"King Rat" is a song by indie rock band Modest Mouse and appears as the title track to their fifth promotional single, following "The World At Large".

The promo was given away through multiple online music stores when the individual purchased a pre-order of We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank.

Isaac Brock had stated in an interview published on 10 April 2007 that the band intended to release the song on an EP at a later date, along with other tracks that did not make the album We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank.

[1] During a boat trip with family and friends while on a visit to his native Australia in January 2007, actor Heath Ledger outlined a music video idea for the then unreleased song to frontman Isaac Brock and other band members.

Earlier media reports[1][2][5] claiming that Terry Gilliam would handle the animation work did not prove to be true.