"I Am the Walrus" is a 1967 song by The Beatles, written by John Lennon and credited to Lennon/McCartney. Lennon claimed he wrote the first two lines on separate acid trips. The song was in The Beatles' 1967 television film and album Magical Mystery Tour, and was the B-side to the #1 hit "Hello, Goodbye."
Lennon composed the avant-garde song by combining three songs he had been working on. When he learned that a teacher at his old primary school was having his students analyze Beatles' lyrics, he added a verse of nonsense words.
The walrus is a reference to the walrus in Lewis Carroll's "The Walrus and the Carpenter" (from the book Through the Looking-Glass). Lennon expressed dismay upon learning that the walrus was a villain in the poem.
Origins
The genesis of the lyrics is found in three song ideas that Lennon was working on, the first of which was inspired by hearing a police siren at his home in Weybridge; Lennon wrote the lines "Mis-ter cit-y police-man" to the rhythm of the siren. The second idea was a short rhyme about Lennon sitting in his garden, while the third was a nonsense lyric about sitting on a corn flake. Unable to finish the ideas as three different songs, he combined them into one.
Lennon received a letter from a pupil at Quarry Bank Grammar School, which he had attended. The writer mentioned that the English master was making his class analyse Beatles lyrics. (Lennon wrote an answer, dated September 1, 1967, which was auctioned by Christie's of London in 1992.) Lennon, amused that a teacher was putting so much effort into understanding The Beatles' lyrics, wrote the most confusing lyric he could. Lennon's friend and former fellow member of The Quarrymen, Peter Shotton, was visiting, and Lennon asked Shotton about a playground nursery rhyme they sang as children.
Shotton remembered:
"Yellow matter custard, green slop pie,
All mixed together with a dead dog's eye,
Slap it on a butty, ten foot thick,
Then wash it all down with a cup of cold sick."
Lennon borrowed a couple of words, added the three unfinished ideas and the result was "I Am the Walrus". The Beatles' official biographer Hunter Davies was present while the song was being written and wrote an account in his 1968 book on the band. Lennon remarked to Shotton, "Let the fuckers work that one out."
All the chords are major chords or seventh chords, and all the musical letters of the alphabet (A, B, C, D, E, F and G) are used. The song ends with a chord progression built on ascending and descending lines in the bass and strings, repeated over and over as the song fades. Musicologist Alan W. Pollack analyses: "The chord progression of the outro itself is a harmonic Moebius strip with scales in bassline and top voice that move in contrary motion." The bassline descends stepwise A, G, F, E, D, C, and B, while the strings' part rises A, B, C, D, E, F#, G: this sequence repeats as the song fades, with the strings rising higher on each iteration. Pollack also notes that the repeated cell is seven bars long, which means that a different chord begins each four-bar phrase.
Lennon explained much of the song to Playboy in 1980:
* "The first line was written on one acid trip one weekend. The second line was written on the next acid trip the next weekend, and it was filled in after I met Yoko. Part of it was putting down Hare Krishna. All these people were going on about Hare Krishna, Allen Ginsberg in particular. The reference to "Elementary penguin" is the elementary, naive attitude of going around chanting, "Hare Krishna", or putting all your faith in any one idol. I was writing obscurely, a la Dylan, in those days."
* "It never dawned on me that Lewis Carroll was commenting on the capitalist and social system. I never went into that bit about what he really meant, like people are doing with The Beatles' work. Later, I went back and looked at it and realised that the walrus was the bad guy in the story and the carpenter was the good guy. I thought, Oh, shit, I picked the wrong guy. I should have said, 'I am the carpenter.' But that wouldn't have been the same, would it? [Singing] 'I am the carpenter....'"
Some have speculated that the opening line, "I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together", is a parody of the opening line of "Marching to Pretoria", a folk song: "I'm with you and you're with me and we are all together."
The song also contains the exclamation goo goo g'joob with "koo koo g'joob" heard clearly in the second. Various hypotheses exist regarding the origin and meaning. One is that the phrase was derived from the similar "koo koo ka choo", to which it is often mondegreened, in Simon and Garfunkel's Mrs. Robinson, written in 1967. However, the film The Graduate, where "Mrs. Robinson" debuted, did not appear until December 1967, a month after "I Am the Walrus", and The Graduate Original Soundtrack (which contained only fragments of the final version of "Mrs Robinson") was not out until January 1968.
James Joyce's Finnegans Wake contains the words googoo goosth at the top of page *557, where it appears:
...like milk-juggles as if it was the wrake of the hapspurus or old Kong Gander O'Toole of the Mountains or his googoo goosth she seein, sliving off over the sawdust lobby out of the backroom, wan ter, that was everywans in turruns, in his honeymoon trim, holding up his fingerhals...
Recording
"I Am the Walrus" was the first studio recording made after the death of The Beatles' manager Brian Epstein in August 1967. The basic backing track featuring The Beatles was released in 1996 on Anthology 2. George Martin arranged and added orchestral accompaniment that included violins, cellos, horns, clarinet and a 16-piece choir. Paul McCartney said that Lennon gave instructions to Martin as to how he wished the orchestration to be scored, including singing most of the parts as a guide. A large group of professional studio vocalists named "The Mike Sammes Singers", took part in the recording as well, variously singing "Ho-ho-ho, hee-hee-hee, ha-ha-ha", "oompah, oompah, stick it up your jumper!", "got one, got one, everybody's got one" and making a series of shrill whooping noises.
The dramatic reading in the mix towards the end of the song is a few lines of Shakespeare's King Lear (Act IV, Scene VI), which were added to the song direct from an AM radio receiving the broadcast of the play on the BBC Home Service (or possibly the BBC Third Programme). The bulk of the audible dialogue, heard in the fade, is the death scene of the character Oswald (including the words, "O untimely Death! Death!"); this is just one additional piece of the Paul is Dead urban legend.
