"The Court of the Crimson King" is the fifth and final track from the British

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. In ...

band

King Crimson King Crimson are a progressive rock band formed in 1968 in London, England. The band draws inspiration from a wide variety of music, incorporating elements of classical, jazz, folk, heavy metal, gamelan, industrial, electronic, experime ...

's debut album, ''

In the Court of the Crimson King ''In the Court of the Crimson King'' (subtitled ''An Observation by King Crimson'') is the debut studio album by English rock band King Crimson, released on 10 October 1969 by Island Records. The album is one of the earliest and most influentia ...

''. Released as a single, it reached No. 80 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart, the only King Crimson single to chart on the Hot 100.

Background

The track is dominated by a distinct riff performed on the mellotron. The main part of the song is split up into four stanzas, divided by an instrumental section called "The Return of the Fire Witch". The song climaxes at seven minutes, but continues with a little reprise, called "The Dance of the Puppets", before ending on an abrupt and free time scale. The music was composed by Ian McDonald, and the lyrics were written by

Peter Sinfield Peter John Sinfield (born 27 December 1943) is an English poet and songwriter. He is best known as the co-founder and former lyricist of King Crimson, whose debut album '' In the Court of the Crimson King'' is considered one of the first and mo ...

. The track was used in the 2006 film '' Children of Men''.

Personnel

Robert Fripp Robert Fripp (born 16 May 1946) is a British musician, songwriter, record producer, and author, best known as the guitarist, founder and longest-lasting member of the progressive rock band King Crimson. He has worked extensively as a session ...

– guitars * Greg Lake – bass guitar, lead vocals * Ian McDonald – Mellotron, organ, flute,

calliope In Greek mythology, Calliope ( ; grc, Καλλιόπη, Kalliópē, beautiful-voiced) is the Muse who presides over eloquence and epic poetry; so called from the ecstatic harmony of her voice. Hesiod and Ovid called her the "Chief of all Muse ...

, backing vocals * Michael Giles – drums,

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...

, backing vocals *

– lyrics

Charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Court of the Crimson King, The King Crimson songs 1969 debut singles Songs with lyrics by Peter Sinfield Songs written by Ian McDonald (musician) Song recordings produced by Greg Lake 1969 songs Island Records singles Atlantic Records singles Song recordings produced by Ian McDonald (musician) Rock ballads he:In the Court of the Crimson King#The Court of the Crimson King