Lyrics to Great King Rat

This version of Great King Rat was released by Queen in 1973.

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Here's more interesting things in songs and lyrics tied to Queen or about the 1970s in general.

Great King Rat died today

Born on the twenty first of May
Died syphillis forty four on his birthday
Every second word he swore
Yes he was the son of a whore
Always wanted by the law

Wouldn’t you like to know?
Wouldn’t you like to know people?
Great King Rat was a dirty old man
And a dirty old man was he
Now what did I tell you
Would you like to see?

Where will I be tomorrow?
Will I beg or will I borrow?
I don’t care I don’t care anyway
Come on come on the time is right
I told you ah yes I told you
And that’s no lie oh no no no

Wouldn’t you like to know?
Wouldn’t you like to know?
Wouldn’t you like to know?
Great King Rat was a dirty old man
And a dirty old man was he
Now what did I tell you?
Would you like to see?

Wouldn’t you like to know?
Wouldn’t you like to know people?
Great King Rat was a dirty old man
And a dirty old man was he
Now what did I tell you?
Would you like to see?

Now listen all you people
Put out the good and keep the bad
Don’t believe all you read in the Bible
You sinners get in line
Saints you leave far behind
Very soon you’re gonna be h
Don’t listen to what mama says
Not a word not a word mama says
Or else you’ll find yourself being the rival
The great Lord before He died
Knelt sinners by his side
And said you’re gonna realize tomorrow

No I’m not gonna tell you
What you already know
‘Cause time and time again
The old man said it all a long time ago
Come come on the time is right
This evil man will fight
I told you once before

Wouldn’t you like to know?
Wouldn’t you like to know?
Just like I said before
Great King Rat was a dirty old man
And a dirty old man was he
The last time I tell you?
Would you like to see?

Want more lyrics and songs by Queen?

Queen has released many songs over the years besides Great King Rat. Queen released songs from 1973 to 1995 spanning across albums like Queen, Sheer Heart Attack, Queen II, A Night At The Opera, A Day At The Races, News Of The World, Jazz, The Game, Hot Space, The Works, A Kind Of Magic, The Miracle, Innuendo, and Made In Heaven. Decade Lyrics has over lyrics & songs by Queen.

About Lyrics and Great King Rat by Queen

The lyrics for Great King Rat are defined as the words making up the song released by Queen in 1973. It also includes the verses and words used by the background chorus in the song. Like many hit songs, the lyrics to Great King Rat have different meanings to different people. While it is clear in some of the lyrics what the artist is trying to really say, only Queen and those working with them know all of the meanings behind all of the lyrics to their songs.

Some folks are interested in word and phrase etymology. It is easy to understand the lyrics to Great King Rat by Queen if you think through it. The word "lyric" itself derives from the Latin word lyricus, with the actual English word lyrics applied to the definition "words set to music" listed in Stainer and Barrett's 1876 Dictionary of Musical Terms. Continuing the chain, the Latin word lyricus derives from the Greek word λυρικός or lyrikós. This somewhat means "poetry accompanied by the lyre" or "words set to music." You can easily see that by looking at the background of the word lyric, that the "lyrics to Great King Rat" means the words set to the music of Great King Rat, or poetry accompanied by the lyre played by Queen. The singular form "lyric" is still used to mean the complete words to a song. However, the singular form lyric is also commonly used to refer to a specific line (or phrase) within a song's lyrics. Hence, by this analysis of word structure, you could say that the lyric to Great King Rat and the lyrics to Great King Rat are both one and the same thing. None of this talk about the word Lyrics is really relevant to fans of Queen who came here looking just for the lyrics to Great King Rat, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.