The original 1967 stereo mix of the record has an interesting twist: At almost exactly two minutes into the song, the mix changes from regular stereo to "fake stereo", with most of the bass on one channel, and most of the treble on the other. The mix appears to 'wander' sonically in the fadeout, from left to right. The reason for the change in mixes was that the radio broadcast was inserted during the mono mixdown. The U.S. mono single mix also includes an extra bar of music before the words "yellow matter custard" - an early, overdub-free mix of the song released on The Beatles Anthology 2 reveals John singing the lyrics "Yellow mat - " too early; this was edited out. The mono version opens with a four-beat chord while stereo mix features six beats on the initial chord.
In 2003, the first-ever stereo mix of the song (except for the intro) was included as part of the soundtrack for the DVD release of The Beatles Anthology.
In 2006, the first-ever stereo mix of the complete song (from beginning to end, including the formerly "fake stereo" second half) was issued on The Beatles' album Love.
Personnel
* John Lennon: lead vocals, electric piano, mellotron and tambourine.
* Paul McCartney: bass, backing vocals.
* George Harrison: electric guitar, backing vocals.
* Ringo Starr: drums.
* Orchestrated, directed and produced by George Martin.
* Session musicians: strings, brass and woodwinds.
* Mike Sammes singers: background vocals.
* Engineered by Geoff Emerick.
* Mixed by Geoff Emerick and John Lennon.
Reception
Critical reception at the time of the track's release was positive:
* "John growls the nonsense (and sometimes suggestive) lyric, backed by a complex scoring incorporating violins and cellos. You need to hear it a few times before you can absorb it." - Derek Johnson, NME, 18 November 1967.
* "Into the world of Alice in Wonderland now and you can almost visualise John crouching on a deserted shore singing I am the Walrus to some beautiful strings from far away on the horizon and a whole bagful of Beatle sounds, like a ringing doorbell and someone sawing a plank of wood. A fantastic track which you will need to live with for a while to fully appreciate." - Nick Logan, NME, 25 November 1967.
Interpretation
Despite the fact that John Lennon wrote this song as a response to his alma mater interpreting Beatles songs, "I am the Walrus" is often interpreted by the public.
Who was the walrus?
In the booklet that accompanies the Magical Mystery Tour album, "I Am the Walrus" is given the subtitle (in small print) "'No you're not!' said Little Nicola." (Nicola is a little girl in a segment of the Magical Mystery Tour film, who keeps contradicting everything the other characters say.) The 1968 Beatles song "Glass Onion", written by Lennon, and featured on the White Album, refers to earlier Beatles' compositions. Referring to "I Am the Walrus", Lennon sings, "Here's another clue for you all, the walrus was Paul."
In the 1980 Playboy interview, John responded to the confusion:
"I threw the line in — 'the Walrus was Paul' — just to confuse everybody a bit more. And I thought 'Walrus' has now become me, meaning 'I am the one.' Only it didn't mean that in this song."
Lennon also comments in The Beatles Anthology that he wrote the song at a point when the band was beginning to fall apart, and he hoped that by inserting this line in combination with "I told you 'bout the walrus and me man, you know that we're as close as can be man", he could begin to patch things up with the band.
Lennon said that the fact that McCartney was dressed as a walrus on the cover of the Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour LP inspired the line. However, Lennon himself was dressed as a walrus in the music video for "I Am the Walrus", instead of Paul who is wearing a hippopotamus costume.
Paul also responded to the lyric in an interview broadcast on a Beatles' documentary on WYNY 1981:
"[John] happened to have a line go 'the walrus was Paul' and we had a great giggle to say 'yeah, let's do that,' because everybody's gonna read into it and go crackers cause they all thought that John was the walrus."
On Lennon's 1970 solo album Plastic Ono Band, the song "God" contains the lines "I was the walrus, but now I'm John."
Who was the Eggman?
Eric Burdon, lead singer of The Animals, is claimed by some to be the 'Eggman'. The reason for this is that Burdon was known as 'Eggs' to his friends, originating from his fondness for breaking eggs over naked girls. Burdon's biography mentions such an affair taking place in the presence of John Lennon, who shouted "Go on, go get it, Eggman..."
Song's role in "Paul is Dead" controversy
At the time the song appeared, and years before Lennon himself explained that the Carroll poem was the genesis of the song, there was speculation on what the walrus symbolized in The Beatles' song. During the "Paul is Dead" imbroglio, journalist John Neary, the author of the cover story "The Magical McCartney Mystery" in the November 7, 1969 issue of LIFE Magazine, incorrectly claimed that the "black walrus was a folk symbol of death." B.J. Phillips, writing in the Washington Post on October 22, 1969 ("McCartney 'Death' Rumors"), made the assertion that, "According to the hypothesis, the walrus is a symbol of death, although its origins have been attributed to such dissimilar sources as the ancient Greeks and modern Eskimos."
According to the Paul is Dead Web Site Turn Me on Dead Man, there actually are no cultural links between the walrus and death. Such "folklore" was generated by the perpetrators of the "Paul is Dead" myth.
Cover versions
* The Rutles' song "Piggy in the Middle" is a tongue-in-cheek parody of this song.
* Spooky Tooth recorded a version for their 1969 album The Last Puff.
* Leo Sayer covered the song for the 1976 ephemeral musical documentary All This and World War II.
* The German singer Klaus Lage released a closely translated German version of the song on his 1980 debut album Die Musikmaschine.
* The punk band Gray Matter covered the song on their 1985 album Food for Thought
* Frank Zappa performed the song at the Beacon Theater in New York City on Thursday February 4, 1988.
* Men Without Hats recorded a version for their 1991 album Sideways.
* Indie-rock band Arcwelder recorded a version and released it as a 7" single (backed with a cover of the Prince song Sign of the Times) in 1992 on the label Big Money.
* Another indie rock band Hash also recorded a version and released it as a 7" single (B-Side of their hit 'I Forgot My Blanket' which was under the Elektra record label produced by Dogmeat Ltd.(7-64625) in 1993.
* Marc Bonilla recorded an instrumental version on his 1993 album American Matador.
* Les Fradkin has an instrumental version on his 2007 release- "Guitar Revolution".
* Oasis covers the song live frequently, and released one version on the B-side to their 1994 single "Cigarettes & Alcohol". The track can also be found on their compilation album The Masterplan.
* The Punkles did a Punk cover of this song on their third album "Pistol".
* The band Oingo Boingo covered the song on their 1994 album Boingo as well as performing it live at their Farewell Tour.
