"The Baby King Part 2" is the second of five original monologues featured on The Residents Elvis cover album "The King & Eye".
The Residents Version[]
When The Residents were developing their Cube-E show, they decided that to complete their set of American music that Elvis would be a perfect ending. Shortly before the debut of the completed Cube-E show, they were able to record in studio an Elvis cover album in a single day. While the album is mostly covers, the residents wrote five monologues to tell the story of Elvis throughout the album. Notably, in the studio versions of these songs, it features Jana Flynn and Simon Timony (then under 10 years old) reacting and commenting on the singing residents' story, giving the whole thing an "innocent" tone. Later, when Cube-E was finalized, instead of bringing the kids on tour, The Residents made two ventriloquist dummies thoughtfully named "Shorty & Shirley." This led to Granddad having full control over their commentary, leading to a more comedic tone then in the studio.
In this particular monologue the singing resident reflects on Elvis and asks Jana and Simon what Elvis is the king of. While most know that he the king of rock this song is meant to challenge the idea of Elvis and his fame. During this songs performance in Cube-E Grandad suggests that maybe he's the king of need.
I think he's the king of need, I think he needed to be king so bad he made himself a king.—Grandad, The Baby King Part 2
Legacy[]
As with most "baby kings" from The Residents "Cube-E Live In Holland" this song went unreleased for quite some time. A extremely small snippet of this song was professionally recorded and released as part of the "Cube-E (Box set)" and being see during a recording of The Residents rehearsing at the Cowell Theater in San Francisco. This clip specifically starts with Shirley instead of Shorty saying "You're weird grandpa". The most recent time the track was acknowledge was on The Residents Cube-E pREServed box where it was revealed that in preparation for their time in the "Different Fur" studio the whole album was recorded at home.
Lyrics[]
Studio[]
Singing Resident: You know who the king is?
Simon and Jana: Yeah
Singing Resident: Do you? Yeah? Ok we're gonna talk about the king but I gotta question first, maybe you guys can help me with this question, and you know, it's the king of what?
Simon: I don't know
Singing Resident: the king of what?
Jana: I don't know
Singing Resident: I don't know either well if he was a king he musta been king of something important huh
Simon: Yeah
Singing Resident: Yeah, Musta been king of something important, but the king of what?
Jana: King of cares
Singing resident: You think so? Well, caring is pretty important, think he could have been the king of caring?
Simon: He could've been the king of happiness
Singing Resident: You think so I don't know well, he didn't care very much about anything except being king so he must not have been king of that but you think maybe he was king of happiness?
Simon: Maybe
Singing Resident: Well I don't know maybe so, uhm, but you know he wasn't really very happy. So he must not have been king of that he must not have been king of that must. So I don't know uhh he was king of something but king of what I don't know, I don't know
Jana: I don't know
Simon: Uhh
Live In Amsterdam[]
Grandad: (Panting from last song)
Shorty: Grandad! Grandad! You're Weird!
Grandad: Well, ain't the first time I ever heard that Shorty
Shirley: Grandad, Grandad, tell us some more
Grandad: Ok, ok I'll tell you some but uh, first there's uh, one thing about this dream that uh kinda bothers me a little bit, it's bothered me for a long time and uh, maybe you guys can help me out I dont know lets see. Im telling this uh story about uh, king about a baby king, well I never could figure out was uh, the king of what. The king of what?
Shorty: I don't know
Grandad: hah, I don't either. Kinda bothers me so too, so lets see lets see if we can figure out guys come on now, what could it be what could it be?
Shorty: Grandad, I know I know! Hes, hes, King of cookies!
Grandad: King of cookies, Come on Shorty, give me a break boy, king of cookies, king of cookies well, lets see what could it be what could it be.
Shirley: Grandad, maybe hes, hes king of love
Grandad: Oh! Love well, that's important stuff Shirley, everybody knows that, say uh Shorty uh what do you think about that?
Shorty: uhhhhh, too dull!
Grandad: ha, yeah I guess so king of love that's pretty dumb alright, lets see what could it be, what could it be? I know! I know you guys, I think it's something that looks like love, feels like love to lots of people, and what it is is need!
Shirley: Need?
Grandad: Yeah, I think he's the king of need, I think he needed to be king so bad he made himself a king. I think the people out there kinda helped out a little bit too. They needed a new king too, but I really think we need right now is to do some more of this. What do you guys think huh?
Shirley: Yeah Yeah Yeah
Shorty: YEAH YEAH YEAH YEAH YEAH!
Grandad: Ok, alright, well do some more.
Demo[]
Singing Resident: Ok so look we're gonna talk about the king, were gonna talk about the king, you know who the king is?
Simon: Yeah
Singing Resident: Yeah, you know how the king is?
Simon: Uh-huh
Jana: Yeah
Singing Resident: Yeah ok, so ummmm, we're gonna talk about the king but, first is this kinda a question I got on my mind that I just can't figure out, and it's been something I've been thinking about quite a bit, and it's the king of what?
Jana: I don't know
Singing Resident: The king of what? You know, I dont know its king of something and if he's a king he must be, must be something important.
Jana: The King of hats!
Singing Resident: You think so? I don't know he must be the king of something.
Jana: King of cares!
Singing Resident: I've been trying to figure out what it is. You think it's the king of care? Could be the king of caring. That’s pretty important, that's pretty important stuff but you know, he didn't care about being anything except king, so it must not be that, so maybe he was king of happiness? Think so?
Jana: Mm-hm
Singing Resident: That's pretty important
Jana: Mm-hm
Singing Resident: But, he really wasn't very happy. So, the king of what? I dont know I cant figure it out, must be something
Shirley: Do you know bubba?
Simon: I don't know.
Releases[]
- The King & Eye (1989) [Version 1]
- Cube-E (2006) [Version 2] [Version 3]
- Cube-E Box (2020) [Version 1] [Version 3] [Version 4] [Version 5]