I am 29, first heard this song at 13. Still so beautiful, still pulls by heart strings. I find myself revisiting after so long and finding new meaning...how beautiful. Hello friend across decades. I see you.
69 here and SAME.... I was a fortunate 14-year-old when my music nerd neighbor turned me on to this album. Add some conscious expanding substances to the mix at 16 and I was long parted from the typical teenage life in the suburbs. This is BEYOND nostalgia... it never gets "old".
@@lifespanofafry1534 dude why you even bother to comment then? I'd get this kind of comment with some of the commercial, social networking, influencer shit thats going on every where nowadays, but from a 1969 album?? And on a full of good vibes comment?? Lame. You are heading in the wrong direction person on the internet who I could care less of a shit, but let me tell you something: You are the one being pretentious and forgettable this time... Saludos!
One thing I like in UA-cam is how old and young people can appreciate good music in the comments at the same time and read good storys while listening a masterpice.
I also like that there is no one in this comment section railing on new music. We should all be able to simply appreciate classics like this without trashing what the younger generation likes. Everyone is entitled to enjoy whatever it is that they enjoy without a grumpy old man putting them down. (even if it does kind of suck lol.)
I know this is kind of cliche, but Michael Giles has to be the most underrated drummer of all time , His playing on this album is way beyond subliminal , way beyond anything that mere words can describe. Over fifty years later, I'm still trying to figure it out. I hope that I never do.
One thing I think does not get enough attention is the SOUND of Michael Giles' drumming. I don't mean WHAT he plays, but the roundness and fullness of every tone he produces. I'm a guitarist, but I listen to the drummers, because everything besides the voice is just a drum with a different father. I like the drummers that get a sound like you are standing in a dense forest and this sound just swells up through the trees. Thats Michael Giles to me. Other drummers that I think get a fantastic sound are Michael Shrieve (Santana), Chico Hamilton, and Shelly Manne, two jazz drummers I have been lucky enough to be mesmerized by live.
@@JamesSeaberry Well said. But, and I don't know if it's just the recording technique, but there's a bit of muffling of the drums, could have been crisper. Not a criticism please don't misunderstand. Stunning drum work.
@@stevemd6488 No misunderstanding taken, Kind Sir. I think he just has a very round, slightly muffled sound; some birds sound like owls, some sound like chickadees..... (I just thought of that one....)
I think about it like that: the very beginning is just a song playing, but the further in you get, the more tired you are and you fall asleep when the lyrics end. then the song continues to play, but you're asleep, so it's giving you a pleasant, peaceful dream because it's so calm. but then, the song ends and the dream slowly warps into a nightmare filled with fear, darkness, loneliness and vague hostility. as it begins to get more intense, your mother walks into your room to check up on you, notices you're asleep and tucks you in. as a result, you calm down again and the rest of your dream is peaceful.
I can't believe I'm 42 and never heard this song (or any of this band's music) before. And yes it completely changed my day!!! I just listened to my first "Yes" album today too. New parts of my soul have been discovered.
@@elsupermegan2079 I discovered both King Crimson and Yes at 13, I'm 18 now and don't listen to prog anymore but these 2 bands stood with me for how important they were in my childhood, glad to see another person that had the opportunity to listen to them that early
I found this album - on 8 track format - while garbage picking as a kid on my huffy banana seat chopper bicycle. - I was 10 and it was 1973. Been listening to it ever since and it is really more than an "album" - it is an experience and a story to my life. Not only that - NOBODY else sounded like this in 1969.
No they didn't! I had all of their albums and duplicates for our 8 track player in the van. Bwahahah, thanks I'd forgotten about my 8 tracks. Hahaha. 🤘❤👑❣🎶✌ 🇨🇦💃🐈
Pete Townshend described this album as an “uncanny masterpiece ,” and I can think of no better description. Like others I find Moonchild itself an almost surreal journey through the serenity of a beautiful moonlit night .
I am now 70 years old. I don't remember the first time I ever heard the album but it is one of my absolute top 3 favorite albums of all time. When CD's first came out in the 80's I searched everywhere for this on CD because that was back in the old school days when there was no internet. I finally found a local record store that said they could order it for me and I was ecstatic. As I sit here listening to it again I can't help but get somewhat emotional and sad. So much time has gone by and I don't know where it went. Listening to this album lets me "re live" some of my younger days.
Everyone hated this track at the time in 1970, I can tell you TO BE HONEST, whatever you say now. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. It's still remains a challnging improvisation after 2.30 minutes, and most of my contemporfaries skipped it, as they also skipped 'Revolution Number 9''. A WEE BIT TOOOO PROGRESSIVE? Anybody really interested in this stuff began listening of Derek Bailey I know that I did, although Derek's fitst album only came out in 1970. I bet most people still hate it, despite all of the thumbs up below. Me? I think it's flawed anbd a bit tedious. This band couldn;t really improvise.
this song feels like someone putting you to sleep. first they're singing to calm you, so you fall asleep and the instrumental represents the soundtrack of the scenes in your dream and finally there's a ""cuter"" instrumental to represent the time when you're waking up
One of the many things that blows my mind is the fact that Fripp was 23 at that time. Greg Lake, 22. They were so young and managed to make a masterpiece.
This song is so fascinating to me. What may just be random sections of randomly placed sounds. Is calculated and well timed positioning for each individual sound from each individual instrument. The fact that something so random and unorganized can sound so contrived and controlled is just so beautiful. King Crimson is fascinating.
