Peter Sinfield


Peter Sinfield (27 December 1943 – 14 November 2024)

In the aftermath of King Crimson, EG Management nudged Sinfield into production work and, in the summer of 1972, he helped guide Roxy Music’s debut album to fruition. He provided lyrics and production for Photos Of Ghosts (1973) and The World Became The World (1974) for Italian group PFM, who were signed to ELP’s Manticore label. After Manticore released his post-Crimson solo album Still (1973), in 1974 he published a collection of poetry and lyrics, Under The Sky, which has since become a highly sought-after collectors’ item.

Sinfield’s association with Greg Lake continued in ELP, with Sinfield providing lyrics for Brain Salad Surgery (1973), Works, Volumes I & II (1977) and Love Beach (1978). During the ’80s and the ’90s, he was responsible for co-writing highly successful hit singles for artists such as Cher, Bucks Fizz, Five Star, Cliff Richard, Celine Dion and others. Sinfield has contributed lyrics to solo projects by David Cross, John Wetton and, perhaps most notably, Ian McDonald’s debut solo album Drivers Eyes (1999). He also provided revised lyrics for Jakko Jaszyk’s rearranged cover of King Crimson’s Pictures Of A City on Jakszyk’s solo album The Bruised Romantic Glee Club (2007). Recast with sitar-like guitars, tabla and vocals from Pandit Dinesh, it was retitled Pictures Of An Indian City. Sinfield took part in 1997’s Epitaph playback and the Steven Wilson/King Crimson playback at AIR Studios in 2009. A keen cook and gardener, living on the Suffolk coast in the town of Aldeburgh, famed for its international music festival, Sinfield has now largely retired. In 2014, Fripp invited Sinfield to provide an updated take on the lyrics of 21st Century Schizoid Man, renewing their partnership, albeit briefly and at a distance, in line with Fripp’s mission to have the music, and in this instance, the lyrics reimagined for the new Crimson. Sinfield wrote: Cat’s foot, iron claw Sykes, Picot and the fat cigar Knuckles dragging in the desert sand Twenty-First Century Schizoid Man Blood rack, dark wire Politician’s funeral pyre Cursed and poisoned Bless his heart Twenty-First Century Schizoid Man Death seed, Blind men’s greed Poet’s starving children bleed Nothing he’s got he really needs Twenty-First Century Schizoid Man Highlighting the shift of American foreign policy from Asia in the original lyric to later Middle East adventures, it was sung for the new Crimson’s first tour in 2014 before the band reverted to the original lyric. Peter Sinfield with King Crimson In The Court Of The Crimson King In The Wake Of Poseidon Lizard Islands 1969 The Complete Recordings

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Islands Complete

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Islands at 50

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Ladies instrumental

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On this day in 1969

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DIARIES

PJ and Richard Parker Crook

11.01
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BampB Quite Acceptable Chagford Devon

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DOWNLOADS

Cirkus Stockholm

King Crimson
Cirkus
6 Jul 2018

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Wessex Studios Moonchild Takes 1 to 9

King Crimson
Wessex Studios
31 Jul 1969

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In The Court Of The Crimson King 40th Anniversary

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Wessex Studios
1 Oct 2009

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KC 50 10 Prince Rupert Awakes (Feat Keith Tippett)

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DGMHQ Soundworld 1
15 Mar 2019

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Watford Town Hall

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Town Hall
15 Jul 1971

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Zoom Club Frankfurt Germany

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Zoom Club
14 Apr 1971

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Wessex Studios The Court of the Crimson King Takes 1 to 10 and Trailor

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Wessex Studios
16 Jul 1969

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Plumpton Festival Plumpton England

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Plumpton Festival
9 Aug 1969

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Duke Energy Centre For The Performing Arts

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Duke Energy Centre For The Performing Arts
26 Oct 2017

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Ladies Of The Road (Instrumental)

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DGM Soundworld I
25 Oct 2021

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Empire Theatre

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Liverpool Empire Theatre
10 Nov 2018

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Wessex Studios I Talk to the Wind takes 3 to 9

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Wessex Studios
21 Jul 1969

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Teatro La Fenice

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Teatro La Fenice
28 Jul 2018

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21st Century Sailor's Tale

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DGM Sound World I
31 Jan 2022

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Concord Pavillion

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Concord Pavilion
5 Aug 2021

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Armoury Wilmington United States

King Crimson
Armoury
11 Feb 1972

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Wessex Studios London

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Wessex Studios
5 Feb 1970

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City Hall Sheffield England

King Crimson
City Hall
29 May 1971

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KC 50 7 Ladies of the Road (Remix)

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DGMHQ Soundworld 1
22 Feb 2019

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September 11, 1970

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Wessex Studios
11 Sep 1970

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ARTISTS

Ian McDonald

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Michael Giles

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Greg Lake

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Peter Sinfield

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Keith Tippett

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Mark Charig

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Harry Miller

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