Does This Look Like The Picture That Inspired Lorde's Hit Song "Royals"?

(KC Star) — It took a few weeks of research, but National Geographic has confirmed that pop star Lorde was referring to a photo of Kansas City Royals’ baseball legend George Brett when she explained where she got the inspiration for her megahit “Royals.” In an interview a few months ago with VH1, Lorde (real name Ella Yelich-O’Connor) explained how she “had this image from the National Geographic of this dude just signing baseballs. He was a baseball player and his shirt said, ‘Royals.’ “It was just that word. It’s really cool.” After The Star wrote a story on Nov. 19 about the interview, an astute reader found a photo that matched the description. The photo, published in July 1976, shows the star third baseman surrounded by adoring fans and signing baseballs. According to a National Geographic spokeswoman, “this appears to be the only photo in our archives of a Royals baseball player signing autographs.”

Well, this kind of ruins the song doesn’t it? As if 10,000 plays a day on Kiss didn’t already end the allure of Royals, this did. The song about cutting teeth on wedding rings and Cristal, Maybachs, diamonds on your timepiece and jet planes, islands, tigers on a gold leash was actually just about… George Brett signing autographs? Talk about a vivid imagination on Lorde, huh? Sees one pic of an American signing autographs and just assumes he’s the richest man in history with pet tigers and living life on a 24 hour champagne diet. Hate to break it to you, Lorde, but the reality is much less glamorous than that. The reality is that George was just pretty into shitting his pants. Good for it twice a year. True story. Who’s the pitchers in this game?

PS – I think we say it every time, but that YouTube is the only one  on the internet over 30 seconds long where I will watch the full vid whenever I open it.