There are all lot of songs like these I just forgot the name of this genre or style but I will give a point for a rock band to do this which is why king crimson is the best
I've had this album since I was 16, and I'm 68 now. Still mesmerized by this song. Sounds like the toys are coming to life as I'm falling asleep, like in Toy Story. Dreamy, magical...
I’m a young person of 28 with a father who is in his mid-70s, and I never fully understood him as a fully rounded person who had lived through many of the same things that I go through now, until I listened to the music that he listened to at my age, one of which was this album. He and my mother went away for a weekend, when I dug out their old records and found this album with his name written upon the corner with pencil.
My seven year old daughter is learning about the phases of the moon. As we lay in the backyard and find a crescent moon I remember the title “Moonchild” but nothing else. Mr. Google brought it back to life after so many years....find memories of this album.
What confuses a lot of people is they do not realize how much Jazz, influenced progrock. The free form styling would be familiar to Jazz fans. Jethro Tull has elements of Jazz in their music. Thick as a Brick being a prime example.
Yes, especially with King Crimson where much of it sounds more like jazz-rock, which explains why they're able to integrate the woodwinds so seamlessly
@ I'm not a fan (even in the more modern definition), but those last ten minutes feel really good with headphones. It also sounds like there is a musical proggression, tho I can't really analyse that stuff.
In my freshmen year in High school 1969 this album came out and a friend of mine gave it to me in first period PE and said you need to listen to this! so I had to wait till I got home that day. So put it this way he never got the album back and as from that day my music changed for ever. Still Love this Album.
He doesn't use youtube for anything but ham radio and news stuff so he won't find this compliment. Thanks dad for showing me this band when i was like 6, love you.
@@albacore101 too old?..... NOT THE PROBLEM.... we are from a time when kids got to hear the greatest, inspired masters of their art.... some say they were wizards..... like me.... Little did I know how few and far between such wizards would take center stage.... I'm old enough to understand that now ...;)
Only the strength of the rest of this album could have ever gotten me to listen to a song like this as a teenage rocker, but I came to love it as much the rest. I accept it as an equal and necessary part of the whole and don't skip over it.
I grew up in the 80s, and King Crimson completely passed me by. I don't know how, I was all Metallica, Iron Maiden, AC/DC kinda thing, and I just never listened to King Crimson. It is a real treat for me now, in my 50s, to go back and fill in the gaps.
Everyone talks about 21st Century Schizoid Man, Epitaph, and Court of the Crimson King. But this one gets overshadowed. I like this among the songs in the album.
Because it is so long and except the first 3 minutes, it's boring to listen for most people. Only some progressive rock addicts listen and really enjoying it, that's why it's less popular.
This is incredibly calming. Why people hate this I have no idea. It's like the music to a dream. Delicately plucked instruments being played in tandem with subdued percussion. The lyrics are also beautiful.
Never understood why people hate on the improv part. Imo the beginning and end of the jam have some of Fripp’s most beautiful playing ever. Love the harmonic minor bit at the start and especially the A major stuff during the last minute, really haunting.
First two-and-a-half minutes (approx.): the Moonchild is described/experienced from the outside; the rest of the song: what the Moonchild sees, feels, experiences subjectively, from the inside. Not hard to grasp. Besides, the ending is beautiful, especially with headphones.
RIP Ian McDonald. I found this great band when I read the Dark Tower series long after the album was released and to say it changed my opinion on music is an understatement. Thank you for your contributions to music.
R.I.P for Mc Donald but he is the one who prefer less dark world created by Fripp . After a great Album " Mc Donald and Giles , he goes to Foreigner and the corporate rock of the 80... It was his choice and i respect it but you can do dancing music and serious lyrics in the same time. And Fripp was sure that the end of the world was close in the sixties...
This song always reminds me of my oldest sister who passed away in 2005.Had she lived she would have been 70. I still love her and miss her beautiful voice
This song just takes you to a whole different demension. I love how the sounds are well timed and panned. I like to imagine these sounds as some creatures unknown for mankind communicating with eachother.
This song is just beautiful - those whimsical first few minutes arrived just magical. Makes me very emotional as we named our eldest Luna, and the word just sum her up!
i'm 25 years old so i didn't get the appreciate this when it came out i just aquired the 1st uk prssing of this album and i'm going to churish till i die king crimson blows my mind very talented musicians
Perfect song to read the subjective forms of the clouds and to follow with a tender eye the grooves of the stems of the trees; appreciate the complex writing of the nested branches, taste the colors of the decomposition of light into water droplets in a garden, and strongly feel the wet soil of ancestral forest to perceive the traces of animals from deep past
@@notarealspy4090 i liked the first two minutes and then when the weird part came on I didn't think "this sucks" i thought it sounded weird but unique but after a second listen I still thought the same but started to appreciate how weird it is
@@plashe9041 it's Abit like a movie called: Angels egg. Where most of the movie is told through Audio and Visuals instead of voices, so some of it could be left up for the viewer/listener to interpret, someone in this comments section actually interpreted it as the instruments speaking to each other which is an interesting opinion about it
Je possède l'album d'époque, je l'ai écouté des dizaines, voire des centaines de fois durant toutes ces années et je ressens toujours les mêmes impressions : un voyage dans une autre dimension, dans d'autres cieux... Extraordinaire sensation... Merci à ces formidables musiciens !
Erano gli anni sessanta e il 33 giri che conteneva questo capolavoro sconvolse il panorama musicale dell'epoca. E tanti giovani, fin lì abituati alle canzonette, si accostarono finalmente a una musica colta.
Here because of the last chapter of Berserk. My heart is broken, Miura's dream was truly glorious. The "Moonchild" or Moonlight Boy was a beautiful symbol of hope. I'm still grieving it all.