* Colin's Hermits (Dave Gregory, of XTC) covered this song on the 1996 tribute album Without The Beatles .
* A performance of the song by actor and comedian Jim Carrey appears on George Martin's 1998 album In My Life. At the end of his version, he cries, "There, I did it! I've defiled a timeless piece of art! For my next trick I'll paint a clown face on the Mona Lisa, while using the Shroud of Turin as a drop cloth!"
* The German band Die Toten Hosen covered the song on their 1999 album Crash Landing.
* In 2004, the rock band Styx performed a cover of the song at Eric Clapton's Crossroads Guitar Festival, where the song was received so well that it was released as a single. The cover of the song received significant classic rock airplay, reaching #10 on the Mediabase Classic Rock charts. The cover also became the basis for an entire album consisting of covers, 2005's Big Bang Theory.
* Jeff Martin (of Racer X, ex-Badlands) made a heavy metal cover of "I Am The Walrus" on his solo album The Fool (2006) with guitarist Russ Parrish (of Steel Panther and Fight).
* Japanese rock band Boris collaborated with noise legend Merzbow for a cover of "I Am The Walrus". This was released on the Walrus/Groon 12" EP in 2007.
* Australian singer/songwriter Russell Morris included a version on his 2007 album "Fundamentalist".
* Bono of U2 performs a version of the song in the 2007 movie, Across the Universe. It appears on the soundtrack with the American band Secret Machines.
* Southern hard rock band Jackyl released a cover version on their 1997 best-of album Choice Cuts
* Beatles tribute band The Fab Faux performed a note-perfect version on The Late Show With David Letterman as well as The Howard Stern Show on Sirius Satellite Radio.
* Finnish comedian group Kummeli performed a version translated to their mother tongue on TV in the early 1990s. The music video was a parody of several Beatles' videos.
A-side: "Hello Goodbye"
Released: November 24, 1967 (UK), November 27, 1967 (U.S.)
Format: 7"
Recorded: Abbey Road Studios, 5 September 1967
Genre: Psychedelic rock
Length: 4:34
Label: Parlophone (UK), Capitol Records (U.S.)
Writer(s): Lennon/McCartney
Producer: George Martin
Wikipedia
Showing posts with label allen ginsberg. Show all posts
Showing posts with label allen ginsberg. Show all posts
Friday, February 04, 2011
Thursday, November 05, 2009
John Lennon: 1980
By David Sheff / September 8-28, 1980
PLAYBOY: The album obviously reflects your new priorities. How have things gone for you since you made that decision?
LENNON: We got back together, decided this was our life, that having a baby was important to us and that anything else was subsidiary to that. We worked hard for that child. We went through all hell trying to have a baby, through many miscarriages and other problems. He is what they call a love child in truth. Doctors told us we could never have a child. We almost gave up. "Well, that's it, then, we can't have one. . . ." We were told something was wrong with my sperm, that I abused myself so much in my youth that there was no chance. Yoko was 43, and so they said, no way. She has had too many miscarriages and when she was a young girl, there were no pills, so there were lots of abortions and miscarriages; her stomach must be like Kew Gardens in London. No way. But this Chinese acupuncturist in San Francisco said, "You behave yourself. No drugs, eat well, no drink. You have child in 18 months." And we said, "But the English doctors said. . . ." He said, "Forget what they said. You have child." We had Sean and sent the acupuncturist a Polaroid of him just before he died, God rest his soul.
PLAYBOY: Were there any problems because of Yoko's age?
LENNON: Not because of her age but because of a screw- up in the hospital and the fucking price of fame. Somebody had made a transfusion of the wrong blood type into Yoko. I was there when it happened, and she starts to go rigid, and then shake, from the pain and the trauma. I run up to this nurse and say, "Go get the doctor!" I'm holding on tight to Yoko while this guy gets to the hospital room. He walks in, hardly notices that Yoko is going through fucking convulsions, goes straight for me, smiles, shakes my hand and says, "I've always wanted to meet you, Mr. Lennon, I always enjoyed your music." I start screaming: "My wife's dying and you wanna talk about my music!" Christ!
PLAYBOY: Now that Sean is almost five, is he conscious of the fact that his father was a Beatle or have you protected him from your fame?
LENNON: I haven't said anything. Beatles were never mentioned to him. There was no reason to mention it; we never played Beatle records around the house, unlike the story that went around that I was sitting in the kitchen for the past five years, playing Beatle records and reliving my past like some kind of Howard Hughes. He did see "Yellow Submarine" at a friend's, so I had to explain what a cartoon of me was doing in a movie.
PLAYBOY: Does he have an awareness of the Beatles?
LENNON: He doesn't differentiate between the Beatles and Daddy and Mommy. He thinks Yoko was a Beatle, too. I don't have Beatle records on the jukebox he listens to. He's more exposed to early rock 'n' roll. He's into "Hound Dog." He thinks it's about hunting. Sean's not going to public school, by the way. We feel he can learn the three Rs when he wants to -- or when the law says he has to, I suppose. I'm not going to fight it. Otherwise, there's no reason for him to be learning to sit still. I can't see any reason for it. Sean now has plenty of child companionship, which everybody says is important, but he also is with adults a lot. He's adjusted to both. The reason why kids are crazy is because nobody can face the responsibility of bringing them up. Everybody's too scared to deal with children all the time, so we reject them and send them away and torture them. The ones who survive are the conformists -- their bodies are cut to the size of the suits -- the ones we label good. The ones who don't fit the suits either are put in mental homes or become artists.
PLAYBOY: Your son, Julian, from your first marriage must be in his teens. Have you seen him over the years?
LENNON: Well, Cyn got possession, or whatever you call it. I got rights to see him on his holidays and all that business, and at least there's an open line still going. It's not the best relationship between father and son, but it is there. He's 17 now. Julian and I will have a relationship in the future. Over the years, he's been able to see through the Beatle image and to see through the image that his mother will have given him, subconsciously or consciously. He's interested in girls and autobikes now. I'm just sort of a figure in the sky, but he's obliged to communicate with me, even when he probably doesn't want to.
