Mr. King

Please can someone give me the meaning of this song. I really like it and found myself singing it in my head a few weeks ago in maths even though I had only herd it about once. I think its really interesting and would like to know more about it so could someone please help me? Thanks:).

I went to see Nerina Pallot at the end of January and she has an amazing voice in real life too. She is really funny as well - I'd never been to a gig with such an adult audience before. She told us that this song was about her music teacher. Maybe Nerina had been suffering from writer's block after all.

According to Nerina's website-

Mr King refers to her old manager at a record company: "And then one day I woke up and I was in the real world, with a proper job (ok, not that proper, it was at a record company) working for Mr King. "

Mr Cave refers to: "The screenplay is by a certain Nick Cave, of whose work I have always been fond, and who also gets a name check in Mr King…"

To me, personally, this song is about growing up...the loss of innocence, the realization that the world is not always a happy place. ):

It's always struck a chord in me - I have a friend who was my "Mr King".

I went to see Nerina live a few days ago in London, and she introduced the song as "A song about suicide" - and lines like "I'd find greater comfort / If I just lay down and died" are a pretty strong indicator of that thought.

So which is it, a music teacher, a recording manager or a song about depression? ^-^

I've always thought this song might relate to depression: the narrator has experienced suffering and has managed to stay strong through it, so can't understand why she's feeling so low now ("I don't know what's become of a girl who once knew sunshine / What's become of a girl who knew sorrow but was strong"). Mr King sounds to me like a therapist, counsellor, or even just a friend who's helping her through her depression and showing her how to turn her life around. "I don't know why / You're showing me the sky / You say you see heaven / I see hell but want to try" sounds like Mr King is using a metaphor of heaven and hell to help the narrtor stop looking at things negatively and begin looking at them positively. He also advises her to count her blessings, which is why she has "ten things lined up on a shelf / Reasons to be cheerful for myself." It seems as though Mr King's guidance is effective, as at the end of the song, the narrator realises that he was "right all along."

However, the fourth verse as it's set out above remains a mystery to me! Why "tape on windows" and where is this place where there's "good work to be done" and "people are kind"? I always imagine a sort of rehab when I hear this verse, but I don't think that's what's meant ^-^ any ideas??

I recently went to see Nerina perform and she said 'this song is about the end of the world I guess'. So make of that what you will :)

Hey Mr. King you were right all along Mr. King you were right Oh Mr. King you were right

Nerina obviously suffered from writer's block when these words were written. You really have to try to be as repetitive as that.