Damn even if I'm on chapter 200. I'm in love with the series and am sad of Miura's passing. Been following Berserk since June, a few days before he died.
The most beautiful and haunting song I've ever heard. The drumming, the guitar, the vocals, it's all perfect. It makes me feel so at peace and so terrified at the same time.
I remember when some time ago I kept wondering why the second part of this song was not uploaded anywhere , considering it was VITAL to it (and to the whole album as well IMO). Kept asking for it on the Italian FB page for other people to enjoy (and I also tried to upload It a few times myself with images to go along with It) and I pretty much created my own vision of the piece which Is basically the passage from "dark and mysterious night" to morning which I always like to refer to as the "Sunchild" section. Very happy after all this years to see It uploaded here...feels like getting full circle a bit. One of my all time favorite songs and (obviously) album and (even more obviously) bands. Thanks Bob.
Hah hah.... as unbelievably GREAT this album is.... I say.... NOT SO FAST!!! When you claim that, you are inviting comments from old Moody Blues fans.... like me. But then again, the early lineup of the Moodies toured with the Beatles, and burst through the musical pop culture gates opened up by Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.... But yeah.... King Crimson set trends for everything imaginable, could very well be the MOST influential band of all time.. and this album started it all, and is a masterpiece.
Rock n roll has always developed into a much greater art form since Chuck Berry came out, and then The Beatles set the blueprint where rock n roll can be eclectic.
@@zackzallie8735 Yeah ... Exactly .... The Beatles released Sg Peppers 2 years before this... and the White album came out several months before Court of the Crimson King.... If the Beatles hadn't done that, or weren't successful with it, you bet this would never have seen the light of day. "Number Nine" anyone?
@@pheresy1367 Perhaps. But things were changing and they were looking for something New all the time back then. So I question your theory! ✌❣👑❤🙏🥁🎹🎶🤘 🇨🇦💃🐈
@@katherinehunter9526 You are most likely right.... if the Beatles weren't "the first", then someone else would have been (eventually).... and after doing a deeper dive into "progressive rock/pop origins", you would have to also consider The Beach Boys "Pet Sounds"... which critics (at the time) acclaimed it to be "the most progressive pop album ever made"... and allowed the new methodology, where the artists themselves can act as their own producers. But coming BACK TO KING CRIMSON... This album was SO DIFFERENT than ANYTHING that came before it, I almost want it to have its own category altogether ... but .... it is NOT without roots, and didn't arise in a vacuum.
i was reading the last few pages to devilman for the first time listening to this song and now its forever tied to another great piece of work and i just think how crazy this song and devilman fit together
"McDonald: “We’d run out of material. And we didn’t want to put a cover tune on our first album. So we were left with gap; we needed another seven to nine minutes. So once we’d recorded the basic track [the front section, with the vocals], Mike, Robert and I went back into the studio, set the tape rolling and just improvised for about 10 minutes. And I think it’s alright. Sinfield: “Greg really doesn’t play on Moonchild. That sort of free-form improvisation was never Greg’s bag. He was: ‘What’s all this twiddling about? Oh, I suppose I’ll have to put a bass note here.’ He just said: ‘I’m not playing on that.’"
One of my favorite Crimson songs of all. The improvised section totally took me by surprise upon my first listen in 1970. In 1972 I had just starting listening to the great music on ECM records from Germany, a lot of European and American Jazz artists would go to Germany and have Manfred Eicher produce them. Jamie Muire (former Crimson percussionist) was on a lot of those ECM records, now well known as the greatest record company for many styles of unique, original music. Chick Corea and Keith Jarrett are a couple of artists who released many ECM albums.
@@miguelbranquinho7235it isn't an "attractive" deep voice. And my voice has a very small range of sounds, so going too high or too low leads to me sounding like a dying seal. Definitely nothing to brag about lol
Regardless of the genre of music you may typically enjoy, you should find this song (and entire album) supremely gratifying! King Crimson is a treasure that I only recently discovered, and I am an instant fan. Simply amazing!
Menti geniali scrissero musica inestimabilmente meravigliosa. Ricchezza per l'anima e profondità del sentimento ascoltando i loro dischi. Sono cresciuto con i k. Crimson e diventato adulto ed ogni ascolto è sempre un tuffo nel mare più blu. Consiglio a tutti di acquistare i loro dischi e cercare le traduzioni dei testi poetici. Grandi. Grandi. Immensi Re Cremisi.
Moonchild [Part I: “The Dream”] Call her moonchild Dancing in the shallows of a river Lonely moonchild Dreaming in the shadows of a willow Talking to the trees of the cobweb strange Sleeping on the steps of a fountain Waving silver wands to the night-bird’s song Waiting for the sun on the mountain She’s a moonchild Gathering the flowers in a garden Lovely moonchild Drifting in the echoes of the hours Sailing on the wind in a milk white gown Dropping circle stones on a sun dial Playing hide and seek with the ghosts of dawn Waiting for a smile from a sun child
It was a complete surprise hearing this on Buffalo '66 when Layla started her dance routine on the bowling alley. Really started to appreciate this song more after that.
I am now 72, have never forgot this haunting song since I first listened to King crimson, moonchild! what memories!
I am 29, first heard this song at 13. Still so beautiful, still pulls by heart strings. I find myself revisiting after so long and finding new meaning...how beautiful. Hello friend across decades. I see you.
@avaradigan3965 thank you for your reply ! 🙏 😊, please take care , gerry,
Same here, I'm 70. The entire album is just excellent!
I’m 52, so now we have three generations listening to it!
