The King is Half-Undressed was the first song I heard by this incredible band, Jellyfish. This was the video I saw and knew I was going to like. None of their music ever disappointed!
Written by Andy Sturmer and Roger Manning
So this is where she stands at night
On this cold avenue of lights
The red and greens but mostly reds
For you he’s stopping
In seeing him she knows him less
His stick is wet, she’s half undressed
And all and all they’re both obsessed
With so much nothing
I know it’s hard for you to see
What lies behind’s a mystery
If words could speak they’d mean even less
When the king is half undressed
She dots her “I’s” with a smiley face
A work of art in all but taste
The fool deserves the bed he’s made
Where idiots slumber
Divine she is to aire this fate
A crack of smile through all this hate
Means nothing more in this nervous state
Of so much nothing
I know it’s hard for you to see
The truth behind is misery
If words could speak they’d mean even less
When the king is half undressed
Blue autumns
Sunshine kisses
Hearts and flowers
And broken wishes
I know it’s hard for you to see
What lies behind’s a mystery
If words could speak they’d mean even less
When the king is half undressed
I know it’s hard for you to see
The truth behind is misery
If words could speak they’d mean even less
When the king is half undressed
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This is one of my most favorite music videos ever. I will never forget the first time I saw it. I had just heard a song from their album on the college radio station a few days before (“All I Want Is Everything”) and really liked it and then I saw this video on TV. I almost couldn’t believe my eyes. When the band came up over the hill at the start of the video, it looked as if some lost Saturday morning cartoon band had somehow magically stepped out of 1970 and come to life in real flesh and blood right in front of me. It was nothing like any bands looked like in 1990. They sounded something like Cheap Trick and The Partridge Family had somehow melted together. Andy, now seated (as if a king on a throne) appears to be wearing a magic top hat that bursts open shooting things up into the sky, like fruit and flowers and birds and even a dog appears, while the rest of the band surrounds him banging tambourines like a bunch of psychedelic Davy Joneses. Andy also joins in by playing his tambourine through the top of his head. As the happy bouncy song progresses it begins to reveal that things are not that happy for the protagonists in the song (“A crack of smile through all this hate”) but they are not going to reveal their mysteries to you with just one listen. When they sing the line “Blue Autumns” it suddenly turns to night. The flowers shooting from the hat turn into bubbles floating down surrounding the band. The song breaks into an almost acapella refrain. Now it sounds like the Beach Boys and Wings have formed an angel choir and are singing down from the heavens. The band looks up to the sky to see all of the things from the hat now beginning to tumble back down. The dog ducks back in the hat for cover. The song returns to its chorus but the band is no longer playing tambourines. They have been replaced by Hoola-Hoops, pin-wheels and possibly fruit. Then the song suddenly ends. Andy removes the hat to reveal it is empty. Jellyfish were really here – at least for a little while.
This song played on the in-store loop of music videos in the young men’s section of J.C. Penny back around 1990 when I worked there. Also it was The Cure, Erasure and others. I’d love to see that tape now!