PLAYBOY: You're being very honest about your feelings toward him to the point of saying that Sean is your first child. Are you concerned about hurting him?
LENNON: I'm not going to lie to Julian. Ninety percent of the people on this planet, especially in the West, were born out of a bottle of whiskey on a Saturday night, and there was no intent to have children. So 90 percent of us -- that includes everybody -- were accidents. I don't know anybody who was a planned child. All of us were Saturday-night specials. Julian is in the majority, along with me and everybody else. Sean is a planned child, and therein lies the difference. I don't love Julian any less as a child. He's still my son, whether he came from a bottle of whiskey or because they didn't have pills in those days. He's here, he belongs to me and he always will.
PLAYBOY: Yoko, your relationship with your daughter has been much rockier.
ONO: I lost Kyoko when she was about five. I was sort of an offbeat mother, but we had very good communication. I wasn't particularly taking care of her, but she was always with me -- onstage or at gallery shows, whatever. When she was not even a year old, I took her onstage as an instrument -- an uncontrollable instrument, you know. My communication with her was on the level of sharing conversation and doing things. She was closer to my ex-husband because of that.
PLAYBOY: What happened when she was five?
ONO: John and I got together and I separated from my ex- husband [Tony Cox]. He took Kyoko away. It became a case of parent kidnapping and we tried to get her back.
LENNON: It was a classic case of men being macho. It turned into me and Allen Klein trying to dominate Tony Cox. Tony's attitude was, "You got my wife, but you won't get my child." In this battle, Yoko and the child were absolutely forgotten. I've always felt bad about it. It became a case of the shoot-out at the O.K. Corral: Cox fled to the hills and hid out and the sheriff and I tracked him down. First we won custody in court. Yoko didn't want to go to court, but the men, Klein and I, did it anyway.
ONO: Allen called up one day, saying I won the court case. He gave me a piece of paper. I said, "What is this piece of paper? Is this what I won? I don't have my child." I knew that taking them to court would frighten them and, of course, it did frighten them. So Tony vanished. He was very strong, thinking that the capitalists, with their money and lawyers and detectives, were pursuing him. It made him stronger.
LENNON: We chased him all over the world. God knows where he went. So if you're reading this, Tony, let's grow up about it. It's gone. We don't want to chase you anymore, because we've done enough damage.
ONO: We also had private detectives chasing Kyoko, which I thought was a bad trip, too. One guy came to report, "It was great! We almost had them. We were just behind them in a car, but they sped up and got away." I went hysterical. "What do you mean you almost got them? We are talking about my child!"
LENNON: It was like we were after an escaped convict.
PLAYBOY: Were you so persistent because you felt you were better for Kyoko?
LENNON: Yoko got steamed into a guilt thing that if she wasn't attacking them with detectives and police and the FBI, then she wasn't a good mother looking for her baby. She kept saying, "Leave them alone, leave them alone," but they said you can't do that.
ONO: For me, it was like they just disappeared from my life. Part of me left with them.
PLAYBOY: How old is she now?
ONO: Seventeen, the same as John's son.
PLAYBOY: Perhaps when she gets older, she'll seek you out.
ONO: She is totally frightened. There was a time in Spain when a lawyer and John thought that we should kidnap her.
LENNON: [Sighing] I was just going to commit hara-kiri first.
ONO: And we did kidnap her and went to court. The court did a very sensible thing -- the judge took her into a room and asked her which one of us she wanted to go with. Of course, she said Tony. We had scared her to death. So now she must be afraid that if she comes to see me, she'll never see her father again.
LENNON: When she gets to be in her 20s, she'll understand that we were idiots and we know we were idiots. She might give us a chance.
ONO: I probably would have lost Kyoko even if it wasn't for John. If I had separated from Tony, there would have been some difficulty.
LENNON: I'll just half-kill myself.
ONO: [To John] Part of the reason things got so bad was because with Kyoko, it was you and Tony dealing. Men. With your son Julian, it was women -- there was more understanding between me and Cyn.
PLAYBOY: Can you explain that?
ONO: For example, there was a birthday party that Kyoko had and we were both invited, but John felt very uptight about it and he didn't go. He wouldn't deal with Tony. But we were both invited to Julian's party and we both went.
LENNON: Oh, God, it's all coming out.
ONO: Or like when I was invited to Tony's place alone, I couldn't go; but when John was invited to Cyn's, he did go.
LENNON: One rule for the men, one for the women.
ONO: So it was easier for Julian, because I was allowing it to happen.
LENNON: But I've said a million Hail Marys. What the hell else can I do?
PLAYBOY: Yoko, after this experience, how do you feel about leaving Sean's rearing to John?
ONO: I am very clear about my emotions in that area. I don't feel guilty. I am doing it in my own way. It may not be the same as other mothers, but I'm doing it the way I can do it. In general, mothers have a very strong resentment toward their children, even though there's this whole adulation about motherhood and how mothers really think about their children and how they really love them. I mean, they do, but it is not humanly possible to retain emotion that mothers are supposed to have within this society. Women are just too stretched out in different directions to retain that emotion. Too much is required of them. So I say to John----
LENNON: I am her favorite husband----
ONO: "I am carrying the baby nine months and that is enough, so you take care of it afterward." It did sound like a crude remark, but I really believe that children belong to the society. If a mother carries the child and a father raises it, the responsibility is shared.
PLAYBOY: Did you resent having to take so much responsibility, John?
LENNON: Well, sometimes, you know, she'd come home and say, "I'm tired." I'd say, only partly tongue in cheek, "What the fuck do you think I am? I'm 24 hours with the baby! Do you think that's easy?" I'd say, "You're going to take some more interest in the child." I don't care whether it's a father or a mother. When I'm going on about pimples and bones and which TV shows to let him watch, I would say, "Listen, this is important. I don't want to hear about your $20,000,000 deal tonight!" [To Yoko] I would like both parents to take care of the children, but how is a different matter.
ONO: Society should be more supportive and understanding.
