| "Sun King" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Cover of theNorthern Songs sheet music | ||||
| Song bythe Beatles | ||||
| from the albumAbbey Road | ||||
| Released | 26 September 1969 | |||
| Recorded | 24–25 July 1969 | |||
| Studio | EMI, London | |||
| Genre | Psychedelia[1] | |||
| Length | 2:26 | |||
| Label | Apple | |||
| Songwriter | Lennon–McCartney | |||
| Producer | George Martin | |||
| The Medley chronology | ||||
| ||||
"Sun King" is a song by the English rock bandthe Beatles from their 1969 albumAbbey Road. Written byJohn Lennon and credited toLennon–McCartney, it is the second song of the album'sclimactic medley. Like other tracks on the album (notably "Because") the song features lush multi-tracked vocal harmonies, provided by Lennon,Paul McCartney andGeorge Harrison.
The working title was "Here Comes the Sun King",[2] but was shortened to "Sun King" to avoid confusion with Harrison's "Here Comes the Sun". The song slowly fades in from the harbour sounds at the end of "You Never Give Me Your Money". At the end of the song, the music stops abruptly and a drum fill byRingo Starr leads into the next track, "Mean Mr. Mustard".
A faux mixing ofRomance languages occurs in the last three lines of the song. In 1969, Lennon was interviewed about these lyrics and said, "We just started joking, you know, singing 'cuando para mucho.' So we just made up... Paul knew a few Spanish words from school, you know. So we just strung any Spanish words that sounded vaguely like something. And of course we got 'chicka ferdy' in. That's aLiverpool expression. Just like sort – it doesn't mean anything to me but (childish taunting) 'na-na, na-na-na!'"[3]In an interview in 1987, Harrison said that the recording was inspired byFleetwood Mac's "Albatross". "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."[3]
The song is in the key of C and the chorus ("Here comes the Sun King") involves a I (C)–Imaj7 (Cmaj7 chord)–v7 (Gm7 chord)–VI7 (A7 chord) progression against a C–B–B♭–A vocal harmony.[4] It also features 7th and 6th extensions which author Dominic Pedler described as "psychedelic".[5] An interesting feature (according to Pedler) is thesubstitution of the Gm7 chord for the C7 dominant chord at the word "Sun". This represents an example of the jazz rule that allows a dominant (V) seventh chord (here C7) to be replaced by a minor chord a fifth above (here Gm7). The synchronous B♭ vocal harmonises with the♭3rd (B♭ note) of the Gm7 chord.[4] The coda beginning "Cuando para mucho", which is an exact copy of the instrumental intro, is initially sung to a ii (F♯m7 chord), which moves to V–I (B6 to E6 chords) on "cora-zon", then alternates back to ii (F♯m7) on "Mundo paparazzi" and "Cuesto obrigato" before again V–I (B6–E6) on "para-sol" and "carou-sel".[6]
The song is also notable for the vocally constructed ii chord in second inversion (Dm7/A) arising in the "Ahh" transition to verse. The frequent use of addedsixth chords in the song accentuate its dreamlike feel.[7] The song also has an example of major 9th harmony in the Cmaj9 chord on "Herecomes the Sun King"; here, above the tonic C majortriad, both B (seventh) and D (ninth) combine in the vocals "to form a suitably lush fanfare for the monarch himself."[8]
A portion of the vocals was included as a reverseda cappella in the track titled"Gnik Nus" (stylized as"gniK nuS" - "Sun King" spelled backwards) for the 2006 albumLove. An instrumental section of "Sun King" was also used at the end of the trackOctopus's Garden on the compilation.
a neglected bit of Lennon psychedelia ("Sun King")
