”The King’s Way” is a poem set to music by the English composer Edward Elgar

Edward Elgar

Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet OM, GCVO was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestral works including the Enigma Variations, the Pomp and Circumstance Marches, concertos...

 in 1909. The words were written by his wife, Caroline Alice Elgar

Caroline Alice Elgar

Caroline Alice, Lady Elgar was an English author of verse and prose fiction, who married the composer Edward Elgar.- Family :...

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Elgar employs the melody of the Trio (central section) from the Pomp and Circumstance March No. 4, which he had composed two years earlier. This first occurs at the words "The newest street in London town,/ Who’ll pace it up and pace it down?"

The song was written on 27 December 1909 to celebrate the opening of London's Kingsway

Kingsway (London)

Kingsway is a major road in central London in the United Kingdom, designated as part of the A4200. It runs from High Holborn, at its north end in the London Borough of Camden, and meets Aldwych in the south in the City of Westminster at Bush House. It was built in the 1900s...

. This is a wide street in central London which connects High Holborn

High Holborn

High Holborn is a road in Holborn in central London, England. It starts in the west near St Giles Circus, then goes east, past the Kingsway and Southampton Row, and continues east. The road becomes Holborn at the junction with Gray's Inn Road....

to the middle of a crescent south of it called Aldwych

Aldwych

Aldwych is a place and road in the City of Westminster in London, England.-Description:Aldwych, the road, is a crescent, connected to the Strand at both ends. At its centre, it meets the Kingsway...

, which connects to The Strand

Strand, London

Strand is a street in the City of Westminster, London, England. The street is just over three-quarters of a mile long. It currently starts at Trafalgar Square and runs east to join Fleet Street at Temple Bar, which marks the boundary of the City of London at this point, though its historical length...

at both ends. Kingsway was newly opened in 1905, so it was at the time the “newest street in London town”, and it was certainly one of the broadest. It was built as part of a major plan to clear slum districts in the Holborn

Holborn

Holborn is an area of Central London. Holborn is also the name of the area's principal east-west street, running as High Holborn from St Giles's High Street to Gray's Inn Road and then on to Holborn Viaduct...

 area - so the “sick and poor” of the area were a reality. It was immediately published by Booseys and first performed at an Alexandra Palace

Alexandra Palace

Alexandra Palace is a building in North London, England. It stands in Alexandra Park, in an area between Hornsey, Muswell Hill and Wood Green...

 concert on 15 January 1910, sung by Clara Butt

Clara Butt

Dame Clara Ellen Butt DBE , sometimes called Clara Butt-Rumford after her marriage, was an English contralto with a remarkably imposing voice and a surprisingly agile singing technique. Her main career was as a recitalist and concert singer.-Early life and career:Clara Butt was born in Southwick,...

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Recordings

"The Unknown Elgar" includes "The King's Way" performed by Teresa Cahill (soprano), with Barry Collett (piano).
A recording is also available on an SACD: Channel Classics Records

Channel Classics Records

Channel Classics Records is a record label from the Netherlands, specializing in classical music. The managing director and producer is C. Jared Sacks, who grew up in Boston. Sacks was schooled as a professional horn player at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and the Conservatorium van Amsterdam...

CCS SA 28610 which is Volume 2 of the complete Elgar songs for voice and piano. It is sung by Amanda Roocroft with Reinhild Mees at the piano.