Paul is The King of Spain

The Tallest Man on Earth, or Kristian Matsson, is a singer-songwriter from Sweden. He is known for his Bob Dylan-esque music and poetic songs. In one of these songs, The King of Spain, he sings about how he would change who he is for his lover. In many ways, this song parallels Paul in Six Degrees of Separation.

In The King of Spain, Kristian sings “I am not from Barcelona, I am not even from Madrid. I am a native of the North Pole, and that can mess up any kid.” This shows how not only is he not from Spain, but that that is a bad thing. In terms of Six Degrees, this is like Paul not being from the upper class. Another similarity is that both Paul and the character from this song both change because of another person. Paul is taught by Trent, while in the song, the person is taught by his lover. This is evident in the chorus of the song, “Well if you could reinvent my name, well if you could redirect my day, I wanna be the King of Spain.” In another section of the song, the lyrics are “And all the senoritas sighing, will be the fountain of my lies.” The meaning of these words is that as people believe him more and more, that is what would make other people believe him, in a sort of snowball effect. The “senoritas sighing” about him and believing his stories will lead him into a “fountain of lies.” The “fountain of lies” is an abundance of lies that people immediately trust, because other people trust them. This, too, exists in Paul’s ability to wiggle into these families’ lives. Paul being the “son” of a famous actor is what makes other people believe him more. In effect, the story about being an actor’s son was Paul’s sighing senoritas, which led into his fountain of lies, for example his lie about being able to be in the movie version of Cats. 

Paul, like the character in the song, does not stop too long in one place. Paul moves from family to family, creating new lies to go with each one. The singer does the same, evident in the quote, “Oh while I'm tightening my crown. I'll disappear in some flamenco perhaps I'll reach the other side.” Just as people start to trust him, he moves on. “Perhaps I’ll reach the other side” is an especially interesting quote. For the singer, it’s about how maybe he’ll make it with the next people, as the current one failed. This is exactly like Paul. After he failed with Ouisa and Flan, he moves on to Rick and Elizabeth as soon as he can. And before that he moved on to Ouisa and Flan from Kitty and Larkin. In an earlier verse, the words are “But while we're floating in siestas you search for bottles and for knives.” The verse shows how people are starting to doubt him, and maybe planning to betray him, which is why he must leave. Finally, he sings “Why are you stabbing my illusion? Just cause I stole some eagle's wings. Because you named me as your lover, well, I thought I could be anything.” This is about how he overextended himself being “The King of Spain.” This desire to be the King of Spain is his “illusion,” and “stealing some eagle’s wings” is his elevation into royalty. When he became his lover’s lover, he thought he could seduce anyone he wanted into believing him. Paul is similar, in that his illusion was moving into the upper class, and it was “stabbed” when he is found out as a fraud. 

While these two characters are similar in many manners, they are also very different. Mainly, Paul wants to move into higher society for, what he says, “everlasting friendship,” while the singer wants to be the king of spain for his lover. Also, the singer learned from his lover, which was who he was trying to impress. Paul also learned from a lover, but it was purely physical and unrequited.