back.) The use of the phrase "long-lost" is interesting. After all, Spain still exists and still has a monarch. Perhaps writer is distinguishing between modern Spain and the long-lost past. Or perhaps "the long-lost kingdom of Spain" is being used more as an imagined, faraway country than any specific place. One thing is certain, that phrase adds to the air of melancholy which pervades the whole song.

The second verse presents a moment out of some larger implied narrative: "In the Kingdom of Light / A lithe young lawyer / Tries a case for her un- / Justly arrested brother / But oh, the King and the Queen of Light / rule with unbendable might / So it's to the gallows for the long-lost Kingdom of Light". Here we see youthful energy and family loyalty come up against injustice and power -- and lose. This is interesting, considering the phrase "Kingdom of Light" would otherwise seem to imply a wise and just ("enlightened") utopia. There's some sense that the kingdom's idealism proves its weakness -- when mistakes happen, the King and Queen are forced to choose between going back on their earlier decision, or committing an unjust act. The last line is also interesting -- why is it the Kingdom of Light that is headed for the gallows? Perhaps in condemning the innocent brother, the kingdom has also condemned itself.

The third verse describes the Kingdom of Love in militaristic terms: "In the Kingdom of Love / We're all just fodder / As the cannonades drum / Our sons and daughters". This is taking the not-uncommon connection between love and warfare to a whole new level. Love is not just a conflict, it is a mass conflict. This makes it seem kind of purposeless -- if "We're all just fodder", what is the larger purpose of the strife? The lines "the cannonades drum / Our sons and daughters" could be interpreted in multiple ways. One interpretation is that in the war of love, children suffer the collateral damage. Or perhaps these lines mean that the noise of battle, so to speak, is also what propels each new generation onward into the fray. The verse continues: "But oh, the King and the Queen of Love / In their long, white, fingerless gloves / Bang the gavel for the long-lost Kingdom of Love". Again we seem to be coming back to the image of law and judgment, although it's unclear exactly who is being judged, and why. The image of "long, white, fingerless gloves" is an intriguing combination of elegance and (long white gloves) and practicality (fingerless gloves or gauntlets). I'm not sure what the purpose is here, other than another little contradiction or subversion of our expectations. These lines suggest that perhaps in all the strife and struggle of pursuing love, we actually lose our grasp on the possibility of attaining it (hence the "long-lost" and the finality of the gavel).

Tying this all together, it seems like the song provides the basic outline of a world of paradoxes and contradictions: by holding onto the past we lose sight of the present; by keeping to our decisions we condemn the innocent to suffer; and through our efforts to find love we sight of what we hoped to gain from the struggle. The song doesn't really offer a solution to these problems, it is simply a lament on the way things are.