LENNON: It's true. The saying "You've come a long way, baby" applies more to me than to her. As Harry Nilsson says, "Everything is the opposite of what it is, isn't it?" It's men who've come a long way from even contemplating the idea of equality. But although there is this thing called the women's movement, society just took a laxative and they've just farted. They haven't really had a good shit yet. The seed was planted sometime in the late Sixties, right? But the real changes are coming. I am the one who has come a long way. I was the pig. And it is a relief not to be a pig. The pressures of being a pig were enormous. I don't have any hankering to be looked upon as a sex object, a male, macho rock-'n'-roll singer. I got over that a long time ago. I'm not even interested in projecting that. So I like it to be known that, yes, I looked after the baby and I made bread and I was a househusband and I am proud of it. It's the wave of the future and I'm glad to be in on the forefront of that, too.
ONO: So maybe both of us learned a lot about how men and women suffer because of the social structure. And the only way to change it is to be aware of it. It sounds simple, but important things are simple.
PLAYBOY: John, does it take actually reversing roles with women to understand?
LENNON: It did for this man. But don't forget, I'm the one who benefited the most from doing it. Now I can step back and say Sean is going to be five years old and I was able to spend his first five years with him and I am very proud of that. And come to think of it, it looks like I'm going to be 40 and life begins at 40 -- so they promise. And I believe it, too. I feel fine and I'm very excited. It's like, you know, hitting 21, like, "Wow, what's going to happen next?" Only this time we're together.
ONO: If two are gathered together, there's nothing you can't do.
PLAYBOY: What does the title of your new album, "Double Fantasy," mean?
LENNON: It's a flower, a type of freesia, but what it means to us is that if two people picture the same image at the same time, that is the secret. You can be together but projecting two different images and either whoever's the stronger at the time will get his or her fantasy fulfilled or you will get nothing but mishmash.
PLAYBOY: You saw the news item that said you were putting your sex fantasies out as an album.
LENNON: Oh, yeah. That is like when we did the bed-in in Toronto in 1969. They all came charging through the door, thinking we were going to be screwing in bed. Of course, we were just sitting there with peace signs.
PLAYBOY: What was that famous bed-in all about?
LENNON: Our life is our art. That's what the bed-ins were. When we got married, we knew our honeymoon was going to be public, anyway, so we decided to use it to make a statement. We sat in bed and talked to reporters for seven days. It was hilarious. In effect, we were doing a commercial for peace on the front page of the papers instead of a commercial for war.
PLAYBOY: You stayed in bed and talked about peace?
LENNON: Yes. We answered questions. One guy kept going over the point about Hitler: "What do you do about Fascists? How can you have peace when you've got a Hitler?" Yoko said, "I would have gone to bed with him." She said she'd have needed only ten days with him. People loved that one.
ONO: I said it facetiously, of course. But the point is, you're not going to change the world by fighting. Maybe I was naive about the ten days with Hitler. After all, it took 13 years with John Lennon. [She giggles]
PLAYBOY: What were the reports about your making love in a bag?
ONO: We never made love in a bag. People probably imagined that we were making love. It was just, all of us are in a bag, you know. The point was the outline of the bag, you know, the movement of the bag, how much we see of a person, you know. But, inside, there might be a lot going on. Or maybe nothing's going on.
PLAYBOY: Briefly, what about the statement on the new album?
LENNON: Very briefly, it's about very ordinary things between two people. The lyrics are direct. Simple and straight. I went through my Dylanesque period a long time ago with songs like "I am the Walrus:" the trick of never saying what you mean but giving the impression of something more. Where more or less can be read into it. It's a good game.
PLAYBOY: What are your musical preferences these days?
LENNON: Well, I like all music, depending on what time of day it is. I don't like styles of music or people per se. I can't say I enjoy the Pretenders, but I like their hit record. I enjoy the B-52s, because I heard them doing Yoko. It's great. If Yoko ever goes back to her old sound, they'll be saying, "Yeah, she's copying the B-52s."
ONO: We were doing a lot of the punk stuff a long time ago.
PLAYBOY: Lennon and Ono, the original punks.
ONO: You're right.
PLAYBOY: John, what's your opinion of the newer waves?
LENNON: I love all this punky stuff. It's pure. I'm not, however, crazy about the people who destroy themselves.
PLAYBOY: You disagree with Neil Young's lyric in "Rust Never Sleeps" -- "It's better to burn out than to fade away...."
LENNON: I hate it. It's better to fade away like an old soldier than to burn out. I don't appreciate worship of dead Sid Vicious or of dead James Dean or of dead John Wayne. It's the same thing. Making Sid Vicious a hero, Jim Morrison -- it's garbage to me. I worship the people who survive. Gloria Swanson, Greta Garbo. They're saying John Wayne conquered cancer -- he whipped it like a man. You know, I'm sorry that he died and all that -- I'm sorry for his family -- but he didn't whip cancer. It whipped him. I don't want Sean worshiping John Wayne or Sid Vicious. What do they teach you? Nothing. Death. Sid Vicious died for what? So that we might rock? I mean, it's garbage, you know. If Neil Young admires that sentiment so much, why doesn't he do it? Because he sure as hell faded away and came back many times, like all of us. No, thank you. I'll take the living and the healthy.
PLAYBOY: Do you listen to the radio?
LENNON: Muzak or classical. I don't purchase records. I do enjoy listening to things like Japanese folk music or Indian music. My tastes are very broad. When I was a housewife, I just had Muzak on -- background music -- 'cause it relaxes you.
PLAYBOY: Yoko?
ONO: No.
PLAYBOY: Do you go out and buy records?
ONO: Or read the newspaper or magazines or watch TV? No.
PLAYBOY: The inevitable question, John. Do you listen to your records?
LENNON: Least of all my own.
PLAYBOY: Even your classics?
LENNON: Are you kidding? For pleasure, I would never listen to them. When I hear them, I just think of the session -- it's like an actor watching himself in an old movie. When I hear a song, I remember the Abbey Road studio, the session, who fought with whom, where I was sitting, banging the tambourine in the corner----
ONO: In fact, we really don't enjoy listening to other people's work much. We sort of analyze everything we hear.
PLAYBOY: Yoko, were you a Beatles fan?
ONO: No. Now I notice the songs, of course. In a restaurant, John will point out, "Ahh, they're playing George" or something.
PLAYBOY: John, do you ever go out to hear music?
