Kill the King
Capitol Punishment: The Megadeth Years
2000
Duration: 3:46
Track number: 1
Writers
Lyrics by: Dave Mustaine
Music by: Dave Mustaine
Theme
This track, along with 'Dread and the Fugitive Mind,' was a new song released on the compilation. It is a classic Megadeth song about **rebellion and defiance against corrupt authority**. The phrase **'Kill the King, the King is dead, long live the King'** is a direct political and historical allusion, but Mustaine turns it inward, declaring **'I am the King,'** suggesting a victory over a deceitful leader and reclaiming power for himself, even if he's 'broken down.' It served as a powerful declaration just before the band's temporary hiatus.
Lyrics
Broken down, feeling naked
Leaving me unfulfilled
Promising compromise
Championing mediocrity
Time and time again
What you said ain't what you mean
Even if all my bones are broken
I will drag myself back from the edge to
**Kill the King, the King is dead, long live the King**
**Kill the King, the King is dead, long live the King**
**I am the King**, God save the King
Kill the King, the King is dead
I am the King, long live the King
Kill the King, the King is dead
I am the King, long live the King
I reveal a deceiver
In the highest seat in the land
His idle hands the devil's workshop
Generate more smoke than heat
Time and time again
What you said ain't what you mean
A new precedent in pain, a new precedent in pain
Mankind is blown to dust, mankind is blown to dust
An explosion of the brain, an explosion of the brain
Spontaneously combust, spontaneously combust
Kill the King, the King is dead, long live the King
I am the King
Kill the King, the King is dead, long live the King
I am the King
