"Epitaph" is the third track from the British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 progressive rock

Progressive rock

Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...

 band King Crimson

King Crimson

King Crimson are a rock band founded in London, England in 1969. Often categorised as a foundational progressive rock group, the band have incorporated diverse influences and instrumentation during their history...

's debut album, In the Court of the Crimson King

In the Court of the Crimson King

In the Court of the Crimson King is the 1969 debut album by the British progressive rock group King Crimson. The album reached No. 5 on the British charts, and is certified gold in the United States....

.

The song makes heavy use of the mellotron

Mellotron

The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical, polyphonic tape replay keyboard originally developed and built in Birmingham, England in the early 1960s. It superseded the Chamberlin Music Master, which was the world's first sample-playback keyboard intended for music...

, and as with the first track, "21st Century Schizoid Man

21st Century Schizoid Man

"21st Century Schizoid Man" is a song by progressive rock band King Crimson from their debut album In the Court of the Crimson King.-Personnel:* Greg Lake – Vocals, bass guitar* Ian McDonald – saxophone* Robert Fripp – guitars* Michael Giles – drums...

", the song's lyrics have a distinctly dystopian feel to them.

The song's title was used as the name for a live album

Live album

A live album is a recording consisting of material recorded during stage performances using remote recording techniques, commonly contrasted with a studio album...

 of recordings done by the original King Crimson, Epitaph.

Punk label Epitaph Records

Epitaph Records

Epitaph Records is a Hollywood, California based independent record label owned by Bad Religion guitarist Brett Gurewitz. The label was originally "just a logo and a P.O. box" created in the 1980s for the purpose of selling Bad Religion records, but has evolved into a large independent record...

 is named after this song.

Emerson, Lake & Palmer

Emerson, Lake & Palmer

Emerson, Lake & Palmer, also known as ELP, are an English progressive rock supergroup. They found success in the 1970s and sold over forty million albums and headlined large stadium concerts. The band consists of Keith Emerson , Greg Lake and Carl Palmer...

 would later incorporate an excerpt from this song into the live version of their song "Battlefield", from the Tarkus

Tarkus

Tarkus is the second album by the British progressive rock band Emerson, Lake & Palmer, released in 1971.In 1993 the album was digitally remastered by Joseph M. Palmaccio...

 album.

Personnel

• Robert Fripp
  Robert Fripp
  Robert Fripp is an English guitarist, composer and record producer. He was ranked 42nd on Rolling Stone magazine's 2003 list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" and #47 on Gibson.com’s "Top 50 Guitarists of All Time". Among rock guitarists, Fripp is a master of crosspicking, a technique...
  
   - guitar
  Guitar
  The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
  
  
• Greg Lake
  Greg Lake
  Gregory Stuart "Greg" Lake is an English musician, songwriter and producer, best known as a vocalist and bassist of King Crimson, and the bassist, guitarist, vocalist, and lyricist of Emerson, Lake & Palmer.-1960s: King Crimson:...
  
   - bass guitar
  Bass guitar
  The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
  
  , vocals
  Singing
  Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
  
  
• Ian McDonald
  Ian McDonald (musician)
  Ian McDonald is an English multi-instrumental musician, best known as a founding member of progressive rock group King Crimson, formed in 1969, and of the hard rock band Foreigner in 1976. He is well-known as a rock session musician, predominantly as a saxophonist...
  
   - harpsichord
  Harpsichord
  A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It produces sound by plucking a string when a key is pressed.In the narrow sense, "harpsichord" designates only the large wing-shaped instruments in which the strings are perpendicular to the keyboard...
  
  , mellotron
  Mellotron
  The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical, polyphonic tape replay keyboard originally developed and built in Birmingham, England in the early 1960s. It superseded the Chamberlin Music Master, which was the world's first sample-playback keyboard intended for music...
  
  , reeds and woodwind
  Woodwind instrument
  A woodwind instrument is a musical instrument which produces sound when the player blows air against a sharp edge or through a reed, causing the air within its resonator to vibrate...
  
  
• Michael Giles
  Michael Giles
  Michael Giles is an English drummer, best known as a co-founder of King Crimson in 1969...
  
   - drums
  Drum kit
  A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
  
  , percussion
  Percussion instrument
  A percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...
  
  

1976 single

In 1976, Epitaph/21st Century Schizoid Man, a single released, a companion to the compilation A Young Person's Guide to King Crimson

A Young Person's Guide to King Crimson

A Young Person's Guide to King Crimson is a compilation by the band King Crimson, released in 1976. Its name is most likely derived either from the famous orchestral work The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra from composer Benjamin Britten or the 1960s television series Young Person's Guide to...

(1976).

Track listing

1. "Epitaph" (Robert Fripp
   Robert Fripp
   Robert Fripp is an English guitarist, composer and record producer. He was ranked 42nd on Rolling Stone magazine's 2003 list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" and #47 on Gibson.com’s "Top 50 Guitarists of All Time". Among rock guitarists, Fripp is a master of crosspicking, a technique...
   
   , Michael Giles
   Michael Giles
   Michael Giles is an English drummer, best known as a co-founder of King Crimson in 1969...
   
   , Greg Lake
   Greg Lake
   Gregory Stuart "Greg" Lake is an English musician, songwriter and producer, best known as a vocalist and bassist of King Crimson, and the bassist, guitarist, vocalist, and lyricist of Emerson, Lake & Palmer.-1960s: King Crimson:...
   
   , Ian McDonald
   Ian McDonald (musician)
   Ian McDonald is an English multi-instrumental musician, best known as a founding member of progressive rock group King Crimson, formed in 1969, and of the hard rock band Foreigner in 1976. He is well-known as a rock session musician, predominantly as a saxophonist...
   
   , Peter Sinfield
   Peter Sinfield
   Peter John Sinfield is an English poet, lyricist and artist, most famously known as the lyricist and co-founding member of early incarnations of King Crimson, whose debut album In the Court of the Crimson King has been regarded as one of the most influential progressive rock albums ever...
   
   )

   including:

   • "March for No Reason"
   • "Tomorrow and Tomorrow"

2. "21st Century Schizoid Man
   21st Century Schizoid Man
   "21st Century Schizoid Man" is a song by progressive rock band King Crimson from their debut album In the Court of the Crimson King.-Personnel:* Greg Lake – Vocals, bass guitar* Ian McDonald – saxophone* Robert Fripp – guitars* Michael Giles – drums...
   
   " (Fripp, Giles, Lake, McDonald, Sinfield)

   including:

   • "Mirrors"