Sun King: Introduction
“Sun King” is a Beatles’ song from their Abbey Road album. In fact, this song is on side two, which is part of the long medley. However, the tune makes an appearance in their “Love” album as well. Indeed, “Gnik Nus” on that album features part of the “Sun King” track in reverse a cappella. Also on the “Love” album, we hear some of this song’s instrumentals on the Octopus’s Garden mix.
In Detail
- Release Date: September 26, 1969
- Recorded: July 24, 25 & 29, 1969
- Studio: EMI Studios, London
- Genre: Art pop, psychedelia
- Track Duration: 2:26
- Record Label: Apple Records
- Songwriters: Lennon-McCartney
- Producer: George Martin
- Engineers: Geoff Emerick, Phil McDonald
Performers And Instruments
- John Lennon: lead singer, harmony and backing vocals, electric guitar, also the maracas
- Paul McCartney: harmony and backing vocals, bass guitar, also the tape loops
- George Harrison: harmony and backing vocals, also the electric guitar
- Ringo Starr: drums, bongos, and tambourine
- George Martin: Lowrey organ
Where To Find “Sun King”
You can still buy this song on the following albums:
Purchase the Abbey Road album if you are specifically looking for the original recording of this song.
Sun King: Background
At the time of recording “Sun King,” The Beatles were finding it difficult, if not impossible, to stay together as a band. In effect, Abbey Road (1969) was the last album they would record together as a band. This is because they already did most of the material for the “Let It Be” album (1970). Be that as it may, the band was going out with a bang.
John Lennon wrote most of the track, and he once said it came to him “in a dream.” However, it may well be that inspiration for the song title came from the nickname of King Louis XIV of France, The Sun King.
Fleetwood Mac Connection
The opening piece of this song is similar to Fleetwood Mac‘s instrumental track, “Albatross.” Indeed, the key and chords in the intro are almost identical. In a 1987 interview, George Harrison explains:
“At the time, “Albatross” (by Fleetwood Mac) was out, with all the reverb on guitar. So we said, ‘Let’s be Fleetwood Mac doing Albatross, just to get going.’ It never really sounded like Fleetwood Mac… but that was the point of origin.”
After roughly one minute of instrumentals, the song moves onto the lyrics, which start off with the original working title of the song, “Here comes the Sun King.” Possibly poking fun at George Harrison’s song with a similar title, John Lennon agreed to shorten it to prevent confusion.
Sun King Gibberish
After the instrumental intro, we get some memorable three-part harmonies, which gives the impression that a meaningful song is coming our way. However, it soon descends into gibberish. This is because the last three lines are a mixture of Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese words with no structure whatsoever. In fact, there is no need to try and translate because it’s almost impossible.
Quando para mucho mi amore de felice corazón
Mundo paparazzi mi amore chicka ferdy parasol
Cuesto obrigado tanta mucho que canite carouse
“When we came to sing it, to make them different, we started joking, saying ‘cuando para mucho.’ We just made it up. Paul knew a few Spanish words from school, so we just strung any Spanish words that sounded vaguely like something. And of course we got ‘chicka ferdi’ – that’s a Liverpool expression; it doesn’t mean anything, just like ‘ha ha ha’. One we missed: we could have had ‘para noia’, but we forgot all about it. We used to call ourselves Los Para Noias.”
John Lennon
Anthology
Recording Studio
The Beatles began recording Sun King on July 24, 1969, at the EMI Studios in London, where they taped 35 takes. But they recorded this song with “Mean Mr. Mustard” which followed Sun King on the Abbey Road album.
On July 25th, overdubbing began with the help of George Martin playing the Lowrey organ. They added various instrumentals and vocals, of course. Finally, finishing touches to the song occurred on July 29th.
Many minor bands recorded cover versions of the song, but so did Booker T. & the MGs. The Bee Gees also recorded their version when filming for the musical documentary “All This and World War II.”
Take A Listen To “Sun King.”
Finally, see if you can make any sense out of the song. Of course, whether you can or not, leave a relevant comment below.