69 here and SAME.... I was a fortunate 14-year-old when my music nerd neighbor turned me on to this album. Add some conscious expanding substances to the mix at 16 and I was long parted from the typical teenage life in the suburbs. This is BEYOND nostalgia... it never gets "old".
Love this and epitaph, never ages... I am 63. First heard at 13.......
This is beyond genius. Is anyone else here familiar with Patto , aka , king crimson meets james brown !!??
I love this whole album, I am 13. First heard it at 13
How coincidental, this is my first time hearing this and I’m 13
@@jamgil1254 , well done you, I'm 64 and just heard it for the first time, although I have known of King Crimson since I was 13.
i
I'm 56 and first heard attention 17...🥰
Some people are hearing this for the first time and i can feel their day has changed completely
here
I’ll forget this pretentious nonsense by tomorrow. King Crimson is waaaaay in the back of my prog rock taste. If they even register at all.
@@lifespanofafry1534 dude why you even bother to comment then? I'd get this kind of comment with some of the commercial, social networking, influencer shit thats going on every where nowadays, but from a 1969 album?? And on a full of good vibes comment?? Lame. You are heading in the wrong direction person on the internet who I could care less of a shit, but let me tell you something: You are the one being pretentious and forgettable this time...
Saludos!
one of them it's me. But I'm coming from Genesis, YES and italian progressive (Banco del Mutuo Soccorso, PFM, Area...)
Listening to this for the first time right now, and I can confirm that this is about to have a huge impact on my life
This was played at my mum's funeral, at her request. Miss you mum xxx
What greatness. Reads like she had great taste.
Scintilstes in many an unearthly hue
Rest In Peace!
RIP
And I am sure she was a great women:D
damn rip
One thing I like in UA-cam is how old and young people can appreciate good music in the comments at the same time and read good storys while listening a masterpice.
Honestly jojos bizarre adventure brought me here but I stayed for the great music.
@@ramja9107 That's great bro
I also like that there is no one in this comment section railing on new music. We should all be able to simply appreciate classics like this without trashing what the younger generation likes. Everyone is entitled to enjoy whatever it is that they enjoy without a grumpy old man putting them down. (even if it does kind of suck lol.)
@@ginsbergda yup. i’m a teen and i like anything from this to some modern indie rock
Agreed
Buffalo 66,
Christina Ricci dancing to Moonchild in this strange film.
Dreamy.
A great movie. I BEG people to watch it. They never do. Not even Giant fans.
Black Snake Moan with Samuel L. Jackson
I just bought the album because I couldn’t find the whole thing on UA-cam. And minutes later I find out that they uploaded it a few days ago
I did the exact same thing lol
Don't worry, you get bragging rights and the option to listen to it whenever you want
They'll probably take it down in a month anyway
@@Pokemanic33 good point
It's worth every penny!
当時17歳。
このLPが宝物だった☆
寝る前はB面のこの曲を
かけるのがとても難しかったの。
Ipnotica,suggestiva,senza tempo,la voce di Greg è celestiale,la sinfo di Robert è imprendibile,una chicca lucentissima......grazie Re Cremisi❤💫💥
The drums on this album are always the first thing that grab me. So restrained but same time so forward. Just beautiful.
I know this is kind of cliche, but Michael Giles has to be the most underrated drummer of all time , His playing on this album is way beyond subliminal , way beyond anything that mere words can describe. Over fifty years later, I'm still trying to figure it out. I hope that I never do.
Michael Giles is my favourite drummer of all time just off this album. Noone even comes close to him in my humble opinion.
One thing I think does not get enough attention is the SOUND of Michael Giles' drumming. I don't mean WHAT he plays, but the roundness and fullness of every tone he produces. I'm a guitarist, but I listen to the drummers, because everything besides the voice is just a drum with a different father. I like the drummers that get a sound like you are standing in a dense forest and this sound just swells up through the trees. Thats Michael Giles to me. Other drummers that I think get a fantastic sound are Michael Shrieve (Santana), Chico Hamilton, and Shelly Manne, two jazz drummers I have been lucky enough to be mesmerized by live.
@@JamesSeaberry Well said. But, and I don't know if it's just the recording technique, but there's a bit of muffling of the drums, could have been crisper. Not a criticism please don't misunderstand. Stunning drum work.
@@stevemd6488 No misunderstanding taken, Kind Sir. I think he just has a very round, slightly muffled sound; some birds sound like owls, some sound like chickadees..... (I just thought of that one....)
I think about it like that: the very beginning is just a song playing, but the further in you get, the more tired you are and you fall asleep when the lyrics end. then the song continues to play, but you're asleep, so it's giving you a pleasant, peaceful dream because it's so calm. but then, the song ends and the dream slowly warps into a nightmare filled with fear, darkness, loneliness and vague hostility. as it begins to get more intense, your mother walks into your room to check up on you, notices you're asleep and tucks you in. as a result, you calm down again and the rest of your dream is peaceful.
i fucking love you
@@moyplay2049 um, thanks? I'm glad?
@@Chorsanoidka You wrote a perfect interpretation for this song ♥
sooo true!
Listening to the song and trying to read this comment while tripping is something else.
I was a teenager when this came out . I never really recovered .
Yeah... me too..... just got on Medicare... Hope I NEVER recover....;-D
So true, although it was much easier being 20 in the 70's than 70 in the 20's. /s
@@gmichael5506 agree 100%
Watch 21st schizoid man king at Hyde Park live king crimson
specialized500 wrote "I was a teenager when this came out . I never really recovered " lol, It was shock after listening to pop music of the day.
That sound at very beginning of the song gives me goosebumps every time
Agreed, the start is really an amazing setup for the rest of the song.
