King Crimson

 King Crimson is a band that I don’t listen to often but they have some great songs. King Crimson was an English rock band created in London in 1968. Their first album In the Court of the Crimson King is their most famous and best. Some people may know about 21st Century Schizoid Man because it was sampled by Kanye in his song Power. This album has great songs such as 21st Century Schizoid Man, Epitaph, and I Talk to the Wind. I am always amazed with their songs on how they can so few lyrics yet also manage to get out such a big message.

21st Century Schizoid Man

21st Century Schizoid Man is a song about a man coming back from the Vietnam War with schizoid personality disorder. The first lyrics are “Cat's foot, iron claw Neurosurgeons scream for more At paranoia's poison door.” The cat's foot iron claw lyrics resemble how before the war a cat's foot may have seemed cute or playful but when he returns all he can see is an iron claw, an instrument meant only for harm. With the “Neurosurgeons scream for more At paranoia's poison door” line, it resembles that this man is so close to slipping through the paranoid poison door while the neurosurgeons are pumping whatever medicine they can to stop that from happening. So they are screaming for more drugs. “Blood rack barbed wire Politicians' funeral pyre Innocents raped with napalm fire.” This line symbolizes how corrupt politicians are burned with respect, while the innocent are killed ruthlessly. To the schizoid man, it seems easier to forget about these innocent people or to not care about them. “Death seed blind man's greed Poets' starving children bleed Nothing he's got he really needs Twenty-first century schizoid man.” The lyric ”Death seed blind man’s greed” talks about the politicians who enrolled the entire country in war, seeding death, and were blind to what the poor soldiers would experience. They were fueled by greed for power and political status. They seeded death for everyone else in the country besides themselves, even the starving children of poets. With all of this injustice and coldness in the world, it has shaped the new face of the 21st century, the 21st-century Schizoid Man.

Epitaph

Epitaph is another song on war however this song focuses’ mainly on nuclear war. I think that it is focusing specifically on the Cold War. The first lyrics in the song are “The wall on which the prophets wrote Is cracking at the seams. Upon the instruments of death The sunlight brightly gleams.” This lyric gives us an image of the sun shining its rays onto the instruments of death (nukes). “When every man is torn apart With nightmares and with dreams” all fear for the nuclear holocaust and wish for a better future. “Will no one lay the laurel wreath As silence drowns the screams.” This lyric means that there are no winners in this war and in the end after the nukes have been launched there will be no one left. “The seeds of time were sown,  And watered by the deeds of those Who know and who are known” The seeds of time were sown are that these East/West ideologies have lead to this situation. The ones who know and are known are the politicians. “Knowledge is a deadly friend When no one sets the rules.”This knowledge is E=mc^2. To much intelligence with far to little wisdom. “The fate of all mankind I see Is in the hands of fools.” The main character believes that fools rule the world.”Confusion will be my epitaph. As I crawl a cracked and broken path” This is an image of a post-nuke world where he walks through the chaos. “If we make it we can all sit back and laugh.” If they do not destroy themselves then maybe one day they can laugh about this. “But I fear tomorrow I'll be crying, Yes I fear tomorrow I'll be crying.” He is sure that tomorrow they will not be laughing.

I think it would be a great idea to listen to the songs after reading my review so that you guys can share your ideas about the lyrics.🤔

                                                         Johnathon Spencer