Red Castles

Two main versions:

* "Pulsing Keyboard Version" (1981) - Chemical Playschool 2 (4:53)

Much longer than the Full Band Version, mainly due to its leisurely pace, the frequent choruses, and the long gaps between each verse. The "excels in here" lines are spoken only by the vocoder voice, and the two final verses are not yet in the song.

Unavailable elsewhere.

Instruments: Two pulsing keyboards providing melody, bassline, and rhythm; organ chords; intermittent vocoder saying key lyrics; two vocal tracks

* "Full Band Version" (1982) - Brighter Now (3:28)

Even with the addition of the final two verses, this version moves along much faster and has a more accessible structure. The "excels in here" lines are now part of the lyrics. The song ends suddenly with the "Ooooh" suffix.

Instruments: Acoustic drums; bass guitar; organ chords; pulsing keyboard with changing modulation; single vocal track, with second vocal track during choruses; backup echoey "ooooh" vocals not by Ka-Spel during choruses.

Suffix "Ooooh" (0:25):

On Brighter Now, the song cuts suddenly into a small instrumental suffix featuring overlapping and pitch-bended samples of the "ooooh" vocal with occasional keyboard effects, gradually fading out.

These samples also appear at the end of the Flowmotion Version of "Hanging Gardens."

What It's About:

Everybody -- no matter how noble or how lowly -- is the king of their own personal castle, at least in their own minds. This includes bar hooligans, troubled partiers, pill-poppers, homeless tramps, and kids just having fun at the beach.

Lyrics (adapted from the Cloud-Zero archive):

Maidens in towers and nights on the town
shields up, convinced that the barricade's down.
Fighting in bars. Biting the cars.

They said "we're kings of the castle.
Oh we're kings of the castle."

Two aches in the head, H20 in the wine.
Two hits off the mirror to help you unwind.
Sure, you learned how to drink. Turn now to shrinks.

And he'll say that you're king of the castle.
Oh, you're king of the castle.

Blood on the bypass. You're passing the pills.
They're painted and plastic and make you feel ill.
Make you kick in the night. You're sick in the light.

King of the castle.
Oh, you're of the castle.

A tramp chews a dog-end, a dog chews a tramp,
tears holes in his raincoat and howls 'cause it's damp.
He counts up to nine, he chokes on a coin.

But he's king in his castle.
Dirty king in his castle. His glory, his glory
excels in here.

Pagans in showers and kites on the Downs.
Polka-dot patterns and strings turning brown.
They shut out the sun. Oh, what jolly fun!

But we're kings in our castles.
Yes we're kings in our castles. Our glory, our glory
excels in here.

Why You Should Care:

The song "Black Castles" on The Golden Age has a very similar chord progression.