Roland Orzabal explores the theme of family on the Raoul and the Kings of Spain album, a very personal album, written after, and in response to, the birth of Orzabal’s first son:

All of a sudden I was struck by the fact that I felt a great connection between myself and my father, and my father’s father, and that kind of thing. So that was, I thought, it was the right time to write a song about my family.

Orzabal’s father was French, of Spanish-Basque extraction, and Orzabal’s grandfather had been Argentine. According to Orzabal, Orzabal’s father used to claim that their family was related to Argentine presidents. Orzabal notes, tongue-in-cheek, that although “Raoul and the Presidents of Argentina” would have been a more accurate title, “not a lot of things rhyme with ‘Argentina.’”

Orzabal’s father originally named Roland “Raoul,” but a few weeks later the family changed their son’s name to “Roland,” an Anglo name. Still, “Raoul” would remain a name that Roland always identified with, and the name he eventually gave to his own firstborn son. The name “Raoul” in the song and album title, then, suggests both Roland’s father, Roland himself, and Roland’s son–three generations, fitting for a song and album which are very much about fatherhood and generational relations within families. “Raoul” is the French version of the name. The Spanish version is “Raúl.”

“Raoul and the Kings of Spain,” both the song and the album, are both quite personal to Orzabal, while also being interwoven with Spanish history and culture, Catholic imagery, and mythology.