FAWM: "King of an Empty Castle"

King of an Empty Castle

2025 by @paul_pedersen · @celineellis

Liner Notes

Celine Ellis can write brilliant songs on her own, so I'm honoured that she allowed me to do the musical half of this song.

CE - Writing lyrics with absolutely no involvement of melody or chords is very alien to me - So I took this opportunity to collaborate with Mr Pedersen and write him some lyrics. I allowed him free rein with what I sent him to butcher and use as he pleased and a fine job he has made of them!

Lyrics

I've built my towers from sticks and stones I have carved myself a golden throne I'm at the end of a losing battle 'Cause I'm king of an empty castle

Used to think I had it all But, oh, how the mighty fall With all the love I have to give This isn't how a lord should live

I've built my towers from sticks and stones I have carved myself a golden throne I'm at the end of a losing battle 'Cause I'm king of an empty castle

Loneliness seeps through these halls Whispers fill vacant halls Photographs don't take the place Of waking up to see your face

I've built my towers from sticks and stones I have carved myself a golden throne I'm at the end of a losing battle 'Cause I'm king of an empty castle

We built this palace with our bare hands Foundation strongest in all the land When you left, you took it all Left me with these lonely walls

I've built my towers from sticks and stones I have carved myself a golden throne I'm at the end of a losing battle 'Cause I'm king of an empty castle

Comments

@theicylakes 2025

Simple, to the point lyric! I love that. Conversational and draws me in right away. Good job guys!

@jinx 2025

I loved this right away, starting from the title. Beautiful lyrics, very visual. And a wonderful, emotive vocal performance that strikes me as absolutely perfect to tell this story.

@ragbag 2025

A voice full of character singing a memorable song - the melancholy lyrics are well matched to the singers vocal - great song - nice production too. :-)

@catetaylor 2025

This is a lovely collab. Moody, rich vocal matched nicely with the sombre story.

@doug52 2025

I see you are keeping busy, Paul. Loved the collab on this. You captured the feeling very well. Easy to listen to and understand. Great~

@whiskeygeraldine 2025

Ooh this is a great collab! I love starting with the chorus. The production is nice and layered, I also appreciate the choice to have a happier sounding melody over these sad lyrics.

@jerrypettit 2025

Very, very nice collaboration. Love the lyrics, always like Paul's vocals, and the musical arrangement is also very nice. Great collaboration! ❤️

@paulharrison 2025

Great collaboration, Paul and Celine...no surprise given what I've heard from each of you. The lyrics tie together well and Paul's music supports them in an easy to listen to way. If it were my song, I would experiment with the structure; for me, having four 4-line choruses in a 2 1/2 minute song is too many. So, I'd see how it feels to either drop the first chorus and let some of the story unfold first AND/OR share a bit more story (verse) to balance things out. But of course, as other comments suggest, it "works" well as is.

@davidtaro 2025

Lovely central metaphor, and really like how you build out the imagery from it Celine. And the music is a great mix of Paul’s normal jauntiness with an undercurrent of sadness as befits the subject matter. Really love how you jump into the third line of the verse a little ahead of the beat, very cool!

@andygriff 2025

Oh this is infectious, what a crackling collaboration. Great lyric and there are equally good hooks to hang it on. Especially like that ethereal keyboard line and the medieval style touches. Well done both of you 👏 👌

@gfandme 2025

Great lyrics and very well put to music, what a very nice collab!

@newukenewyork 2025

I really like the battle/castle rhyme, so I was happy to have that be a repeated couplet.

Very nice musical treatment to these fine lyrics. There's a soft quality that melds with the music track beautifully. It doesn't sound "old-fashioned" but has an "age-old-story" quality, with a fantasy edge.