Gil Scott-Heron - King Henry IV lyrics

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 thе day off and float
But what would always make the
King seem so tough
Is that he could gеt 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"