"Epitaph" is the third track on British

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog) is a broad genre of rock music that primarily developed in the United Kingdom through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early-to-mid-1970s. Initially termed " progressive pop", the ...

band

King Crimson King Crimson were an English progressive rock band formed in London in 1968 by Robert Fripp, Michael Giles, Greg Lake, Ian McDonald (musician), Ian McDonald and Peter Sinfield. Guitarist Fripp remained the only constant member throughout the ...

's 1969 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 progressive rock band King Crimson, released on 10 October 1969, by Island Records. Often regarded as the first true progre ...

''. It was written by

Robert Fripp Robert Fripp (born 16 May 1946) is an English musician, composer, 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 mu ...

, Ian McDonald,

Greg Lake Gregory Stuart Lake (10 November 1947 – 7 December 2016) was an English musician, singer, and songwriter. He gained prominence as a founding member of the progressive rock bands King Crimson and Emerson, Lake & Palmer (ELP). Born and b ...

, and Michael Giles with lyrics written by

Peter Sinfield Peter John Sinfield (27 December 1943 – 14 November 2024) was an English poet and songwriter. He was best known as a co-founder and lyricist of King Crimson. Their debut album '' In the Court of the Crimson King'' is considered one of the fi ...

. The song is noted for its heavy use of the

Mellotron The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical musical instrument developed in Birmingham, England, in 1963. It is played by pressing its keys, each of which causes a length of magnetic tape to contact a Capstan (tape recorder), capstan, which pulls i ...

.Macan (1997), p. 23. As with the album's first track, " 21st Century Schizoid Man", the song's lyrics have a distinctly

dystopian A dystopia (lit. "bad place") is an imagined world or society in which people lead wretched, dehumanized, fearful lives. It is an imagined place (possibly state) in which everything is unpleasant or bad, typically a totalitarian or environmenta ...

feel to them and are presented as a protest to the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

. The song's title was used as the name for a

live album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track or cassette), or digital. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th centur ...

of recordings done by the original King Crimson, ''

Epitaph An epitaph (; ) is a short text honoring a deceased person. Strictly speaking, it refers to text that is inscribed on a tombstone or plaque, but it may also be used in a figurative sense. Some epitaphs are specified by the person themselves be ...

''.

Epitaph Records Epitaph Records is an American independent record label owned by Bad Religion guitarist Brett Gurewitz. A large portion of the record label, known as Hellcat Records, is owned by Tim Armstrong, frontman of the punk rock band Rancid. Several ...

also took its name from the song.

Emerson, Lake & Palmer Emerson, Lake & Palmer (informally known as ELP) were an English progressive rock Supergroup (music), supergroup formed in London in 1970. The band consisted of Keith Emerson (keyboards) of The Nice, Greg Lake (vocals, bass, guitars, producer) ...

would later incorporate an excerpt from this song after the "Battlefield" portion of the live version of their song " Tarkus", from the '' Tarkus'' album, as documented in the live album '' Welcome Back My Friends to the Show That Never Ends... Ladies and Gentlemen''.

Track listing

In 1976, "Epitaph" was released as a single with " 21st Century Schizoid Man" as the B-side, a companion to the compilation '' A Young Person's Guide to King Crimson'' (1976). # "Epitaph" (including "March for No Reason" and "Tomorrow and Tomorrow") (

, Michael Giles,

, Ian McDonald,

) # "21st Century Schizoid Man" (including "Mirrors") (Fripp, Giles, Lake, McDonald, Sinfield)

Personnel

– acoustic guitar, electric guitar * Ian McDonald –

, harpsichord, piano, flute, organ, clarinet, bass clarinet *

– bass guitar, vocals * Michael Giles – drums,

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

timpani Timpani (; ) or kettledrums (also informally called timps) are musical instruments in the percussion instrument, percussion family. A type of drum categorised as a hemispherical drum, they consist of a Membranophone, membrane called a drumhead, ...

– lyrics

References

Sources

* * * *

External links

* {{authority control 1969 songs 1976 singles King Crimson songs Rock ballads Songs with lyrics by Peter Sinfield Songs written by Robert Fripp Songs written by Ian McDonald (musician) Songs written by Greg Lake Songs written by Michael Giles Song recordings produced by Greg Lake Folk rock songs Symphonic rock songs Atlantic Records singles Song recordings produced by Ian McDonald (musician)