The March of Kubla Khan

A march composed by Staccatto Toccata.

Composer's Note

I was commissioned by Kubla Khan to write a piece which would capture the feel of his namesake, a mongol emperor of China made famous in Coleridge's poem. I was told to be crass and over the top by my patron; one of his suggested lines was "He raped her, but she came!"

Ideally, this is to be sung as the patron enters the feast hall and walks to his seat. Thus, it is important to tailor the length of the song to the amount of time it takes for the patron to walk. I consider the middle two verses optional and do not suggest performing the entire piece unless the audience is paying particularly rapt attention.

I wrote this march to be performed with a heavy, ominous drum beat. There is no other instrumentation, but the vocal part has a melodic component. Unfortunately, due to the difficultly of transcribing music notation into text, it will not be recorded here. Hopefully there will be a video one day!

The chorus is repeated at the beginning, end, and between each verse.

Thank you for reading!

Chorus

(He’s) Kubla Khan, yes Kubla Khan.

O Kubla Khan, Hail Kubla Khan!

Verses

Verse One

His name is a whisper on the northern wind

If you hear it, you best run for your lives.

His wine is the blood of his enemies,

His bed is a pile of their wives.

Verse Two

His court is filled with the elite

Archers, fighters, wizards, witches

Every steed he owns, a thoroughbred

And his kennel and his harem full of bitches!

Verse Three

He once decreed that he saw laziness

And halved the men’s rations for their trouble,

But that same day, for their loyalty,

Their food and drink were to be doubled!

Verse Four

One day he kidnapped a young princess

Whose beauty and pure virtue were her fame.

As her moans cut through the camp that night

All knew: when he went to take her, she came!