The Court of the Crimson King

"The Court of the Crimson King"
"The Court of the Crimson King"
Single by King Crimson
from the album In the Court of the Crimson King
A-side	"The Court of the Crimson King, Pt. 1"
B-side	"The Court of the Crimson King, Pt. 2"
Released	October 1969 (UK) January 1970 (US)
Recorded	21–23 July 1969
Genre	Progressive rock[1]
Length	9:25 (album version); 7:16 (edited version); 3:22 (single version, Part One); 4:25 (single version, Part Two); 10:00 (album version with hidden track);
Label	Island (UK WIP-6071); Atlantic (US 2703);
Composer(s)	Ian McDonald
Lyricist(s)	Peter Sinfield
Producer(s)	King Crimson
King Crimson singles chronology

"The Court of the Crimson King" is the fifth and final track from the British progressive rock band King Crimson's debut album, In the Court of the Crimson King. Released as a single, it reached No. 80 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.[2]

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.

The track was used in the 2006 film Children of Men.[3]

Personnel

Robert Fripp – guitars
Greg Lake – bass guitar, lead vocals
Ian McDonald – Mellotron, harpsichord, organ, flute, calliope, backing vocals
Michael Giles – drums, percussion, backing vocals
Peter Sinfield – lyrics

Charts

Chart (1970)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard Hot 100[2]	80

References

Murphy, Sean (22 May 2011). "The 25 Best Progressive Rock Songs of All Time". PopMatters. Retrieved 31 July 2016.
"Hot 100 entry". Billboard. Retrieved November 14, 2017.
Crust, Kevin (7 January 2007). "Critic's Notebook; Sounds to match to the Children of Men vision". Los Angeles Times. p. E–24. Archived from the original on 2021-05-09.

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[1] Murphy, Sean (22 May 2011). "The 25 Best Progressive Rock Songs of All Time". PopMatters. Retrieved 31 July 2016.

[Billboard-2] "Hot 100 entry". Billboard. Retrieved November 14, 2017.

[LATimes-3] Crust, Kevin (7 January 2007). "Critic's Notebook; Sounds to match to the Children of Men vision". Los Angeles Times. p. E–24. Archived from the original on 2021-05-09.