Kings And Queens

Guitar Chords

(Keith Relf/Jim McCarty)
© 1969 B. Feldman & Co., Ltd.
From the Island Records LP Renaissance

Transcribed by Christopher Heckman
HTML by Joe Lynn

Intro #1 (0:00): Piano and bass play the following riff, piano embellishing:

G ----------------------------
D ------0--2--3--5--3--2--0---
A ---3------------------------
E ----------------------------

The sequence is: FAST 4x, SLOW 2x, FAST 8x, SLOW 1x, FAST 4x, SLOW 2x, slowing
down at the end.

Intro #2 (0:35): "Warmup" for piano and bass. Piano plays low C bass note, 
bass ad lib.

Entry (1:44): Drums, riff in C (strike low C twice) 35x.
Verse 1 (2:32): (Continue riff, shifting to F when indicated)

        C                    C             F               C        C    C    C 
        Kings and Queens are running wild, lonely for each other       
        C               C           F             C        C    C    C 
        Princes gallant are no more staying under cover       
        C                     C           F             C         C    C    C 
        Jesters' jokes aren't even funny, poking fun at sorrow       
        C                C                  F           C           C    C    C 
        Lords and Ladies hoard their riches fearful for tomorrow       

During the "chorus", play G, F for 1 bar, C for 2 bars. Repeat 4x.

        G         F            C    
        Fantasies turning into truth 

Verse 2 (3:47):

        C                  C            F             C         C    C    C 
        Knight in chromium plated armor looking for a reason       
        C                 C                  F            C         C    C    C 
        Kingdoms crops so fresh and pure are going out of season       
        C                 C              F              C       C    C    C 
        Maidens locked in some far tower stay inside forever       
        C                 C               F                 C         C   C   C 
        Minstrels rhyming songs of reason changing with the weather       

Break (4:25): Piano and bass, bass plays riffs like below. Piano goes out 
about 5:15.

G ------------------------------
D ------2--3-------------2--0---
A ---3----------------3---------
E ------------------------------

At 5:40, the bass and piano play C | C  F  | (4x), then 4x at twice the tempo.

At 6:00, all instruments drop out, and the piano plays a "classical bit" (on
electric piano, it sounds like to me). If this is swiped from somewhere, it
would be nice to know where. At 6:40, the bass and piano play the following 
riff:

G ------------------------------
D ----------2--3------0---------
A ---3-3-3--------3-------------
E ------------------------------

Re-entry (with the drums) occurs at 7:33. The riff in C is repeated 4x, then
Verse 1 is repeated, with the chorus:

        C                    C             F               C        C    C    C 
        Kings and Queens are running wild, lonely for each other       
        C               C           F             C        C    C    C 
        Princes gallant are no more staying under cover       
        C                     C           F             C         C    C    C 
        Jesters' jokes aren't even funny, poking fun at sorrow       
        C                C                  F           C           C    C    C 
        Lords and Ladies hoard their riches fearful for tomorrow       

        G         F            C    
        Fantasies turning into truth  [4x, of course]

At 9:00, there is a guitar + bass solo over a static C, which shifts to F and G
briefly at 9:40. The piano and bass play the opening riff (9:50):

G ----------------------------
D ------0--2--3--5--3--2--0---
A ---3------------------------
E ----------------------------

Over which is sung:

        Faces the fanfare only the fool ...

With a flourish from the piano, the song ends on C.