DOCUMENT: KING OF BIRDS

This seems to be a lot of people's favorite song.  Particularly on this album, but also overall.  There's definitely a spirituality involved in the song.  Lyrically it is very straightforward and easy to understand.  The term king of birds is a Mayan folk legend where the quetzal is chosen to be king.  He does so be deception and then arrogance.  The roadrunner had helped him with plumage and was repaid with nothing, as the quetzal left the roadrunner naked and alone.  This song seems to be more about a human character however ... someone buried in imagination and self discovery and confronted with the fragility of hubris and power.



KING OF BIRDS
A thumbnail sketch
A jeweler’s stone
A mean idea to call my own
Old man don’t lay so still you’re not yet young there’s time to teach
Point to point, point observation, children carry reservations
Standing on the shoulders of giants leaves me cold

Leaves me cold
A mean idea to call my own
A hundred million birds fly

Singer sing me a given, singer sing me a song
Standing on the shoulders of giants everybody’s looking on
(Old man don’t lay so still you’re not yet young there’s time to teach
Point to point, point observation, children carry reservations)
Standing on the shoulders of giants

Leaves me cold
A mean idea to call my own
(Call my own)
A hundred million birds fly away, away, away

I am the king of all I see, my kingdom for a voice
Old man don’t lay so still you’re not yet young there’s time to teach
Point to point, point observation, children carry reservations
Standing on the shoulders of giants leaves me cold

Leaves me cold
A mean idea to call my own
A hundred million birds fly away, away, away

Everybody hit the ground
Everybody hit the ground
Everybody hit the ground
Everybody hit the ground
Everybody hit the ground
Everybody hit the ground
Everybody hit the ground
Everybody hit the ground


A note:  I do not play dulcimer.  I have never even strummed one.  Below is how I tune my guitar to mimic the dulcimer.  What is clear is that Buck uses the Mixolydian Tuning which is D-A-D.  Below, I tune my guitar to D-A-A-D, primarily because of the ease of keeping the D string at it's normal tuning and then using the still correctly tuned E-A-D to play the power chords.  It's amazing to me that this is the first use of the dulcimer by Peter Buck as it fits right into his style of playing ... so many open strings!

KING OF BIRDS

Guitar

Verse

e|-0---0-0---|

B|-0---3-3---|

G|-7---0-2---|

D|-7---------|

A|-5---------|

E|-0---------|

Chorus

e|-3---3-3-3---2---2---0---|

B|-3---3-3-3---2---2---2---|

G|-4---4-5-4---3---3---2---|

D|-5---5-5-5---4---4---2---|

A|-5---5-3-5---4---4---0---|

E|-3---3-3-3---2---2---0---|

Middle Bridge

e|-7---7---7---7--|

B|-7---9---7---9--|

G|-8---9---8---9--|

D|-9---9---9---9--|

A|-9---7---9---7--|

E|-7---7---7---7--|

Dulcimer Intro:

Note: The sound of the dulcimer is very much a product of it's open strings, I have noted some of them here, but keep in mind you should be able to strum the entire board with each note.

d|-10---9---0-----0---5-7h>10-10-10-9-7---|

a|--0---0---0---4b----0-0---0--0--0-0-5---|

A|--0---0---0-------------------------0---|

D|--0---0---0-------------------------0---|

d|-7-0-------------------7-------|

a|-5-5-0-2p-0-4p-0-5-5-0-5-------|

A|-0-0-------------------0-------|

D|-0-0-------------------0-------|

d|-7-7-7-7-7-5-4-0--|

a|-5-5-5-5-5-0-0-0--|

A|-0-0-0------------|

D|-0-0-0------------|

“A thumbnail sketch …”

d|-7-0-------------------7-------|

a|-5-5-0-4p-0-4p-0-5-5-0-5-------|

A|-0-0-------------------0-------|

D|-0-0-------------------0-------|

“A mean idea …”

d|-7-0---------------|

a|-5-5---------------|

A|-0-0---------------|

D|-0-0---5b-4-0-2-0--|

“Old man …”

d|-7-0---12-10-9-0---|

a|-5-5---------------|

A|-0-0---------------|

D|-0-0---------------|

“point to point …”

d|-7-0--------------------|

a|-5-5---4-5p-0-4-0-5-5-4-|

A|-0-0--------------------|

D|-0-0--------------------|

“Standing on the shoulders …”

d|-7-0---------------|

a|-5-5---5p-0-4-0-5-0|

A|-0-0---------------|

D|-0-0---------------|

“Leaves me cold …”

d|-7-0----------------------|

a|-5-5-0-4p-0-4p-0-5-4b-0---|

A|-0-0----------------------|

D|-0-0----------------------|

That’s the first verse. All other riffs in the following verses are variations on these, so feel free to play around.  Bend and pull off on the 2^nd and 4^th fret.  Everything builds off of the chord on the 5^th and 7^th fret, so as long as you return there you’re golden.

End

At “Everybody hit the ground” the dulcimer focuses on the high d string.

d|-5-7h-7-12-10-9-7-----|

a|-0-0--0--0--0-0-0-----|

A|----------------------|

D|----------------------|

d|-5-7h-7-0-4p-0-5p-0-7p-0-5p-0---|

a|-0-0--0-0-0--0-0--0-0--0-0--0---|

A|--------------------------------|

D|--------------------------------|

d|-5-7h-7-12-10-12>14-17---17---16---17---16---0-12-0-12-0-12-0-|

a|-0-0--0--0--0-0-0---------------------------------------------|

A|--------------------------------------------------------------|

D|--------------------------------------------------------------|

d|-17-16-12-14-14-12-10-9-7--|

a|--0------------------------|

A|---------------------------|

D|---------------------------|