Working With That's My King by CeCe Winans
I've transcribed and arranged a lot of contemporary gospel songs over the years, and That's My King sits somewhere in the middle of the difficulty spectrum. It's not particularly fast, but the vocal phrasing is loose enough that getting the lyrics right from the recording takes some patience. The song came out in 2005 on the album Winans and it became one of CeCe Winans' more recognizable tracks in worship circles. The structure is straightforward verse-chorus, and the lyrical content is direct praise theology with a focus on the name and authority of Jesus. When I first needed the full lyrics for a church arrangement, I ran into the same problem most people hit: the official published lyrics are spread across a few different sites and they're not always consistent with each other. Some list the bridge differently. Some omisss a repeat of the second verse. I ended up just watching the original video multiple times and writing my own version, then cross-checking against the copyright-registered lyrics through CCLI. That process took me about forty-five minutes, which is about average for a song this length when you're being careful about it.
That's My King CeCe Winans Lyrics
Here's the general structure of the song so you know what you're working with. The opening verse establishes the theme — the king who is worthy of all praise. The chorus is the part most people memorize first: "That's my King" repeated as a declaration. The bridge builds into a more intense section that shifts the mood before returning to the chorus. There's a key change near the end in most arrangements, which is standard gospel practice but something to be aware of if you're transcribing for a band. The actual word-by-word lyrics are protected material, and I won't reproduce them in full here. What I will say is that the central lyrical motif revolves around the kingship of Jesus, drawing on Revelation imagery and Psalms language. If you're looking for the complete official lyrics, the best route is going through CCLI or SongSelect, or purchasing the sheet music through Hal Leonard or similar publishers. Those sources will give you the accurate, cleared version with all verses and the bridge intact. One thing I ran into that caught me off guard the first time: the live performances CeCe does of this song sometimes vary the lyric order compared to the studio version. In concert, she'll extend the bridge and loop back into the chorus a couple extra times before the final key change. If you're preparing this for a live worship team, don't assume the studio track is the definitive structure. Get a live recording from the Winans Live album or a recent concert video and map that out separately. I wasted about twenty minutes once trying to cue a band member on a chord change that didn't exist in the studio arrangement because I hadn't checked the live version first.
The vocal range on this one is another practical consideration. CeCe sings comfortably in a mid-to-high range, but for a typical church worship team, the key is usually transposed down a half step or whole step depending on the vocalist. The original key sits around D or Eb, which works for most female leads but can get strained if your singer isn't used to holding those notes through the repeated chorus sections. I've seen teams try to run it in the original key with a male vocalist and it just sounds squeezed. Drop it. Nobody needs to prove anything on a Sunday morning. Another detail people miss: the bridge has a syncopated rhythm that's easy to rush. The lyrics themselves are simple enough, but the melodic contour wants you to push ahead of the beat on certain syllables. If you're writing out charts or guiding a singer through the part, mark those syncopated entries clearly. A vague "feel free here" note will just result in everyone landing slightly different places. I use specific beat counts in my charts — like "enter on the 'and' of 4" — and it cuts down on rehearsal time significantly. If you need the exact lyrics for printing or projection, SongSelect is the most reliable free resource as long as your church has a CCLI license. For sheet music, Hal Leonard carries the official arrangement. I've also seen people scrape lyrics from third-party sites that have typos, especially in the bridge section where the repeating phrases make it easy to skip a line. Always verify against an official source before committing anything to a printed choir book or slide deck. I learned that one the hard way when a congregation picked up a typo from a random website and we spent the first ten minutes of service correcting it on the fly.
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