The King and All of His Men

I've easily spent the better part of the last hour listening to this song.

I think it's about a guy, who's in love with a girl who's been in some bad relationships, and he's saying "c'mon, why not me?"

Here's what I hear:

Well, you can fight it, but you know That you won’t get your way in the end
 Too many people, the king and all of his men


And if you’re dealing a line of cards
 Won't you take me to the queen of hearts?


And if you’re trying To tear down what you see
 Pack up the stars Before you come for me


And if you're dealing a line of fate 
Who's going to tell her the reason I'm late? 
 You took her soul, so incomplete 
Why don't you stop fighting me?
 You’re in control, so why should you be
... Fighting me? Fighting me? Fighting me?

How to be sure That what you say is the truth 
When I see flaws In everything that you do?


And if I'm passing a sentence on you
 I would give you the crown for a fool


And now you've lost There’s nothing left to defend 
You came so close To the king and all of his men


And if you’re dealing in a trick of the light 
I need to see her face for one last time

You took her soul, so incomplete
 Why don’t you stop fighting me?
 You’re in control, so why should you be
... Fighting me? Fighting me? Fighting me?

I think it's about a girl who isn't giving up her heart to this guy. Which is why she is in control. She keeps fighting his love off. Which is maybe why she is running in the video.

I have no idea how no one's commented on this song yet. It is amazing.

I've pondered this off and on for about an hour. Hahaha. Maybe he has had a revelation, and he is talking to a girl, a girl who lured him away from his last girlfriend. He now thinks that may have been a mistake because this new bitch is cheating, or running away from his love in some way and he is tired of the roller coaster of emotion. Maybe about risk and reward. I enjoy the poker references.

The drums during this song's chorus sound like horses running. The video is great, too.

What is “The King and All of His Men” about?

Max: It started off being about terrorism — addressing a terrorist — and then it kind of just went through an imaginative process and a romantical tune came out kind of sounding like a love song. I wrote it about terrorism and a man at our gig came up to me afterwards and said, “Man that song ‘The King and All of His Men’ — I’m splitting up with my girlfriend and it’s just exactly what’s happening in my life.” It wasn’t about that at all but I love that he interpreted it that way.

http://www.chinashopmag.com/2012/04/a-word-with-wolf-gang/

http://www.theregoesthefear.com/2009/11/interview-wolf-gang.php

I can’t get enough of “The King and All of his Men”. What’s the story behind it? The song is fundamentally about a battle between good and evil, but I try with lyrics to avoid being too literal, I enjoy playing around with metaphors so that the meaning can be interpreted differently by various people. Having a woman as some source of focus seems to creep into my writing quite a lot though…The video was great because Dan the director knew exactly what I wanted, which was something different, a little arty and theatrical. It was a good laugh to shoot on the day too because a lot of the dancers were my mates, it was all pretty light hearted stuff. I think as a first statement of intent it gets the idea across quite well that the Wolf Gang project is a little different to the more generic band experience that people are used to.

"The King And All Of His Men is a song I wrote after having a strange and violent dream where I was attacked by terrorists and they stole my lover away," says Wolf Gang of the track. "It's about getting caught up in something that has nothing to do with you.

http://news.qthemusic.com/2011/07/wolf_gang_-_the_king_and_all_o.html

This is the first interpretation I'll post, and I know the song is old, but I just have to point something out.

''Well you can fight it but you know that you won’t get your way in the end Too many people, the King and all of his men And if you’re dealing in a line of cards Won’t you take me to the queen of hearts?''

I think this section is referring to fate, which is often symbolized by 'being dealt a certain hand (of cards)'. To me, it sounds like it's saying ''you know you can't fight your destiny, the forces at play are too powerful''. It's almost like God is speaking to the singer in the first two lines, and the singer responds by saying ''well, if you're dealing in luck and bad luck, can't you just make me lucky with this girl for once?''

''And if you’re trying to tear down what you see Pack up the stars before you come for me And if you’re dealing in a line of fate Who’s going to tell her the reason I’m late?''

Again, this sounds like a dialogue the singer is having with God or 'the universe'. If God is trying to tear things down before the singer can grab hold of them (such as this relationship with a girl), God had better ''pack up the stars'' so that the singer won't see it coming when God/fate finally takes away his reason for living. The final two lines may also be very dark, implying that the fate of the girl might be to die. Either that, or it's some kind of joke or wordplay about a 'line of fate' being a literal statement.

''You took her soul, so incomplete Why don’t you stop fighting me? You’re in control so why should you be Fighting me? Fighting me? Fighting me?''

The first line may be referring to the girl being very depressed, or hurtful to the singer, and being a mess (''incomplete''). The singer is angry at God/the universe for making her this way. It's not clear if the singer is the one saying ''you're in control so stop fighting me'' or if it's God saying it. It may be God/the universe. If so, the universe is telling the singer ''you control your destiny, you're the one who controls whether or not the girl will start a relationship with you, so why are you whining about ME? Take control, be assertive.''

If it's the singer saying this, it means: ''the universe is in control of my fate, so why is it always conspiring against me?''

''How to be sure that what you say is the truth When I see flaws in everything that you do? And if I’m passing a sentence on you I would give you the crown for a fool''

Here it gets a little vague. I don't know what ''you'' is referring to. Maybe the singer means 'the word of God' (AKA the universe) and how he can't trust it. So maybe he doesn't trust what the universe is telling him now. Basically: the singer is conflicted about what he should do: first the universe (or his mind, whatever you want to call it) tells him he can't be with the girl, but the next minute it says the girl is his destiny.

The next two lines may be from God's perspective again, saying ''if there's anything we can deduce from this, it's that you're a bloody moron.''

''And now you’ve lost, there’s nothing left to defend You came so close to the King and all of his men And if you’re dealing in a trick of the light I need to see her face for one last time''

The singer has lost the girl. The singer came close to having her, but he blew it by being indecisive. The singer responds ''this can't be true, I have to see her face one last time, give me one last chance''.

''You took her soul, so incomplete Why don’t you stop fighting me? You’re in control so why should you be Fighting me? Fighting me? Fighting me? The King and all of his men The King and all of his men You took her soul, so incomplete Why don’t you stop fighting me? You’re in control so why should you be Fighting me? You took her soul, so incomplete Why don’t you stop fighting me? You’re in control so why should you be Fighting me? You took her soul, so incomplete Why don’t you stop fighting me? You’re in control so why should you be Why should you be Fighting me? Fighting me? Fighting me? Fighting me?''

The singer spirals back into his old ways of thinking in terms of fate having been decided for him. He never becomes assertive, never takes his chance, he just argues with the universe/his mind forever.

It's interesting to note that the girl in the video being swept away by the ocean at the end might be the object of the song, but could also be the subject. She looks like she's the one running away and being indecisive, whereas the man is following her trying to stop her from drowning. It's almost like the man serves as the girl's conscience or her sense of reason, telling her to stop running away from things all the time. However, it's also possible that the man in the video is the indecisive one, and that the girl is trying to find her place in the world -- her home. That would explain the suitcase with her belongings. In that case, the man is constantly trailing behind, failing to catch her. At the end, maybe the man walks away because he realises she's too far gone. She has made up her mind, she has given herself up to the ocean instead of starting a home with the man.

I hope this explanation helps.