The Phony King of England

"The Phony King of England" is a song featured in Robin Hood. It was written by Johnny Mercer and is sung by Phil Harris as Little John.

The song was sung by Little John at a private celebration honoring Robin Hood and Maid Marian's engagement, with a lot of Robin's friends dancing along to it.

The subject matter of the song centres on the singers' disapproval of Prince John's capitalism, hails Robin Hood as a hero and swears that with Robin's help, they will overcome their financial crisis.

Later, the song apparently catches on so much, even Sir Hiss and the Sheriff of Nottingham start humming it. When Prince John overhears them, he is furious and increases the villagers' taxes when the Sheriff tells him that everyone's singing it, or if they lack the amount of money expected to be paid, gives them a jail sentence.

Lyrics

 * Oh the world will sing of an English King
 * A thousand years from now
 * And not because he passed some laws
 * Or had that lofty brow
 * While bonny good King Richard leads
 * The great crusade he's on
 * We'll all have to slave away
 * For that good-for-nothin' John


 * Incredible as he is inept
 * Whenever the history books are kept
 * They'll call him the phony king of England!
 * A pox on the phony king of England!


 * He sits alone on a giant throne
 * Pretendin' he's the king
 * A little tyke who's rather like
 * A puppet on a string
 * And he throws an angry tantrum
 * If he cannot have his way
 * And then he calls for Mum
 * While he's suckin' his thumb
 * You see, he doesn't want to play


 * Too late to be known as John the First
 * He's sure to be known as John the worst
 * A pox on that phony king of England!


 * While he taxes us to pieces
 * And he robs us of our bread
 * King Richard's crown keeps slippin' down
 * Around that pointed head
 * Ah! But while there is a merry man
 * in Robin's wily pack
 * We'll find a way to make him pay
 * And steal our money back
 * A while before he knows we're there
 * Ol' Rob'll snatch his underwear!


 * The breezy and uneasy king of England!
 * The snivellin' grovellin',
 * Measly weasly,
 * Blabberin' jabberin',
 * Gibberin' jabberin',
 * Blunderin' plunderin',
 * Wheelin' dealin'
 * Prince John, that phony king of England
 * Yeah!

Trivia

 * Throughout the song, several of the characters' movements are recycled from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, The Jungle Book, and The Aristocats. Curiously enough, Scat Cat from The Aristocats makes a cameo appearance in one scene of the song.
 * The song was a family-friendly version of an actual song sung during the time of the events of Robin Hood relating to mocking Prince John, called "The ******* King of England."