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Moonchild (King Crimson song)

"Moonchild"
Song by King Crimson
from the album In the Court of the Crimson King
Released12 October 1969 (1969-10-12)
Recorded31 July 1969
Genre
Length12:13
LabelAtlantic
Composer(s)
Lyricist(s)Peter Sinfield
Producer(s)King Crimson

"Moonchild" is the fourth track from British progressive rock band King Crimson's debut album, In the Court of the Crimson King.

Along with songs by Yes, this song was used in the 1998 movie Buffalo '66, in the scene in which Christina Ricci tap dances at the bowling alley.[4]

After having been rehearsed in 2013–2014 by King Crimson VIII, the song made its live debut after 48 years on 18 October 2017 in Austin, Texas.[5]

Composition

The first section, "The Dream",[2] is a mellotron-driven ballad, but after two and a half minutes it changes to a completely free-form instrumental improvisation by the band (called "The Illusion"[2]), which lasts until the end of the song. Robert Fripp plays a snippet of "The Surrey With the Fringe on Top" (from Rodgers & Hammerstein's "Oklahoma!") in this section.[citation needed] In the 2009 remix of the album, the track was edited by Fripp and colleague Steven Wilson, with around 2.30 minutes of the original improvisation (the reference by Fripp to "The Surrey With the Fringe on Top") being removed. This issue of the album does, however, offer the original version as a bonus track.

The song contains drummer Michael Giles performing a unique alternation between the ride cymbals,[6] which was praised by music critics and writers.[7] The song was described as a "space jam."[7] Giles describes the radical "Moonchild" as "an opportunity. We had recorded the material that we wanted to be on the album, so we thought, why not record something that is not improvisation in a jazz way, but is free of structure? You are just dealing with time and space. Music, of all the art forms, is just abstract; you can't pick it up or hold it, or put it on the wall. We started off with this little ditty and then we just took off into outer space, into nothingness, to see what happened. If it had been rubbish we wouldn't have left it on there. I keep looking at the other side of things. What about if we hadn't done it? What about if it wasn't there?"[8]

"What is rarely ever mentioned about In the Court of the Crimson King is that a quarter of its running time is given over to free improvisation," writes Mike Barnes in his book A New Day Yesterday: UK Progressive Rock & the 70s (2020), adding: "'Moonchild' rarely got more than a passing mention in contemporary reviews and is still barely mentioned in more recent commentaries. One gets the feeling that it was a track that some listeners would skip – in the way that Beatles fans might have passed on 'Revolution 9' – but in its own contemplative way, 'Moonchild' was both beautifully played and the most adventurous track by a British rock group to date."[8]

Personnel

Covers

  • British rock band Doves used the melody from this song for their track "M62 Song".
  • Rapper MIMS samples the song in his track "Doctor Doctor".
  • "Moonchild" has also been interpreted by the Italian psychedelic progressive rock band Twenty Four Hours on the album The Smell of The Rainy Air, in 1991

References

  1. ^ Macan (2009), p.24
  2. ^ a b c Smith (2009), p.72
  3. ^ Barker (2006), p.180
  4. ^ Lunn, Oliver. "things you didn't know about vincent gallo's buffalo '66". i-D. I-D MAGAZINE. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
  5. ^ "King Crimson Setlist at Bass Concert Hall, Austin". setlist.fm. Retrieved 2022-03-23.
  6. ^ Everett (2008), p.16
  7. ^ a b Martin (1998), p.159
  8. ^ a b Barnes, Mike (2024). A New Day Yesterday: UK Progressive Rock & the 70s (2nd ed.). London: Omnibus Press. pp. 54–56. ISBN 9781915841360.

Sources
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