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From tamsun.tamu.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!male.EBay.Sun.COM!halloween.EBay.Sun.COM!warlock
Mon Dec 14 13:59:19 PST 1992
Article: 4364 of alt.guitar.tab
Path: nevada.edu!tamsun.tamu.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!male.EBay.Sun.COM!halloween.EBay.Sun.COM!warlock
From: warlock@halloween.EBay.Sun.COM (Dennis Montgomery)
Newsgroups: alt.guitar.tab
Subject: King Crimson: Epitaph CRD & TAB
Date: 14 Dec 1992 16:35:03 GMT
Organization: Sun Microsystems, Inc. Mt. View, Ca.
Lines: 61
Message-ID:
Reply-To: warlock@halloween.EBay.Sun.COM (Dennis Montgomery)
NNTP-Posting-Host: halloween.ebay.sun.com
********************************************************************************
King Crimson : Epitaph transcription by Dennis Montgomery
warlock@halloween.EBay.Sun.COM
NOTES: 1) I'm pretty sure it's called an 'F#m+(Add B)'...it's a thoroughly Fripp chord
2) Let the notes of the guit-arpeggios ring out as long as possible
3) Try the guit-arpeggios on a 12 string if possible :)
First the chords:
Em F#m+(Add B) Am B+ B Bm C
0 x 0 x 2 2 x
0 0 1 4 4 3 1
0 2 2 0 4 4 0
2 0 2 1 4 4 2
2 2 0 2 2 2 3
0 2 x x x x x
The vocal sections:
Em F#m+(Add B) Am B+ B
The wall on which the prophets wrote is cracking at the seams
Upon the instruments of death the sunlight brightly gleams
When every man is torn apart with nightmares and with dreams
Will no one lay the laurel wreath as silence drowns the screams
Em Bm
Confusion will be my epitaph
As I walk a cracked and broken path C Bm
If we make it we can all sit back and laugh but I fear tomorrow I'll be crying
Em F#m+(Add B) Am B+ B
Between the iron gates of fate the seeds of time were sown
And watered by the deeds of those who know and who are known
Knowledge is a deadly friend when no one sets the rules
The fate of all mankind I see is in the hands of fools (mellotron buildup of
C + Cm???)
This acoustic guitar arpeggio also appears at the songs beginning...
|---------------|---------------|---------------|---------------|---------------
|---------------|---------------|---------------|---------------|---1-0-1-0-1---
|-----0---0-----|-----0---0-----|-----2---2-----|---1-----2-----|---------------
|---2---2---2---|---2---2---2---|---0---0---0---|-----0-----0---|-2-----------2-
|-2-----------2-|-2-------------|-2-----------2-|-2-----2-----0-0---------------
0---------------0-------------0-2---------------2---------------|---------------
|---------------|---------------|---------------|
|---1-0-1-0-1---|-----0-4-0-----|-------4-------|
|---------------|---0-------0---|-----4---4-----|
|-2-----------2-|-1-----------1-|-1-4-------4-1-|
0---------------2---------------2---------------|
|---------------|---------------|---------------|
Em Bm
Confusion will be my epitaph
As I walk a cracked and broken path C Bm
If we make it we can all sit back and laugh but I fear tomorrow I'll be crying
Brought to you by the GUITARMASTA - http://www.guitarmasta.net
Tab Discussion, Comments, and Critiques
|
No Picture
david Average |
#1 by david maynard at Jan 29, 1971 at 5:38 PM EST |
| yeah dude, its the best song ive heared in years, i think its about the world suffering from overpopulation and hunger and all the crappy things humans do. and he is pessimistic about it too. | |
|
No Picture
Bodom Lake Murd Average |
#2 by Bodom Lake Murderer at Nov 5, 1974 at 5:53 PM EST |
| Now that I own Red and Larks' Tongue in Aspic, I would say that this is the best KC song, and considering that the band has gotten worse over time (based just on what I've heard), I would have to say I doubt I'll change my mind. | |
|
No Picture
Goat Average |
#3 by Goat Screwer at Jan 27, 1975 at 12:09 PM EST |
| Personally, i disagree. i see it as a representation of a form of a judgement day, were people are judged by there passed actions. the idea that, though he thinks he may pass the judgement an be happy for it [if we make it we can all sit back and laugh], but he [the narrator] feels that he wont be able to. I think that the deeper meaning is that of how our past actions can lead to future regrets. | |
