2016Released
3:39

Did You Know?

Interesting facts and trivia about Zero Pharoah. By Songfacts®.

This song finds vocalist Jonathan Higgs trying on absolute power and admitting that he too would fail to resist its corrupting influence. He told NME: "There is that line 'Why won't you ever say no' and not be corrupted, and then at the end, I say, 'I'm going to be it - I'm going to be the dick now."

The song is about rulers who once they start being treated like gods, wield far too much power and become corrupted. Higgs explained to The Line Of Best Fit: "Pharaohs are really the ultimate example of that - they somehow managed to get thousands of people to spend hundreds of years (or however long) to literally kill themselves dragging stones meant for a huge tomb, and they had slaves buried alive with them too so that they would have slaves in the afterlife... just the most insane s--t, really. They were revered as gods." "I was very interested in North Korea a while ago, and what's happening there in the way they deify their leader, and what that means and what it would feel like, and how f---ed up it is," he continued. "The central question being asked in the song is would you say no if you were offered that power? I'm also asking why - why you wouldn't say no, why won't you just turn it down?" "At the very end of the song I say 'I'll smash up your Pharaoh and I'll take it myself; I'll be corrupt... I'm no better'. It's the expression of absolute power corrupts absolutely, and then me being sucked into that corrupted wormhole," Higgs added. "Despite it being kinda laid-back sounding, I'm being pretty snarky about it all, like when I sing: 'They tell me he's a household name/only no one has a house anymore...' or the general feeling of 'oh well, everything's f--ked up, but at least we have the Pharaoh!'"

Song Analysis

Key, BPM (tempo) and time signature of Zero Pharoah.
EKey
MinorMode
4/4Time Signature
196BPM

Album

The album Zero Pharoah is released on.

Released By

The record label that has released Zero Pharoah.
Big Picnic Records
© 2016 Big Picnic Records
℗ 2016 Big Picnic Records

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