Glissando guitar
I can't believe I'm 42 and never heard this song (or any of this band's music) before. And yes it completely changed my day!!!
I just listened to my first "Yes" album today too. New parts of my soul have been discovered.
King Crimson is bliss. Don’t forget to check out their Discipline album, it’s really good
ua-cam.com/video/ZgoKwMbPSO8/v-deo.html
You're welcome.
damn, im 13 and im glad i got to yes early. the moment i listened to close to the edge for the first time, my god
@@elsupermegan2079 I discovered both King Crimson and Yes at 13, I'm 18 now and don't listen to prog anymore but these 2 bands stood with me for how important they were in my childhood, glad to see another person that had the opportunity to listen to them that early
I was the same way, these songs don't get played on classic rock radio, you have to find them :) it's worth it
I found this album - on 8 track format - while garbage picking as a kid on my huffy banana seat chopper bicycle. - I was 10 and it was 1973. Been listening to it ever since and it is really more than an "album" - it is an experience and a story to my life. Not only that - NOBODY else sounded like this in 1969.
No they didn't!
I had all of their albums and duplicates for our 8 track player in the van.
Bwahahah, thanks I'd forgotten about my 8 tracks.
Hahaha.
🤘❤👑❣🎶✌
🇨🇦💃🐈
I found this music when I was 12 years old, , in 1981. Completely mesmerized by it, still listen to it and love it to this very day!
amazing comment. thanks for sharing
@@hobbes8737 thank you! Still listening and decoding almost 50 years later :-)
THe closest to this was probably Yes, or some other progressive group.
Pete Townshend described this album as an “uncanny masterpiece ,” and I can think of no better description. Like others I find Moonchild itself an almost surreal journey through the serenity of a beautiful moonlit night .
And for Townshend, a man notorious for being harsh on music, to love this! You know this is a masterpiece
Myself I think of a slightly eerie, human-alien hybrid child. 🌔
I am now 70 years old. I don't remember the first time I ever heard the album but it is one of my absolute top 3 favorite albums of all time. When CD's first came out in the 80's I searched everywhere for this on CD because that was back in the old school days when there was no internet. I finally found a local record store that said they could order it for me and I was ecstatic. As I sit here listening to it again I can't help but get somewhat emotional and sad. So much time has gone by and I don't know where it went. Listening to this album lets me "re live" some of my younger days.
Everyone hated this track at the time in 1970, I can tell you TO BE HONEST, whatever you say now.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing. It's still remains a challnging improvisation after 2.30 minutes, and most of my contemporfaries skipped it, as they also skipped 'Revolution Number 9''. A WEE BIT TOOOO PROGRESSIVE? Anybody really interested in this stuff began listening of Derek Bailey I know that I did, although Derek's fitst album only came out in 1970.
I bet most people still hate it, despite all of the thumbs up below. Me? I think it's flawed anbd a bit tedious. This band couldn;t really improvise.
And the world turns sour
this song feels like someone putting you to sleep. first they're singing to calm you, so you fall asleep and the instrumental represents the soundtrack of the scenes in your dream and finally there's a ""cuter"" instrumental to represent the time when you're waking up
I love your interpretation
One of the many things that blows my mind is the fact that Fripp was 23 at that time. Greg Lake, 22. They were so young and managed to make a masterpiece.
This song is so fascinating to me. What may just be random sections of randomly placed sounds. Is calculated and well timed positioning for each individual sound from each individual instrument. The fact that something so random and unorganized can sound so contrived and controlled is just so beautiful. King Crimson is fascinating.
There are all lot of songs like these I just forgot the name of this genre or style but I will give a point for a rock band to do this which is why king crimson is the best
@@jacobkim3690 ambient. it's called ambient.
I've always felt that the sounds represent the moonchild "playing hide and seek with the ghosts of dawn."
I've had this album since I was 16, and I'm 68 now. Still mesmerized by this song. Sounds like the toys are coming to life as I'm falling asleep, like in Toy Story. Dreamy, magical...
@@marlasmith9307 That’s the beauty of music is that all generations can enjoy the same music. Because I’m 17.
I saw them many years ago...I'm 71 and their music helped me thru years of confusion
fell in love with this when i was 14, here at 67 and still love it
Damn unc
This album has always had a timeless feel to it. Such a classic.
It timeless because King Crimson erased time
I’m a young person of 28 with a father who is in his mid-70s, and I never fully understood him as a fully rounded person who had lived through many of the same things that I go through now, until I listened to the music that he listened to at my age, one of which was this album. He and my mother went away for a weekend, when I dug out their old records and found this album with his name written upon the corner with pencil.
Die menschlichen Geschichten wiederholen sich immer wieder....
Remember listening to this for the first time on my headphones laying down at night. It was absolutely mindblowing.
Listening to the instruments chatter always makes me feel like I'm listening in on a conversation I was neither invited to nor can understand
This song make me cry...this guitar is so romantic and all the group are in the focus of the words of this song.
My seven year old daughter is learning about the phases of the moon. As we lay in the backyard and find a crescent moon I remember the title “Moonchild” but nothing else. Mr. Google brought it back to life after so many years....find memories of this album.
What confuses a lot of people is they do not realize how much Jazz, influenced progrock. The free form styling would be familiar to Jazz fans. Jethro Tull has elements of Jazz in their music. Thick as a Brick being a prime example.
Yep, excellent comment :)
also, specifically jethro tull, alot of folk influence
Yes, especially with King Crimson where much of it sounds more like jazz-rock, which explains why they're able to integrate the woodwinds so seamlessly
Obviously the monarchy and deep shades of red influenced this band unequivocally. Also Tavistock institute
You're very much right. Some parts of this album wouldn't be out of place on a Miles Davis record.