|
No Picture
Jon Lead Player |
#4 by Jon Zell at Jun 15, 1980 at 7:32 AM EST |
| The fate of all mankind I see Is in the hands of fools Great lines. Forseeing the Bush administration, I'm sure. | |
|
No Picture
Tony Average |
#5 by Tony Riemer at Mar 28, 1982 at 11:43 PM EST |
| If we make it we can all sit back and laugh. But I fear tomorrow I'll be crying, This seems to me to mean that if you survive a dangerous situation (like living, perhaps) you can laugh about it afterwards. However, since crying is the "opposite" of laughing, this means he feels he won't survive. Excellent political song. | |
|
No Picture
«™†Rob†™» Average |
#6 by «™†Rob†™» at Jul 12, 1985 at 12:00 PM EST |
| The first part of the song is about breaking away from tradition and the deconstruction of society. People living in the hell that they created. No one is willing enough to express themselves because they will be lynched, and everyone turns a blind eye "silence drowns the screams'. The first part of the second verse is about the beginning of time being created by God (I guess), and that the great vastness of our reality has been simplified to an anti-intellectualism. The chorus is written in first person. The person see the faults and messed up ways of society and is only confused and will die soon. The only thing he wants to show the rest of the world in writing was that he was a confused person. The next day he will cry for everyone then die. Kind of dperessing, isn't it? | |
|
No Picture
Eric Wanna Be |
#7 by Eric Canfield at Dec 15, 1991 at 8:29 AM EST |
| Just an aside here - 'Knowledge is a deadly friend when no-one sets the rules. The fate of all mankind I see is in the hands of fools' - this song was written at the height of the cold war when nuclear attack was thought of as probable rather than just possible. | |
|
No Picture
Kyle Average |
#8 by Kyle at Apr 22, 1993 at 1:54 AM EST |
| So far, the only KC song I've heard, quite good. The band is off to a good start with me. | |
|
No Picture
Ryan Wanna Be |
#9 by Ryan Carter at Jan 29, 2004 at 1:19 PM EST |
| no way, he's pessimistic about it? i couldn't tell from the lines "The of all mankind I see, is in the hands of fools" i thought that was positive?! either way, he's just talking about the attitude of people and how they forget how to actually live, instead of scrounging around for popularity and riches. Its talking about people don't actually *live*. | |
|
No Picture
John Rhythm Player |
#10 by John McElyea at Mar 19, 2004 at 11:29 PM EST |
| It's a superb and quite chilling song. It echoes the feeling of doom as heard in 21st Century Schizoid Man. | |
|
No Picture
Ŧøn¥ Average |
#11 by Ŧøn¥ PiNeDa at Sep 17, 2004 at 4:06 AM EST |
| This song discusses the despair of society and how conformists are leading everythinh down the wrong path. Back then "prophets" dreamed of an ideal society and the "late men" and "moonchildren" are trying to crawl along that path that is being shattered by modern society: politicians, war, everything. However, the tone of despair rings that this path is growing harder to crawl across and may be gone eventually if things progress this way. The is somewhat of a combination of schizoid man and i talk to the wind: this is the "late man's" fear that the world will become that of the schizoid man. | |
|
No Picture
†§ean† Average |
#12 by †§ean† at Oct 2, 2006 at 12:27 PM EST |
| I agree with Johnno, in the sense that it's a pessimistic view of our future. I disagree in his analysis of verse two. It speaks of how a handful of very powerful, celebrated men ("those who know and who are known") have already cast mankind's fate, and how knowledge can be dangerous if it goes unchecked (this, paired with the darkly futuristic theme, always makes me think of nuclear holocaust). For more on the interesting topic of techno-dread, allow me to recommend John Sundman's excellent article, "How I decoded the human genome" at Salon.com: http://archive.salon.com/tech/feature/2003/10/21/genome/index_np.html | |
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