LENNON: No, I'm not interested. I'm not a fan, you see. I might like Jerry Lee Lewis singing "A Whole Lot a Shakin'" on the record, but I'm not interested in seeing him perform it.
PLAYBOY: Your songs are performed more than most other songwriters'. How does that feel?
LENNON: I'm always proud and pleased when people do my songs. It gives me pleasure that they even attempt them, because a lot of my songs aren't that doable. I go to restaurants and the groups always play "Yesterday." I even signed a guy's violin in Spain after he played us "Yesterday." He couldn't understand that I didn't write the song. But I guess he couldn't have gone from table to table playing "I am the Walrus."
PLAYBOY: How does it feel to have influenced so many people?
LENNON: It wasn't really me or us. It was the times. It happened to me when I heard rock 'n' roll in the Fifties. I had no idea about doing music as a way of life until rock 'n' roll hit me.
PLAYBOY: Do you recall what specifically hit you?
LENNON: It was "Rock Around the Clock," I think. I enjoyed Bill Haley, but I wasn't overwhelmed by him. It wasn't until "Heartbreak Hotel" that I really got into it.
ONO: I am sure there are people whose lives were affected because they heard Indian music or Mozart or Bach. More than anything, it was the time and the place when the Beatles came up. Something did happen there. It was a kind of chemical. It was as if several people gathered around a table and a ghost appeared. It was that kind of communication. So they were like mediums, in a way. It's not something you can force. It was the people, the time, their youth and enthusiasm.
PLAYBOY: For the sake of argument, we'll maintain that no other contemporary artist or group of artists moved as many people in such a profound way as the Beatles.
LENNON: But what moved the Beatles?
PLAYBOY: You tell us.
LENNON: All right. Whatever wind was blowing at the time moved the Beatles, too. I'm not saying we weren't flags on the top of a ship; but the whole boat was moving. Maybe the Beatles were in the crow's-nest, shouting, "Land ho," or something like that, but we were all in the same damn boat.
ONO: The Beatles themselves were a social phenomenon not that aware of what they were doing. In a way----
LENNON: [Under his breath] This Beatles talk bores me to death.
ONO: As I said, they were like mediums. They weren't conscious of all they were saying, but it was coming through them.
PLAYBOY: Why?
LENNON: We tuned in to the message. That's all. I don't mean to belittle the Beatles when I say they weren't this, they weren't that. I'm just trying not to overblow their importance as separate from society. And I don't think they were more important than Glenn Miller or Woody Herman or Bessie Smith. It was our generation, that's all. It was Sixties music.
PLAYBOY: What do you say to those who insist that all rock since the Beatles has been the Beatles redone?
LENNON: All music is rehash. There are only a few notes. Just variations on a theme. Try to tell the kids in the Seventies who were screaming to the Bee Gees that their music was just the Beatles redone. There is nothing wrong with the Bee Gees. They do a damn good job. There was nothing else going on then.
PLAYBOY: Wasn't a lot of the Beatles' music at least more intelligent?
LENNON: The Beatles were more intellectual, so they appealed on that level, too. But the basic appeal of the Beatles was not their intelligence. It was their music. It was only after some guy in the "London Times" said there were Aeolian cadences in "It Won't Be Long" that the middle classes started listening to it -- because somebody put a tag on it.
PLAYBOY: Did you put Aeolian cadences in "It Won't Be Long?"
LENNON: To this day, I don't have any idea what they are. They sound like exotic birds.
PLAYBOY: How did you react to the misinterpretations of your songs?
LENNON: For instance?
PLAYBOY: The most obvious is the "Paul is dead" fiasco. You already explained the line in "Glass Onion." What about the line in "I am the Walrus" - - "I buried Paul"?
LENNON: I said "Cranberry sauce." That's all I said. Some people like ping-pong, other people like digging over graves. Some people will do anything rather than be here now.
PLAYBOY: What about the chant at the end of the song: "Smoke pot, smoke pot, everybody smoke pot"?
LENNON: No, no, no. I had this whole choir saying, "Everybody's got one, everybody's got one." But when you get 30 people, male and female, on top of 30 cellos and on top of the Beatles' rock-'n'-roll rhythm section, you can't hear what they're saying.
PLAYBOY: What does "everybody got"?
LENNON: Anything. You name it. One penis, one vagina, one asshole -- you name it.
PLAYBOY: Did it trouble you when the interpretations of your songs were destructive, such as when Charles Manson claimed that your lyrics were messages to him?
LENNON: No. It has nothing to do with me. It's like that guy, Son of Sam, who was having these talks with the dog. Manson was just an extreme version of the people who came up with the "Paul is dead" thing or who figured out that the initials to "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" were LSD and concluded I was writing about acid.
PLAYBOY: Where did "Lucy in the Sky" come from?
LENNON: My son Julian came in one day with a picture he painted about a school friend of his named Lucy. He had sketched in some stars in the sky and called it "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds," Simple.
PLAYBOY: The other images in the song weren't drug-inspired?
LENNON: The images were from "Alice in Wonderland." It was Alice in the boat. She is buying an egg and it turns into Humpty Dumpty. The woman serving in the shop turns into a sheep and the next minute they are rowing in a rowing boat somewhere and I was visualizing that. There was also the image of the female who would someday come save me -- a "girl with kaleidoscope eyes" who would come out of the sky. It turned out to be Yoko, though I hadn't met Yoko yet. So maybe it should be "Yoko in the Sky with Diamonds."
PLAYBOY: Do you have any interest in the pop historians analyzing the Beatles as a cultural phenomenon?
LENNON: It's all equally irrelevant. Mine is to do and other people's is to record, I suppose. Does it matter how many drugs were in Elvis' body? I mean, Brian Epstein's sex life will make a nice "Hollywood Babylon" someday, but it is irrelevant.
PLAYBOY: What started the rumors about you and Epstein?
LENNON: I went on holiday to Spain with Brian -- which started all the rumors that he and I were having a love affair. Well, it was almost a love affair, but not quite. It was never consummated. But we did have a pretty intense relationship. And it was my first experience with someone I knew was a homosexual. He admitted it to me. We had this holiday together because Cyn was pregnant and we left her with the baby and went to Spain. Lots of funny stories, you know. We used to sit in cafs and Brian would look at all the boys and I would ask, "Do you like that one? Do you like this one?" It was just the combination of our closeness and the trip that started the rumors.