Moonchild: *starts*
"Wow, this is such a beautiful song!"
**2 minutes later:**
*ten minute improv best*
For you Justin bieber
here is the opinion of a stranger to king crimson
@ I'm not a fan (even in the more modern definition), but those last ten minutes feel really good with headphones. It also sounds like there is a musical proggression, tho I can't really analyse that stuff.
Then I shall have the honor to say It.
--------------------------------
*2 minutes later:*
"Wow It gets even better!"
In my freshmen year in High school 1969 this album came out and a friend of mine gave it to me in first period PE and said you need to listen to this! so I had to wait till I got home that day. So put it this way he never got the album back and as from that day my music changed for ever. Still Love this Album.
8:00 It's like a conversation between the instruments
That's one of the main ideas on improvisation. Questions and answers
best comment
Sounds like someone typing
@@deathnoteunai4033 Question and answer is also the most used technique for crafting a melody :)
sounds like Bill Wurtz communicating with only instruments
greg lake vocals purify my soul
He doesn't use youtube for anything but ham radio and news stuff so he won't find this compliment.
Thanks dad for showing me this band when i was like 6, love you.
Love this song. Not many people like this one.
Go Buffalo 66 moon child
Some don't know the album. Or the band.. maybe I'm too old. We had the good stuff!
I love it, ESPECIALLY the long improv at the end!
@@albacore101 too old?..... NOT THE PROBLEM.... we are from a time when kids got to hear the greatest, inspired masters of their art.... some say they were wizards..... like me.... Little did I know how few and far between such wizards would take center stage.... I'm old enough to understand that now ...;)
Yeah many people like me get bored by the lack of music in the last 10 minutes of the song.
Only the strength of the rest of this album could have ever gotten me to listen to a song like this as a teenage rocker, but I came to love it as much the rest. I accept it as an equal and necessary part of the whole and don't skip over it.
We took shrouds and listened to this about 50 times ...no one wanted to change it. Shrooms.
I discovered this album when I was in high school in the early Seventies. Moonchild was my favorite song on it. So glad to find it again on You Tube.
11:00 I still think that is the prettiest sound those instruments can ensemble
It always makes me cry
Honestly, it makes me feel so at peace. Part of me wishes it was longer, but also maybe it works just the way it is, and that’s okay
I agree... does anyone Knows how to find a cover of this?
The guitar chords are so pacefull
I grew up in the 80s, and King Crimson completely passed me by. I don't know how, I was all Metallica, Iron Maiden, AC/DC kinda thing, and I just never listened to King Crimson. It is a real treat for me now, in my 50s, to go back and fill in the gaps.
Everyone talks about 21st Century Schizoid Man, Epitaph, and Court of the Crimson King. But this one gets overshadowed. I like this among the songs in the album.
Because it is so long and except the first 3 minutes, it's boring to listen for most people. Only some progressive rock addicts listen and really enjoying it, that's why it's less popular.
forgot about Talk to the Wind
Wtf Kanye even stole that phrase? None of them have any originality at all these days. I hate pop culture sometimes.
@@marko-gj1uj Which is another good one.
I agree. If someone gets into it though it can expand what music they appreciate and how they listen to music. I think it is a great piece.
This is incredibly calming. Why people hate this I have no idea. It's like the music to a dream. Delicately plucked instruments being played in tandem with subdued percussion. The lyrics are also beautiful.
Propper hippy shit
Love this
Mainly because for most people, this is their gateway to avant-garde music. They aren't used to long ambient sounds.
No one I knew hated this.
@@infinitejest441 Not a radio song maybe...
@@oyogoyog i like it, but coul have been shorter, and I also think the start could have been expanded more, kinda cutting short something so beautiful
Never understood why people hate on the improv part. Imo the beginning and end of the jam have some of Fripp’s most beautiful playing ever. Love the harmonic minor bit at the start and especially the A major stuff during the last minute, really haunting.
It's mostly folks who are unfamiliar with this kind of improv ie. non-jazz listeners
@@timcardona9962 サタイタトマ
do you know any songs similar to it? im in love with that section
@@growskull Check out more King Crimson and maybe you can find something similar, nothing comes to mind right now
@@lucasmiguel4734 yeah im a huge kc fan but ive never heard any other band do smth like that
I stumbled across this song and I don’t know what to say. I luv it so deep and meditative I feel like dancing barefoot under the moonlight.
Such an atmospheric piece. Greg Lake's voice is so beautifully clear and resonant.
Every track on this album is a masterpiece, but I've always had a soft spot for moonchild
Me2
my grandpa Rick used to listen to this LP. RIP grandpa. I have taken over your legacy
Good for you and thanks to Grandpa Rick, he had great taste in music.
I hope my grandchildren will love my album's.
✌❣👑❤🎸🥁🎹🎶🤘
🇨🇦💃🐈
Do you mean he left you his portal gun, Morty?
@@Euthymia Bwahahah!
Still a fan of King Crimson since the early 1970's! This was the first KC album I bought back then.
me since the fIRST ALBUM
I had the original vinyl. Wish I still had it. One of the greats!
@@albacore101I still have the original vinyl.
Me, about 6 minutes in:
"This is just the breakdown, right? There's more music, isn't there?"
@OysterSoupKitchen this tbh
First two-and-a-half minutes (approx.): the Moonchild is described/experienced from the outside; the rest of the song: what the Moonchild sees, feels, experiences subjectively, from the inside. Not hard to grasp. Besides, the ending is beautiful, especially with headphones.
