Richard Fraser (lyricist)

Richard Fraser was a lyricist for the British progressive rock band Emerson, Lake & Palmer (ELP).

He is notable for receiving credit for their 1970 debut album's third track, the hit "Knife-Edge" and for his lyrical contributions to Pictures at an Exhibition. Fraser and bassist Greg Lake wrote the nightmarish lyrics together, while Keith Emerson added some improvisations on the Hammond organ. (Lake worked with non-performing lyricists before and after, notably Peter Sinfield.)

Most of the music to "Knife-Edge" was "borrowed" from the first movement of Leoš Janáček's Sinfonietta (1926), except for the organ solo section, which is a note-for-note quotation of the Allemande of Bach's 1st French Suite in D minor, BWV 812. On the original Cotillion Records USA release of the Emerson, Lake & Palmer LP, Knife Edge was credited entirely to Emerson, Lake and Fraser without any mention of Janáček or Bach;[1] however, on the British Manticore LP re-release, Sinfonietta and Janáček were listed in the album credits, including on the back cover (also listed was "The Barbarian" by Bartók - arranged by Emerson, Lake and Palmer), and Keith Emerson has often mentioned the French Suite quote, including in the 1977 Keyboard Magazine interview. Unfortunately, record companies that have re-issued the Emerson, Lake & Palmer LP on compact disc have to this day failed to use the updated information, including from the Manticore LP release's back cover.

Greg Lake had this to say about Fraser in March 1972:

"He was a roadie, a roadie's roadie, called 'Dynamite Legs.' We got to be good friends with him. He helped one day with the word, so we gave him the credit. We only gave him credit. We never gave him any money."[2]

References
  1. "The Nexus of Classical and Rock". rockclassical.com. Retrieved 27 January 2012."When Emerson, Lake & Palmer failed to acknowledge Béla Bartók and Leoš Janáček on their first album, several magazine articles denounced this omission. Their later albums usually acknowledged their sources."
  2. "Circus, March 1972". ladiesofthelake.com. Retrieved 11 February 2012.
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