PLAYBOY: It's interesting to hear you talk about your old songs such as "Lucy in the Sky" and "Glass Onion." Will you give some brief thoughts on some of our favorites?
LENNON: Right.
PLAYBOY: Let's start with "In My Life."
LENNON: It was the first song I wrote that was consciously about my life. [Sings] "There are places I'll remember/all my life though some have changed. . . ." Before, we were just writing songs a la Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly -- pop songs with no more thought to them than that. The words were almost irrelevant. "In My Life" started out as a bus journey from my house at 250 Menlove Avenue to town, mentioning all the places I could recall. I wrote it all down and it was boring. So I forgot about it and laid back and these lyrics started coming to me about friends and lovers of the past. Paul helped with the middle eight.
PLAYBOY: "Yesterday."
LENNON: Well, we all know about "Yesterday." I have had so much accolade for "Yesterday." That is Paul's song, of course, and Paul's baby. Well done. Beautiful -- and I never wished I had written it.
PLAYBOY: "With a Little Help from My Friends."
LENNON: This is Paul, with a little help from me. "What do you see when you turn out the light/I can't tell you, but I know it's mine ..." is mine.
PLAYBOY: "I am the Walrus."
LENNON: The first line was written on one acid trip one weekend. The second line was written on the next acid trip the next weekend, and it was filled in after I met Yoko. Part of it was putting down Hare Krishna. All these people were going on about Hare Krishna, Allen Ginsberg in particular. The reference to "Element'ry penguin" is the elementary, naive attitude of going around chanting, "Hare Krishna," or putting all your faith in any one idol. I was writing obscurely, a la Dylan, in those days.
PLAYBOY: The song is very complicated, musically.
LENNON: It actually was fantastic in stereo, but you never hear it all. There was too much to get on. It was too messy a mix. One track was live BBC Radio -- Shakespeare or something -- I just fed in whatever lines came in.
PLAYBOY: What about the walrus itself?
LENNON: It's from "The Walrus and the Carpenter." "Alice in Wonderland." To me, it was a beautiful poem. It never dawned on me that Lewis Carroll was commenting on the capitalist and social system. I never went into that bit about what he really meant, like people are doing with the Beatles' work. Later, I went back and looked at it and realized that the walrus was the bad guy in the story and the carpenter was the good guy. I thought, Oh, shit, I picked the wrong guy. I should have said, "I am the carpenter." But that wouldn't have been the same, would it? [Singing] "I am the carpenter...."
PLAYBOY: How about "She Came in Through the Bathroom Window?"
LENNON: That was written by Paul when we were in New York forming Apple, and he first met Linda. Maybe she's the one who came in the window. She must have. I don't know. Somebody came in the window.
PLAYBOY: "I Feel Fine."
LENNON: That's me, including the guitar lick with the first feedback ever recorded. I defy anybody to find an earlier record -- unless it is some old blues record from the Twenties -- with feedback on it.
PLAYBOY: "When I'm Sixty-Four."
LENNON: Paul completely. I would never even dream of writing a song like that. There are some areas I never think about and that is one of them.
PLAYBOY: The album obviously reflects your new priorities. How have things gone for you since you made that decision?
LENNON: We got back together, decided this was our life, that having a baby was important to us and that anything else was subsidiary to that. We worked hard for that child. We went through all hell trying to have a baby, through many miscarriages and other problems. He is what they call a love child in truth. Doctors told us we could never have a child. We almost gave up. "Well, that's it, then, we can't have one. . . ." We were told something was wrong with my sperm, that I abused myself so much in my youth that there was no chance. Yoko was 43, and so they said, no way. She has had too many miscarriages and when she was a young girl, there were no pills, so there were lots of abortions and miscarriages; her stomach must be like Kew Gardens in London. No way. But this Chinese acupuncturist in San Francisco said, "You behave yourself. No drugs, eat well, no drink. You have child in 18 months." And we said, "But the English doctors said. . . ." He said, "Forget what they said. You have child." We had Sean and sent the acupuncturist a Polaroid of him just before he died, God rest his soul.
PLAYBOY: Were there any problems because of Yoko's age?
LENNON: Not because of her age but because of a screw- up in the hospital and the fucking price of fame. Somebody had made a transfusion of the wrong blood type into Yoko. I was there when it happened, and she starts to go rigid, and then shake, from the pain and the trauma. I run up to this nurse and say, "Go get the doctor!" I'm holding on tight to Yoko while this guy gets to the hospital room. He walks in, hardly notices that Yoko is going through fucking convulsions, goes straight for me, smiles, shakes my hand and says, "I've always wanted to meet you, Mr. Lennon, I always enjoyed your music." I start screaming: "My wife's dying and you wanna talk about my music!" Christ!
PLAYBOY: Now that Sean is almost five, is he conscious of the fact that his father was a Beatle or have you protected him from your fame?
LENNON: I haven't said anything. Beatles were never mentioned to him. There was no reason to mention it; we never played Beatle records around the house, unlike the story that went around that I was sitting in the kitchen for the past five years, playing Beatle records and reliving my past like some kind of Howard Hughes. He did see "Yellow Submarine" at a friend's, so I had to explain what a cartoon of me was doing in a movie.
PLAYBOY: Does he have an awareness of the Beatles?
LENNON: He doesn't differentiate between the Beatles and Daddy and Mommy. He thinks Yoko was a Beatle, too. I don't have Beatle records on the jukebox he listens to. He's more exposed to early rock 'n' roll. He's into "Hound Dog." He thinks it's about hunting. Sean's not going to public school, by the way. We feel he can learn the three Rs when he wants to -- or when the law says he has to, I suppose. I'm not going to fight it. Otherwise, there's no reason for him to be learning to sit still. I can't see any reason for it. Sean now has plenty of child companionship, which everybody says is important, but he also is with adults a lot. He's adjusted to both. The reason why kids are crazy is because nobody can face the responsibility of bringing them up. Everybody's too scared to deal with children all the time, so we reject them and send them away and torture them. The ones who survive are the conformists -- their bodies are cut to the size of the suits -- the ones we label good. The ones who don't fit the suits either are put in mental homes or become artists.
