Lyrics King Henry IV - Gil Scott-Heron

King Henry IV

The king is alive and twenty million strong
And long before he ever ascended to his throne
He was made fun of, a source of great humor
His domination over neighborhoods was nothing but rumor
The reason I felt black kids was headed for a fall
Was the day I read this poem painted in the bathroom stall
«Fuck a man in the butt and you could get it for sure
Pass a dope needle around and there wasn’t no cure»
The kids believed if you wasn’t gay and you didn’t shoot dope
You was home free, take the day off and float
But what would always make the king seem so tough
Is that he could get in and then take five years to show back up
And you can go scream at them until you get hoarse
But they don’t understand about King Henry the Fourth
He was no more than a whisper in gay after-hours spots
If there are no bloodless revolutions, why hadn’t he fired a shot?
Sunday mornings from the pulpit, he was blamed on promiscuity
More confusing newspaper bullshit only furthered the ambiguity
Preachers became obsessed in calling him, «A message from above»
The creature’s game progressed, since nobody knew exactly who the fuck he was
Completely taking over areas that had never seen royalty
But soon millions on five continents could all pledge their loyalty
The invisible monarch was steady doing his thing
He never heard folks once saying, «Hail to the king»
But he’s got powers you can’t help but endorse
And the Africans call him, «King Henry the Fourth»