Songfacts®:

• Geoff Tate says that this song draws its name from an old French proverb. "Basically it translates to 'Praise the god of all, drink the wine, and let the world be the world,'" he explained in our interview. "To me, that means respect people's ideas and their viewpoints. Not necessarily that you have to agree with them, but respect them. And enjoy life, because it's short."
• Tate's lyrics deal with a broad range of interests and ideas, reflecting the singer's own passion for engaging with life in as many ways as he can. He elaborated on this tendency in an interview with Vintage Rock: "Life is very inspirational. If you open up your mind and your heart and your eyes to what’s happening around you, inspiration will translate into your writing. I try and pay attention to what’s going on; not only to myself, but also to the people around me, the people I love." "These Glory Days" is an overt celebration of this philosophy.
• Like most of Tate's songs, it contains a thoughtful exploration of its main ideas presented in direct, understandable terms - channeled through a crunchy blues-rock sound. "Give the best you have," Tate refrains, after elaborating on the various hardships life contains, "in these glory days." It's a defiant, resilient anthem to persevering and finding meaning in life.
• Geoff Tate was a founding member of Queensrÿche, and fronted the band until his departure in 2012. He originally planned for "Kings and Thieves" to be the name of a song. It never came together, but the singer liked the name so much that he ended up using it for the album. He enjoys the ambiguity and various interpretations, and has refused in multiple interviews to give a more specific explanation, preferring to leave interpretation up to each listener.