KING CRIMSON


Starless And Bible Black
(HQCD)

(1974)



1. The Great Deceiver 4'03
(John Wetton / Robert Fripp / Richard Palmer-James)
2. Lament 4'05
(Robert Fripp / John Wetton / Richard Palmer-James)
3. We'll Let You Know 3'42
(David Cross / Robert Fripp / John Wetton / William Bruford)
4. The Night Watch 4'39
(Robert Fripp / John Wetton / Richard Palmer-James)
5. Trio 5'39
(David Cross / Robert Fripp / John Wetton / William Bruford)
6. The Mincer 4'09
(David Cross / Robert Fripp / John Wetton / William Bruford / Richard Palmer-James)
7. Starless And Bible Black 9'11
(David Cross / Robert Fripp / John Wetton / William Bruford)
8. Fracture 11'11
(Robert Fripp)

Total Time: 46:39


  • Robert Fripp - Guitar, Mellotron, Devices
  • John Wetton - Bass and Voice
  • David Cross - Violin, Viola, Keyboards
  • William Bruford - Percussivcs

    with

  • Richard Palmer-James - Lyrics

    Produced by KING CRIMSON
    Engineer: George Chkiantz
    Acoustic Coordinator: George Chkiantz
    Assistant Engineer: Peier Henderson
    Equipment by Chris and Tex
    Acknowledgement to
    D.T.
    Cover Design by Tom Phillips

    Recorded at AIR STUDIOS, London. January 1974



    1. The Great Deceiver

      Health-food faggot with a bartered bride
      Likes to comb his hair with a dipper ride
      Once had a friend with a cloven foot
      Once he called the tune in a chequered quit

      Great Deceiver

      In the door on the floor in a paper bag
      There's a shoe-shine boy with a gin-shop slag
      She raised him up and she called him son
      And she canonised the ground that he walked upon

      Great Deceiver

      Cigarettes, ice cream, figurines of the Virgin Mary
      Cigarettes, ice cream, figurines of the Virgin Mary

      Cigarettes, ice cream, cadillacs blue jeans

      In the night he's a star in the Milky Way
      He's a man of the world by the light of day
      A golden smile and a proposition
      And the breath of God smells of sweet sedition

      Great Deceiver

      Sing hymns make love get high fall dead
      He'll bring his perfume to your bed
      He'll charm your life 'til the cold winds blow
      Then he'll sell your dreams to a picture show

      Cigarettes, ice cream, figurines of the Virgin Mary
      Cigarettes, ice cream, figurines of the Virgin Mary

      Cadillacs, blue jeans, dixieland playing on the ferry
      Cadillacs, blues jeans, drop a glass full of antique sherry

    2. Lament

      I guess I tried to show you how
      I'd take the crowd with my guitar
      And business men would clap their hands
      And clip another fat cigar
      And publishers would spread the news
      And print my music far and wide
      And all the kids who played the blues
      Would learn my licks with a bottle neck slide

      But now it seems the bubble's burst
      Although you know there was a time
      When love songs gathered in my head
      With poetry in every line
      And strong men strove to hold the doors
      While with my friends I passed the age
      When people stomped on dirty floors
      Before I trod the rock'n'roll stage

      I'll thank the man who's on the 'phone
      And if he has the time to spend
      The problem I'll explain once more
      And indicate a sum to lend
      That ten percent is now a joke
      Maybe thirty, even thirty-five
      I'll say my daddy's had a stroke
      He'd have one now, if he only was alive

      I like the way you look at me
      You're laughing too down there inside
      I took my chance and you took yours
      You crewed my ship, we missed the tide
      I like the way the music goes
      There's a few good guys who can play it right
      I like the way it moves my toes
      Just say when you want to go and dance all night...

    3. We'll Let You Know

    Instrumental

    4. The Night Watch

      Shine, shine, the light of good works shine
      The watch before the city gates depicted in their prime
      That golden light all grimy now
      Three hundred years have passed
      The worthy Captain and his squad of troopers standing fast

      The artist knew their faces well
      The husbands of his lady friends
      His creditors and councillors
      In armour bright, the merchant men

      Official moments of the guild
      In poses keen from bygone days
      The city fathers frozen there
      Upon the canvas dark with age

      The smell of paint, a flask of wine
      And turn those faces all to me
      The blunderbuss and halberd-shaft
      And Dutch respectability

      They make their entrance one by one
      Defenders of that way of life
      The redbrick home, the bourgeoisie
      Guitar lessons for the wife

      So many years we suffered here
      Our country racked with Spanish wars
      Now comes a chance to find ourselves
      And quiet reigns behind our doors
      We think about posterity again

      And so the pride of little men
      The burghers good and true
      Still living through the painter's hand
      Request you all to understand

    5. Trio

    Instrumental

    6. The Mincer

    Instrumental

    7. Starless And Bible Black

    Instrumental

    8. Fracture

    Instrumental