Karn Evil 9

"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^[1] 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".^[2]

The song has a running length of 29 minutes and 37 seconds. It is the fifth and final track on Brain Salad Surgery, though the initial release in both the U.S. and the UK saw "Karn Evil 9" split between the two sides of the album, due to its length. Subsequent releases have "Karn Evil 9" as a single track. There used to be a fade out/fade in between First Impression parts 1 and 2 due to the restrictions of the original vinyl transcription. This is not present on later CD versions.

Impressions

"Karn Evil 9" consists of three movements, or "Impressions", with the First Impression divided into two parts:

• 1st Impression, Part I (0:00 to 8:41)
• 1st Impression, Part II (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 and is often used as a song dedicated to the opening of sports seasons.

First Impression, Part 2 is also a common radio staple, though the fact that the song opens with the "welcome back" 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 3 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."^[2] 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 part was played on a Moog synthesizer. 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. It's actually Emerson's voice, 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,^[3] 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 domain 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"^[2] 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.^[4]

Other uses

First Impression, Part II 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, the 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 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.

References

1. ↑ "TOP 10 PROG TRACKS", Music Week, 9 April 2005  |accessdate= requires |url= (help)"3. Emerson, Lake & Palmer - Karn Evil 9 (from Brain Salad Surgery)"
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Liner notes, Brain Salad Surgery reissue, 1996. Rhino Entertainment R2 72459. Pg. 11-12
3. ↑ http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=3662
4. ↑ "Liner Notes from the DVD-A of Brain Salad Surgery - written by Jerry McCulley". ladiesofthelake.com. Retrieved 6 March 2012.  'And if one doubts the prophetic power of Lake's and Sinfield's lyrics, ponder "Where the seeds have withered, silent children shiver in the cold/Now their faces captured in the lenses of the jackals for gold" during the next media foray into Bosnia or the South Bronx. Or consider "Performing on a stool, we've a sight to make you drool, seven virgins and a mule" when sampling the exploitative TV wares of Jerry, Jenny, Montel et al.'

External links

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