Songfacts®:

• An instrumental from the first Emerson, Lake & Palmer album, "The Three Fates" is based on the Greek legend of the Moirai, three women that determined one's destiny. The song is a suite divided into three parts, each representing one of the Moirai.
  
  Clotho - The spinner of the thread.
  
  Lachesis - She who measures the thread.
  
  Atropos - The one who cuts the thread.
• The group's keyboard player Keith Emerson composed this track. He would jokingly refer to it as "The Three Farts."
• Emerson played the "Clotho" section of this song on the pipe organ at Newcastle City Hall in England, where the band recorded their Pictures At An Exhibition album. He played the "Lachesis" section using 7-foot Yamaha grand piano at Advision Studios in London.