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| “21st Century Schizoid Man” | ||
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| Song by King Crimson | ||
| Album | In the Court of the Crimson King | |
| Released | October 12, 1969 | |
| Recorded | 1969 | |
| Genre | Progressive Rock | |
| Length | 7:20 | |
| Label | Atlantic Records | |
| Writer | Robert Fripp, Ian McDonald, Greg Lake, Michael Giles, Peter Sinfield | |
| Producer | Robert Fripp, Peter Sinfield | |
| In the Court of the Crimson King track listing | ||
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"21st Century Schizoid Man" is a song by progressive rock band King Crimson from their debut album In the Court of the Crimson King. To date it is one of their best-known songs.
Contents |
"Cat\'s foot iron claw
Neuro-surgeons scream for more
At paranoia\'s poison door
Twenty first century schizoid man
Blood rack barbed wire
Politicians\' funeral pyre
Innocents raped with napalm fire
Twenty first century schizoid man
Death seed blind man\'s greed
Poets\' starving children bleed
Nothing he\'s got he really needs
Twenty first century schizoid man"
The song\'s lyrics consists of a short poem with one or more metaphors in every line. Many believe that the lyrics are a prophecy, telling the listener how the world will be in the 21st CenturySongMeanings | lyrics | King Crimson - 21st Century Schizoid Man
The song has strong ties into the Vietnam War as exemplified in the lyric "innocents raped with napalm fire" and "politicians\' funeral pyre." Before a live performance of the song in on December 14, 1969, Fripp remarked that the song was dedicated to "an American political personality whom we all know and love dearly. His name is Spiro Agnew."
The final stanza of the song refers to excessive consumerism. The next to the last line of the song reads, "Nothing he\'s got he really needs."
Musically, the song is notable for its heavily distorted vocals sung by Greg Lake, a driving mechanical rhythm and piercingly loud saxophone and guitar, along with its instrumental middle section, called Mirrors. Most of the song is in either 4/4 or 6/8 time signature, save for the percussive section in Mirrors which alternates between 1/4, 2/4 and 5/4.
Even after Greg Lake left King Crimson in 1970 to form Emerson, Lake & Palmer, the song was maintained in Crimson\'s live act. It appeared on three live albums from different versions of the band, first sung by Boz Burrell on Earthbound (1972), then sung by John Wetton, on USA (1974), then sung by Adrian Belew on VROOOM VROOOM (2001, recorded in 1996).
The song has recently been covered by Ozzy Osbourne on his cover album Under Cover. Flower Travellin\' Band, Entombed, Voivod, Unrest, Rorscach and April Wine have also covered this song, as have Forbidden on their album Distortion
Bad Religion made a homage to the song called "21st Century (Digital Boy)". In it they refer to the original song several times with lyrics such as "innocents raped with napalm fire" and "21st century schizoid boy".
Talas covered this song with bassist Billy Sheehan covering quite a bit of sonic ground with his playing.
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from Wikipedia
