King: weakest/most important big piece in chess

King of the Road – by Roger Miller was #1 for ten weeks on the adult contemporary Billboard charts in 1965

kingI woke up on my birthday morning this month thinking about the king in chess. It’s the weakest piece, except for the pawns. It can only move one space at a time, save for castling, which can only take place once a game.

Yet the very point of the game is to capture the king. It lead to a melisma of thoughts about how we need to protect the most vulnerable among us. Dreams, and exhaustion, will do that to you.

Then I thought of all the people who have been dubbed the “king of” some aspect of life. “I’m king of the world, ” Jack Dawson (Leo DeCaprio) shouts, not long before he dies in the cold Atlantic in the movie Titanic (1997).

King of the Hill (1997-2010) was an animated program I watched a lot. Hank Hill, the patriarch of a middle-class American family in the fictional city of Arlen, Texas. He was hardly the monarch of his household.

My daughter is studying world history, and for all the great kings, Caesars and czars she read about, there were three or four duds.

As usual, the brain went right to music. A recent article in the Boston Globe suggested that Michael Jackson, who had been dubbed the King of Pop, should really make us uncomfortable now, after the revelations in the recent documentary Finding Neverland. So his music should, too. Discus.

Here’s a piece from NPR: Benny Goodman: Forever The King Of Swing

King Of Swing – Big Bad Voodoo Daddy

It’s Good to Be King – Tom Petty

King of Pain – The Police (#3 in 1983)
King of Suede – Weird Al Yankovic (#62 in 1984), parody of the Police

King of the Road – Roger Miller (#4 pop, #1 for ten weeks adult contemporary, #1 for five weeks country in 1965)

King Tut – Steve Martin and the Toot Uncommons (#17 in 1978); the Saturday Night Live performance

(Chart action from Billboard, pop charts unless otherwise indicated.)

For ABC Wednesday

Author: Roger

I'm a librarian. I hear music, even when it's not being played. I used to work at a comic book store, and it still informs my life. I won once on JEOPARDY! - ditto.

5 thoughts on “King: weakest/most important big piece in chess”

  1. that’s a whole lot of kings! I like how your thoughts on chess led you to think about the most vulnerable members of our population – that’s the way a good king would think…I think.

  2. Once, many years ago, I played it a lot, and according to others, I did quit well
    Now…. I don’t know / remember anything about it … but I do admire those who play it

    Well as long as the fun wast a ‘joint venture’ too I am all good 😉

    Have a splendid, ♥-warming ABC-Wednes-day / -week at https://abcwednesday.com
    ♫ M e l d y ♪ (ABC-W-team)
    http://melodyk.nl/24-K

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