Sundown in the Paris of the prairies
Wheat kings have all treasures buried
And all you hear are the rusty breezes
Pushing around the weathervane Jesus

His Zippo lighter, he sees the killer's face
Maybe it's someone standing in a killer's place
Twenty years for nothing, well, that's nothing new
Besides, no one's interested in something you didn't do

Wheat kings and pretty things
Let's just see what the morning brings

There's a dream he dreams where the high school's dead and stark
It's a museum and we're all locked up in it after dark
The walls are lined all yellow, grey and sinister
Hung with pictures of our parents' prime ministers

Wheat kings and pretty things
Wait and see what tomorrow brings

Late breaking story on the CBC
A nation whispers, "We always knew that he'd go free"
They add, "You can't be fond of living in the past
'Cause if you are, then there's no way that you're gonna last"

Wheat kings and pretty things
Let's just see what tomorrow brings
Wheat kings and pretty things
Oh, that's what tomorrow brings


Lyrics submitted by black_cow_of_death

Wheat Kings Lyrics as written by Gordon Sinclair Gordon Downie

Lyrics © Peermusic Publishing

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Wheat Kings song meanings
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    General Comment

    The song "Wheat Kings", from Fully Completely, is mainly about David Milgaard. Milgaard, who was from Saskatchewan, was wrongly convicted of murder and served over 20 years in prison before being released. Wheat kings are the nicknames for those giant wheat silos you see on the prairies on farms and such. Gord probably got inspiration for the song title from the Brandon Wheat Kings, the Western Hockey League team in Brandon, Manitoba. In terms of "Wheat kings and pretty things", the Pretty Things were a band that the Hip used to listen to a lot when they were first starting out in 1983, and they covered a few Pretty Things songs in their sets way back in the beginning, so this line is probably a tribute to that band. The entire lyric "wheat kings and pretty things/lets just see what the morning brings" was probably written as if Milgaard himself was saying this as he's looking out his jail cell window, out at the prairies, hence the "wheat kings and pretty things" and his undying hope that he'll be exonerated, and his optimism towards this end: "Let's just see what the morning brings."

    rosene_80on July 03, 2004   Link

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