Yeah, the breakdown happens in the next song on the album: ua-cam.com/video/ukgraQ-xkp4/v-deo.html
it has 12 minutes of music i dunno what you're talking about
it was like that the first time i heard it, then i understood how it works
I am 27 and I grew up with this. Still can’t shake the fact that this is the pioneering band in progressive rock. Timeless band
The lyrics are amazing and fascinating ... The 70's .... what an era for music 😍🤩
RIP Ian McDonald. I found this great band when I read the Dark Tower series long after the album was released and to say it changed my opinion on music is an understatement. Thank you for your contributions to music.
R.I.P for Mc Donald but he is the one who prefer less dark world created by Fripp . After a great Album " Mc Donald and Giles , he goes to Foreigner and the corporate rock of the 80... It was his choice and i respect it but you can do dancing music and serious lyrics in the same time. And Fripp was sure that the end of the world was close in the sixties...
This song always reminds me of my oldest sister who passed away in 2005.Had she lived she would have been 70. I still love her and miss her beautiful voice
This song just takes you to a whole different demension. I love how the sounds are well timed and panned. I like to imagine these sounds as some creatures unknown for mankind communicating with eachother.
This song is just beautiful - those whimsical first few minutes arrived just magical. Makes me very emotional as we named our eldest Luna, and the word just sum her up!
I just want to tell everyone that I love this album!!
I was a teenager, but I still have goosebump....listening to this song...❤️❤️💔
i'm 25 years old so i didn't get the appreciate this when it came out i just aquired the 1st uk prssing of this album and i'm going to churish till i die king crimson blows my mind very talented musicians
after owning the album for so long, its finally on youtube by the official channel, one of the best things to happen in 2020
Perfect song to read the subjective forms of the clouds and to follow with a tender eye the grooves of the stems of the trees; appreciate the complex writing of the nested branches, taste the colors of the decomposition of light into water droplets in a garden, and strongly feel the wet soil of ancestral forest to perceive the traces of animals from deep past
I listen to this when stargazing
Wow
Indeed
You use the word "of" a lot
@@carlneoh5843 Je peux vous l'écrire en français si vous voulez , c'est ma langue maternelle 🤠
probably the hardest King Crimson song to get into but differently one of the best once you do
About that, I liked this song from square one
@@notarealspy4090 i liked the first two minutes and then when the weird part came on I didn't think "this sucks" i thought it sounded weird but unique but after a second listen I still thought the same but started to appreciate how weird it is
@@plashe9041 it's Abit like a movie called: Angels egg. Where most of the movie is told through Audio and Visuals instead of voices, so some of it could be left up for the viewer/listener to interpret, someone in this comments section actually interpreted it as the instruments speaking to each other which is an interesting opinion about it
@@notarealspy4090 oh that sounds cool, I'll think about that next time I listen to the song and see what I think of
Not as hard as god damn Providence
Stunning, one of Crimson's best..
I love that mellow free-jazz improv at the end. I would listen to that so intensely in the 70s.
grand, incontournable, dans l'histoire de la musique !
Je possède l'album d'époque, je l'ai écouté des dizaines, voire des centaines de fois durant toutes ces années et je ressens toujours les mêmes impressions : un voyage dans une autre dimension, dans d'autres cieux... Extraordinaire sensation... Merci à ces formidables musiciens !
Erano gli anni sessanta e il 33 giri che conteneva questo capolavoro sconvolse il panorama musicale dell'epoca. E tanti giovani, fin lì abituati alle canzonette, si accostarono finalmente a una musica colta.
can you overestimate the greatness and the enjoyability of this album? I think not.
the way this song leads to in the court, just amazing
all their records shaped my musical brain back in the late 70s
wonderful indeed.
me too!
The first 2.5 minutes or so never fail to make me misty-eyed. I may not always listen to the rest but when I do, I discover something new and sublime
Thank you Fripp, for putting the entire masterpiece on line when you were able to do so.
Here because of the last chapter of Berserk. My heart is broken, Miura's dream was truly glorious. The "Moonchild" or Moonlight Boy was a beautiful symbol of hope. I'm still grieving it all.
Damn even if I'm on chapter 200. I'm in love with the series and am sad of Miura's passing. Been following Berserk since June, a few days before he died.
@@humanman2358 bro the same i started reading the manga month before miura’s passing away
I've read it for decades. Years ago, waiting for the next chapter was already a whole story.
I share your sadness
I've listened this on shrooms. With a bunch of friends in my room. Best vibe ever
Nice.
any left over ?
How predictably predictable 😴
@@andrewjohnstone963how enjoyably enjoyable
Mr Fripp is so tastefull, his playing is beautiful .
The most beautiful and haunting song I've ever heard. The drumming, the guitar, the vocals, it's all perfect. It makes me feel so at peace and so terrified at the same time.
A day that gave no indication of rain caught me in a storm as I was walking around listening to Moonchild for the first time.
Dopo 40 anni stessa magia stesso mistero...ancora commosso stupefatto incantato... davvero un capolavoro senza tempo, Arte immortale... KC 4ever ❤️
Dici bene.
I remember when some time ago I kept wondering why the second part of this song was not uploaded anywhere , considering it was VITAL to it (and to the whole album as well IMO). Kept asking for it on the Italian FB page for other people to enjoy (and I also tried to upload It a few times myself with images to go along with It) and I pretty much created my own vision of the piece which Is basically the passage from "dark and mysterious night" to morning which I always like to refer to as the "Sunchild" section. Very happy after all this years to see It uploaded here...feels like getting full circle a bit. One of my all time favorite songs and (obviously) album and (even more obviously) bands. Thanks Bob.
