Karn Evil 9

"Karn Evil 9"
Song

"Karn Evil 9" is an extended work by progressive rock group Emerson, Lake & Palmer, appearing on the album Brain Salad Surgery. A futuristic fusion of rock and classical themes, it is regarded by some to be their best work together with the song "Tarkus". At nearly half an hour long, it is also their longest studio recording.

General information

"Karn Evil 9" was written by Keith Emerson, Greg Lake, and former King Crimson lyricist Peter Sinfield. The phrase "Karn Evil" is a slight alteration of the word "carnival".

It is the fifth and final track on Brain Salad Surgery with a running length of 29 minutes and 37 seconds. The initial release of the album on vinyl found "Karn Evil 9" split between the two sides due to its length, with a fade out/fade in between First Impression parts 1 and 2. Subsequent releases on compact disc and digital download have "Karn Evil 9" as a single track.

Impressions

"Karn Evil 9" consists of three movements (called "impressions") with the first impression divided into two parts:

• 1st Impression, Part 1 (0:00 to 8:41)
• 1st Impression, Part 2 (8:42 to 13:22)
• 2nd Impression (13:23 to 20:30)
• 3rd Impression (20:31 to 29:37)

The work's most recognizable portion to many is First Impression Part 2 and its introduction ("Welcome back, my friends / To the show that never ends"), which eventually became the title of their second live album. It is often used as a song dedicated to the opening of sports seasons. First Impression Part 2 is also a common radio staple, although it opens with the intro line can leave casual radio listeners a bit surprised, not necessarily knowing what led up to that point from Part 1 (the common problem being that combined, First Impression lasts over 13 minutes, and hence would not be well accessible on radio played with Parts 1 and 2 together due to its length, so the shorter Part 2 is just played by itself instead).

Interpretation

The story of "Karn Evil 9" is told in three parts, with the second part being an instrumental interlude. First Impression, beginning with the beginning of the world "Cold and misty morning..." and eventually gets to the future, tells the story of a futuristic world from which "all manner of evil and decadence had been banished." The decadence of the old world is preserved through exhibits that are part of a futuristic carnival show, which exhibits depravities like "seven virgins and a mule," along with things that are rare in the future, such as a "real blade of grass."

The Second Impression is an instrumental and unlike the rest of "Karn Evil", is just three instruments: piano, bass and drums. The steel drum kit was real and it had its own electronic synthesizers. There is supposedly a vocal around 2 minutes (15 minutes as a whole song) that sounds like a small child's voice saying "Daddy, let's go see the carnival!" as reference to the first part. However, its is actually Emerson's voice, just sped up and altered. This impression changes from an upbeat out-of-control tune to a creepy slow interval and then picks up the pace again with a structure similar to that of a sonata. It is allegedly about computers scheming against the humans, and the humans completely unsuspecting this. This Impression is often overlooked and is less popular than the others, though it is a rather complex piece, showing the three musicians' virtuosity.

The Third Impression continues the story begun in the second, describing a war between humans and computers, which can be interpreted in three different ways. One interpretation allows the victory to the humans, who reimpose their dominion over the computers. The second interpretation allows victory to the computers, claiming that the computers were successful in dominating the humans and let them live only for the sake of gloating. The third interpretation, consistent with Peter Sinfield's original interpretation that "what [Man had] invented ironically takes him over" has humans winning a war with the help of computers, only to find the computers taking over in the moment of victory.

Writing credits and vocals

• First Impression: Music by Keith Emerson, vocals and lyrics written by Greg Lake.
• Second Impression: Music by Emerson.
• Third Impression: Music by Emerson, lyrics by Lake and Peter Sinfield. All vocals are sung by Lake, except the computerized vocals, which are Emerson's.

There is some disagreement as to how much of the lyrics were written by Sinfield. All credits listed show that Lake wrote the lyrics for First Impression alone, but Sinfield himself implies that he co-wrote all lyrics in Karn Evil 9.

Other uses

First Impression Part 2 was used as the theme tune for the BBC's Jim Davidson's Generation Game during the mid late-1990s. The vocals regarding seven virgins and a mule were omitted.

As of September 2007, First Impression Part 2 is heard in a commercial for Dr Pepper.

It is also used as the intro for the Hard Rock Park website. It's recently been used as the song for the introduction of Stockton Thunder.

The song was covered by guitarist Paul Gilbert on his live album Beehive Live and in the end of his instructional video Guitars from Mars II.

First Impression Part 2 can also be heard in the intro of the Episode "Career Day" in Season 1 of That '70s Show, the song goes for about 10 seconds and can be faintly heard for the first minute or so until it stops completely once Eric leaves the basement.

The intro of "Zombies, March!" by shock rock/thrash metal band GWAR is based on this song.

The Blue Devils Drum & Bugle Corps used Karn Evil 9 for the drum solo in 1984.

External links

• SongFact.com, an explanation of the meaning to the lyrics