| The Barbarian | |
| Type: | Instrumental |
| Artist: | Emerson, Lake & Palmer |
| Album: | Emerson, Lake & Palmer |
| Released: | 1970 |
| Recorded: | 1970 |
| Length: | 4:27 |
| Composer: | Béla Bartók arr. Keith Emerson, Greg Lake, Carl Palmer |
| Producer: | Greg Lake |
"The Barbarian" is the opening track on the eponymous debut album of British progressive rock band Emerson, Lake & Palmer, released in 1970.
This piece of music is instrumental, and it is the shortest one on the album (4:27). Although the composition of "The Barbarian" was attributed to the three band members, it is an arrangement for rock band of Béla Bartók’s 1911 piano piece Allegro barbaro.[1] [2] Although the original piece is for piano only, the band arranged the song for organ, piano, bass, and drums.[3] The music of the song is aggressive with a heavy metal style. Greg Lake used a fuzz box to give his bass a fuller, guitar-like sound. The band members did not give credit to Bartók, thinking that the label would arrange the matter. Bartók's family sued ELP for copyright infringement,[2] but eventually, the band gave equal credit to Bartók.[4]