The album that created progressive rock
Hah hah.... as unbelievably GREAT this album is.... I say.... NOT SO FAST!!! When you claim that, you are inviting comments from old Moody Blues fans.... like me. But then again, the early lineup of the Moodies toured with the Beatles, and burst through the musical pop culture gates opened up by Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band....
But yeah.... King Crimson set trends for everything imaginable, could very well be the MOST influential band of all time.. and this album started it all, and is a masterpiece.
Rock n roll has always developed into a much greater art form since Chuck Berry came out, and then The Beatles set the blueprint where rock n roll can be eclectic.
@@zackzallie8735 Yeah ... Exactly .... The Beatles released Sg Peppers 2 years before this... and the White album came out several months before Court of the Crimson King.... If the Beatles hadn't done that, or weren't successful with it, you bet this would never have seen the light of day.
"Number Nine" anyone?
@@pheresy1367 Perhaps.
But things were changing and they were looking for something New all the time back then.
So I question your theory!
✌❣👑❤🙏🥁🎹🎶🤘
🇨🇦💃🐈
@@katherinehunter9526 You are most likely right.... if the Beatles weren't "the first", then someone else would have been (eventually).... and after doing a deeper dive into "progressive rock/pop origins", you would have to also consider The Beach Boys "Pet Sounds"... which critics (at the time) acclaimed it to be "the most progressive pop album ever made"... and allowed the new methodology, where the artists themselves can act as their own producers.
But coming BACK TO KING CRIMSON... This album was SO DIFFERENT than ANYTHING that came before it, I almost want it to have its own category altogether ... but .... it is NOT without roots, and didn't arise in a vacuum.
i was reading the last few pages to devilman for the first time listening to this song and now its forever tied to another great piece of work and i just think how crazy this song and devilman fit together
one of my favourite songs, Fripp's playing from 10:45 onward is just beautiful.
"McDonald: “We’d run out of material. And we didn’t want to put a cover tune on our first album. So we were left with gap; we needed another seven to nine minutes. So once we’d recorded the basic track [the front section, with the vocals], Mike, Robert and I went back into the studio, set the tape rolling and just improvised for about 10 minutes. And I think it’s alright.
Sinfield: “Greg really doesn’t play on Moonchild. That sort of free-form improvisation was never Greg’s bag. He was: ‘What’s all this twiddling about? Oh, I suppose I’ll have to put a bass note here.’ He just said: ‘I’m not playing on that.’"
I was listening to this for the first time while walking and at some point I was like: "wait where is the music?"
One of my favorite Crimson songs of all. The improvised section totally took me by surprise upon my first listen in 1970. In 1972 I had just starting listening to the great music on ECM records from Germany, a lot of European and American Jazz artists would go to Germany and have Manfred Eicher produce them. Jamie Muire (former Crimson percussionist) was on a lot of those ECM records, now well known as the greatest record company for many styles of unique, original music. Chick Corea and Keith Jarrett are a couple of artists who released many ECM albums.
I always used to play this song to put me asleep at night What a classic album!!!
Nessun gruppo è arrivato così in alto. LP unico, ineguagliabile.
Sacrosanta verità
I'm 73, listening to this LP brings back memories of my mother who used to come and call me into my room or tell me to turn down the volume 😢
This is the only song I can sing well from In The Court Of The Crimson King, because it's so soft that my deep voice can sing it without hurting
Humble brag.
i can heavily relate ;-;
How deep?
A deep voice cant sing the high parts
@@miguelbranquinho7235it isn't an "attractive" deep voice. And my voice has a very small range of sounds, so going too high or too low leads to me sounding like a dying seal. Definitely nothing to brag about lol
They created this masterpiece and then never were able to channel the same genius (in my opinion). Thankful for this album, it’s perfect.
Regardless of the genre of music you may typically enjoy, you should find this song (and entire album) supremely gratifying! King Crimson is a treasure that I only recently discovered, and I am an instant fan. Simply amazing!
King crimson was a band ahead of it's time ❤
ROBERT FRIPP THE GENIUS and great other musicians Greg Lake magnificent singer .
Thank you, Greg and Peter, rest in peace 🌔
Menti geniali scrissero musica inestimabilmente meravigliosa. Ricchezza per l'anima e profondità del sentimento ascoltando i loro dischi. Sono cresciuto con i k. Crimson e diventato adulto ed ogni ascolto è sempre un tuffo nel mare più blu. Consiglio a tutti di acquistare i loro dischi e cercare le traduzioni dei testi poetici. Grandi. Grandi. Immensi Re Cremisi.
Ineguagliabili
Amazing song
Moonchild
[Part I: “The Dream”]
Call her moonchild
Dancing in the shallows of a river
Lonely moonchild
Dreaming in the shadows of a willow
Talking to the trees of the cobweb strange
Sleeping on the steps of a fountain
Waving silver wands to the night-bird’s song
Waiting for the sun on the mountain
She’s a moonchild
Gathering the flowers in a garden
Lovely moonchild
Drifting in the echoes of the hours
Sailing on the wind in a milk white gown
Dropping circle stones on a sun dial
Playing hide and seek with the ghosts of dawn
Waiting for a smile from a sun child
My hero
Thanks Robert Fripp for finally uploading this stuff to UA-cam.
The lyrics are so beautiful....
Listening to this song about 50 years 🎉
It was a complete surprise hearing this on Buffalo '66 when Layla started her dance routine on the bowling alley. Really started to appreciate this song more after that.