When You Are a King

"When You Are a King" is a 1971 pop song by British band White Plains. It was written by John and Roger Hill, in contrast to most White Plains songs that were written by Roger Cook and Roger Greenaway. Roger Greenaway did produce the song.[4]

"When You Are a King"
Single by White Plains
from the album When You Are a King
B-side"The World Gets Better With Love"
Released5 July 1971 (1971-07-05)[1]
GenreBubblegum pop[2][3]
LabelDeram
Songwriter(s)John Hill and Roger Hill
Producer(s)Roger Greenaway
White Plains singles chronology
"Every Little Move She Makes"
(1971)		 "When You Are a King"
(1971)		 "Gonna Miss Her Mississippi"
(1971)

Releases and charts

"When you are a king
Never do a thing
Four and twenty blackbirds sing along
Royal gifts they all will bring"

The song was released as a single with "The World Gets Better With Love" on its B-side.[4] It was included as the title song in the When You Are a King album, released in the UK by Deram Records. It was included in the UK White Plains compilation album, My Baby Loves Lovin' (1993; track #16).

"When You Are a King" reached number 13 on the UK Singles Chart.[5][6] In the Netherlands, it topped out at number 4 in the Top 100, 9 in the Top 40, and, in the year 2001, 844 in the all time Top 2000. It charted 100 in the Australian ARIA Charts.[7]

Robin Carmody of Freaky Trigger described the song as an "impeccable, mock-regal" example of 1971 British bubblegum pop and named it Tony Burrows' "second good song" after White Plains' 1970 hit "I’ve Got You On My Mind".[2]

Covers

The first to cover the song, in 1971, was the Irish singer Jackie Lee, who included the song in her album Jackie's Junior Choice.[8] An anonymous cover is included in the 1972 multi-artist collection Hot Hits 6 (track #5). In 1976, the song was covered by an Anglo-Irish girl group, the Nolan Sisters.[9]

A popular Hebrew cover version, Melekh Ha'Olam (King of the World; can also mean God), was translated and recorded by the Israeli singer-songwriter, Shlomo Artzi.[10] It was included as the title song in his 2000 studio album. This album sold over 200,000 copies; an unprecedented achievement in the small Israeli music market.

References
  1. "White Plains - When You Are a King". hitparade.ch.
  2. Carmody, Robin (1 January 2002). "The Cottage Industry of Moments". Freaky Trigger. p. 1. Retrieved 20 November 2022.
  3. Stanley, Bob (13 September 2013). "1970: Everything's Gone Gray". Yeah Yeah Yeah: The Story of Modern Pop. Faber & Faber. p. 282. ISBN 978-0-571-28198-5.
  4. "When You Are A King by White Plains". Songfacts. Hartford, Connecticut.
  5. Gambaccini, Paul; Tim Rice; Jo Rice (1995). British Hit Singles (10th ed.). London: Guinness Publishing. p. 335. ISBN 0-85112-633-2.
  6. Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 599. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
  7. Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 336. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  8. "Jackie Lee - Jackie's Junior Choice". Discogs. Portland, Oregon.
  9. "The Nolan Sisters - When You Are A King". Discogs. Portland, Oregon.
  10. Sivan, Hadas (2022-01-19). "מלך העולם לא של שלמה ארצי במקור: אוריין שוקרון במחווה מיוחדת" [King of the World is not originally Artzi's: Orian Shukrun in a special tribute]. Srugim. Retrieved 2022-01-21. השיר When you are a King של להקת White Plains יצא לפני 50 שנה, ובשנת 2000 תרגם אותו לעברית שלמה ארצי וביצע את השיר בעצמו. [The song When You Are a King by the band White Plains was released 50 years ago, and in 2000 Shlomo Artzi translated it into Hebrew and performed the song himself.]
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