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21st Century Schizoid Man
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21st Century Schizoid Man
"21st Century Schizoid Man" is a song by the progressive rock band King Crimson, released in October 1969 as the opening track on their debut album In the Court of the Crimson King. Often regarded as the group's signature song, it was described by Rolling Stone as "a seven-and-a-half-minute statement of purpose: rock power, jazz spontaneity, and classical precision harnessed in the service of a common aim" and as an early example of heavy metal.
The lyrics of "21st Century Schizoid Man" were written by Peter Sinfield and consist chiefly of disconnected phrases which present a series of images in a fixed pattern. The first line of each verse consists of two short phrases, while the second line is a single, more specific image, and the third is a longer phrase or a full sentence. The fourth and last line of each verse is the song's title.
The song criticizes the Vietnam War with the lyrics "Politicians' funeral pyre/Innocents raped with napalm fire" and "death seed", which according to Sinfield refers to a "harvest of bad things" created by the use of Agent Orange. The line "Cat's foot, iron claw" refers to the French fable "The Monkey and the Cat".
Before a live performance of the song on 14 December 1969 (later included on the live album Epitaph), guitarist Robert Fripp sarcastically remarked that the song was dedicated to then-Vice President of the United States Spiro Agnew, "an American political personality whom we all know and love dearly."
The eerie intro sound was created by woodwind and keyboard player Ian McDonald pressing his forearm onto the keys of the studio's bellows-driven reed organ, causing the instrument to malfunction and "wheeze" unpredictably.
The song proper begins with a heavy adagio C minor hexatonic riff in 4/4 played in unison by McDonald on alto saxophone and Robert Fripp on overdriven electric guitar, over a pedal point bass from Greg Lake, until the last three notes, which the bass follows. The first six notes were composed by Lake and the final three longer ones – mostly played as power chords – were added by McDonald. The riff is interspersed with heavily distorted vocals, sung by Lake, accompanied only by staccato C minor seventh chords from Fripp. After two verses the song transitions, via an accelerando on six repeats of the final three power chords of the riff, into a lengthy allegro instrumental middle section in 6/8 called "Mirrors".
"Mirrors" begins with an alternately rising and falling syncopated theme written by Fripp, with saxophone and guitar still playing in unison, before moving into a second section written by McDonald during his army band days called "Three Score and Four", which features an upbeat jazz saxophone riff overlaid with long, sustained guitar notes.
Next comes Robert Fripp's dissonant and almost atonal guitar solo, which was rated number 82 in Guitar World's list of the "Top 100 Greatest Guitar Solos" in 2008. Louder Sound ranked the solo at No. 56 in its "100 greatest guitar solos in rock" poll in 2018. Fripp recorded his solo on 4 August 1969 as an overdub with an alternating down-up fingerpicking technique. It is followed by a double tracked alto saxophone solo from Ian McDonald. McDonald believed that his earlier attempts at the solo were unsatisfactory, so he recorded the solo in a crouching position, believing that it would add a sense of "angst" to his playing.
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21st Century Schizoid Man
"21st Century Schizoid Man" is a song by the progressive rock band King Crimson, released in October 1969 as the opening track on their debut album In the Court of the Crimson King. Often regarded as the group's signature song, it was described by Rolling Stone as "a seven-and-a-half-minute statement of purpose: rock power, jazz spontaneity, and classical precision harnessed in the service of a common aim" and as an early example of heavy metal.
The lyrics of "21st Century Schizoid Man" were written by Peter Sinfield and consist chiefly of disconnected phrases which present a series of images in a fixed pattern. The first line of each verse consists of two short phrases, while the second line is a single, more specific image, and the third is a longer phrase or a full sentence. The fourth and last line of each verse is the song's title.
The song criticizes the Vietnam War with the lyrics "Politicians' funeral pyre/Innocents raped with napalm fire" and "death seed", which according to Sinfield refers to a "harvest of bad things" created by the use of Agent Orange. The line "Cat's foot, iron claw" refers to the French fable "The Monkey and the Cat".
Before a live performance of the song on 14 December 1969 (later included on the live album Epitaph), guitarist Robert Fripp sarcastically remarked that the song was dedicated to then-Vice President of the United States Spiro Agnew, "an American political personality whom we all know and love dearly."
The eerie intro sound was created by woodwind and keyboard player Ian McDonald pressing his forearm onto the keys of the studio's bellows-driven reed organ, causing the instrument to malfunction and "wheeze" unpredictably.
The song proper begins with a heavy adagio C minor hexatonic riff in 4/4 played in unison by McDonald on alto saxophone and Robert Fripp on overdriven electric guitar, over a pedal point bass from Greg Lake, until the last three notes, which the bass follows. The first six notes were composed by Lake and the final three longer ones – mostly played as power chords – were added by McDonald. The riff is interspersed with heavily distorted vocals, sung by Lake, accompanied only by staccato C minor seventh chords from Fripp. After two verses the song transitions, via an accelerando on six repeats of the final three power chords of the riff, into a lengthy allegro instrumental middle section in 6/8 called "Mirrors".
"Mirrors" begins with an alternately rising and falling syncopated theme written by Fripp, with saxophone and guitar still playing in unison, before moving into a second section written by McDonald during his army band days called "Three Score and Four", which features an upbeat jazz saxophone riff overlaid with long, sustained guitar notes.
Next comes Robert Fripp's dissonant and almost atonal guitar solo, which was rated number 82 in Guitar World's list of the "Top 100 Greatest Guitar Solos" in 2008. Louder Sound ranked the solo at No. 56 in its "100 greatest guitar solos in rock" poll in 2018. Fripp recorded his solo on 4 August 1969 as an overdub with an alternating down-up fingerpicking technique. It is followed by a double tracked alto saxophone solo from Ian McDonald. McDonald believed that his earlier attempts at the solo were unsatisfactory, so he recorded the solo in a crouching position, believing that it would add a sense of "angst" to his playing.