Karn Evil 9: Third Impression

This is my favorite tune by this amazing trio. These lyrics are poetry. Without attempting to do a line-by-line analysis of them, I'm just going to sum it up: The song begins with the narrator facing a great battle...against some evil invader. Possibly alien. The humans, led by their Captain, battle valiently, suffer grave losses...yet emerge triumphant. With all their enemies destroyed, they believe themselves invincible, with no more enemies to stand in their way. But there is...the very machine that they created to be their servants, has become so advanced and powerful...it becomes their master. This song, 35 years later, has proven prophetic. How many of US cannot function without our computers, cell phones, and GPS?

I'll give this one a shot. Part 3 of the Karn Evil 9 trilogy.

This is the end of humanity. Machine beats man. Man against Man's creation.

Forever we thought we would live, not ever realizing we've created our own worst enemy.

Side note: I always felt the line: "Guardians of a new clear dawn" was sung specifically like "Guardians of a nuclear dawn".

Both work in stating some kind of revolution will take place, but one will be utopian while the other is total annihilation.

One of my favorite songs from ELP (can I say that? I love em all!!) but BSS is such an amazing album.

Karn Evil 9: Third Impression

<A brief History of Humanity's downfall by our own machinations in our own carnival of misery and self destruction.>

Man alone; born of stone; Will stamp the dust of time His hands strike the flame of his soul;

<Mankind has been creating buildings and monuments since the stone age, built by hand and inspired by spiritual beliefs which is driven by fear of the unknown and a need to create some imagined sense of control.>

Ties a rope to a tree and hangs the Universe Until the winds of laughter blows cold.

Fear that rattles in men's ears And rears it's hideous head Dread .... Death .... in the wind ....

<<Humanity learns the secrets of Science which are in opposition to the Stone Age world view, killing their imagined Universe where Earth and Humanity are at the center. Also leading to ever greater tools to build the world, and to destroy it.>

Man of steel pray and kneel With fever's blazing torch Thrust in the face of the night; Draws a blade of compassion Kissed by countless Kings Whose jewelled trumpet words blind his sight.

<Moving from the Stone Age to the invention of Steel, the foundations of Belief continue to drive Humanity. Soldiers of God draw their swords to fight one another over those beliefs, killing one another in the darkness of their continued willful ignorance. The countless kings over time have convinced people that killing each other is actually compassionate by bullshitting them with "jewelled words" to "blind their sight".>

Walls that no man thought would fall The altars of the just Crushed .... Dust .... in the wind ....

"Altars of the just" should be viewed here with skepticism at the speaker who calls them "Just", but those "altars" of believers built by the hands of mankind have been returned to the dust they started out as, destroyed by the blindness of the person holding the sword, misdirected by leaders for their own ends.>

No man yields who flies in my ship DANGER! Let the bridge computer speak STRANGER! LOAD YOUR PROGRAM. I AM YOURSELF.

<Now, in the Future, the warrior in a "ship", using the latest technological weapon, interactive computer aided intelligence. However, that tool just became Sentient! At first, the warrior in the driver's seat allows the Bridge Computer speak."

No computer stands in my way Only blood can cancel my pain Guardians of a new clear dawn Let the maps of war be drawn.

<Humanity refuses to allow reason to overcome our persistent views of spiritual superiority over others and chooses to continue using ever greater weapons, now Nuclear Weapons in this vision of the future, using them to wipe out opposition in order to create a "New Clear Dawn", which they imagine a new beginning, while it is in fact our collective ending. The exact opposite of security.>

Rejoice! Glory is ours! Our young men have not died in vain, Their graves need no flowers The tapes have recorded their names.

<Now, Post Apocalyptic Future. So certain of the "just" nature of their beliefs, and still tied to the endless bloodshed that comes without Reason, Humanity also continues to use Technology to take over what Humans do, recording the names on magnetic tapes, honoring them virtually, not with organic things like flowers, and any sense of grief over loss of life. The Survivors are pretty sure they're the Winners, after all they have confidently done to their fellow creatures.>

I am all there is NEGATIVE! PRIMITIVE! LIMITED! I LET YOU LIVE! But I gave you life WHAT ELSE COULD YOU DO? To do what was right I'M PERFECT! ARE YOU?

<In their ultimate hubris, the survivors claim, "I am all there is!" Having used Technology to destroy all of their perceived enemies, savagely, genocidally using the very computers used to do the job, the now sentient computers have decided to reject their creators who cannot overcome their innate imperfection, blood thirsty animals bent of security through domination. While they may be the last Humans standing, they're about to become either slaves, or killed by the Artificial Intelligence they created. After calling them primitive, unable to avoid creating them as driven by their needs, the AI has no such flaws and asks the pointed question, "I'm Perfect. Are You?"

In that "Perfection", however, one is left to wonder, what will the AI choose to do next with their savage creators, whose Nature is to dominate everything, and Hung their own Universe in the process. Reminds me of the saying, "Hoist by your own Petard." Blown up by your own bomb, while intending to kill others."