PLAYBOY: Your son, Julian, from your first marriage must be in his teens. Have you seen him over the years?
LENNON: Well, Cyn got possession, or whatever you call it. I got rights to see him on his holidays and all that business, and at least there's an open line still going. It's not the best relationship between father and son, but it is there. He's 17 now. Julian and I will have a relationship in the future. Over the years, he's been able to see through the Beatle image and to see through the image that his mother will have given him, subconsciously or consciously. He's interested in girls and autobikes now. I'm just sort of a figure in the sky, but he's obliged to communicate with me, even when he probably doesn't want to.
PLAYBOY: You're being very honest about your feelings toward him to the point of saying that Sean is your first child. Are you concerned about hurting him?
LENNON: I'm not going to lie to Julian. Ninety percent of the people on this planet, especially in the West, were born out of a bottle of whiskey on a Saturday night, and there was no intent to have children. So 90 percent of us -- that includes everybody -- were accidents. I don't know anybody who was a planned child. All of us were Saturday-night specials. Julian is in the majority, along with me and everybody else. Sean is a planned child, and therein lies the difference. I don't love Julian any less as a child. He's still my son, whether he came from a bottle of whiskey or because they didn't have pills in those days. He's here, he belongs to me and he always will.
PLAYBOY: Yoko, your relationship with your daughter has been much rockier.
ONO: I lost Kyoko when she was about five. I was sort of an offbeat mother, but we had very good communication. I wasn't particularly taking care of her, but she was always with me -- onstage or at gallery shows, whatever. When she was not even a year old, I took her onstage as an instrument -- an uncontrollable instrument, you know. My communication with her was on the level of sharing conversation and doing things. She was closer to my ex-husband because of that.
PLAYBOY: What happened when she was five?
ONO: John and I got together and I separated from my ex- husband [Tony Cox]. He took Kyoko away. It became a case of parent kidnapping and we tried to get her back.
LENNON: It was a classic case of men being macho. It turned into me and Allen Klein trying to dominate Tony Cox. Tony's attitude was, "You got my wife, but you won't get my child." In this battle, Yoko and the child were absolutely forgotten. I've always felt bad about it. It became a case of the shoot-out at the O.K. Corral: Cox fled to the hills and hid out and the sheriff and I tracked him down. First we won custody in court. Yoko didn't want to go to court, but the men, Klein and I, did it anyway.
ONO: Allen called up one day, saying I won the court case. He gave me a piece of paper. I said, "What is this piece of paper? Is this what I won? I don't have my child." I knew that taking them to court would frighten them and, of course, it did frighten them. So Tony vanished. He was very strong, thinking that the capitalists, with their money and lawyers and detectives, were pursuing him. It made him stronger.
LENNON: We chased him all over the world. God knows where he went. So if you're reading this, Tony, let's grow up about it. It's gone. We don't want to chase you anymore, because we've done enough damage.
ONO: We also had private detectives chasing Kyoko, which I thought was a bad trip, too. One guy came to report, "It was great! We almost had them. We were just behind them in a car, but they sped up and got away." I went hysterical. "What do you mean you almost got them? We are talking about my child!"
LENNON: It was like we were after an escaped convict.
PLAYBOY: Were you so persistent because you felt you were better for Kyoko?
LENNON: Yoko got steamed into a guilt thing that if she wasn't attacking them with detectives and police and the FBI, then she wasn't a good mother looking for her baby. She kept saying, "Leave them alone, leave them alone," but they said you can't do that.
ONO: For me, it was like they just disappeared from my life. Part of me left with them.
PLAYBOY: How old is she now?
ONO: Seventeen, the same as John's son.
PLAYBOY: Perhaps when she gets older, she'll seek you out.
ONO: She is totally frightened. There was a time in Spain when a lawyer and John thought that we should kidnap her.
LENNON: [Sighing] I was just going to commit hara-kiri first.
ONO: And we did kidnap her and went to court. The court did a very sensible thing -- the judge took her into a room and asked her which one of us she wanted to go with. Of course, she said Tony. We had scared her to death. So now she must be afraid that if she comes to see me, she'll never see her father again.
LENNON: When she gets to be in her 20s, she'll understand that we were idiots and we know we were idiots. She might give us a chance.
ONO: I probably would have lost Kyoko even if it wasn't for John. If I had separated from Tony, there would have been some difficulty.
LENNON: I'll just half-kill myself.
ONO: [To John] Part of the reason things got so bad was because with Kyoko, it was you and Tony dealing. Men. With your son Julian, it was women -- there was more understanding between me and Cyn.
PLAYBOY: Can you explain that?
ONO: For example, there was a birthday party that Kyoko had and we were both invited, but John felt very uptight about it and he didn't go. He wouldn't deal with Tony. But we were both invited to Julian's party and we both went.
LENNON: Oh, God, it's all coming out.
ONO: Or like when I was invited to Tony's place alone, I couldn't go; but when John was invited to Cyn's, he did go.
LENNON: One rule for the men, one for the women.
ONO: So it was easier for Julian, because I was allowing it to happen.
LENNON: But I've said a million Hail Marys. What the hell else can I do?
PLAYBOY: Yoko, after this experience, how do you feel about leaving Sean's rearing to John?
ONO: I am very clear about my emotions in that area. I don't feel guilty. I am doing it in my own way. It may not be the same as other mothers, but I'm doing it the way I can do it. In general, mothers have a very strong resentment toward their children, even though there's this whole adulation about motherhood and how mothers really think about their children and how they really love them. I mean, they do, but it is not humanly possible to retain emotion that mothers are supposed to have within this society. Women are just too stretched out in different directions to retain that emotion. Too much is required of them. So I say to John----
LENNON: I am her favorite husband----
ONO: "I am carrying the baby nine months and that is enough, so you take care of it afterward." It did sound like a crude remark, but I really believe that children belong to the society. If a mother carries the child and a father raises it, the responsibility is shared.
PLAYBOY: Did you resent having to take so much responsibility, John?
LENNON: Well, sometimes, you know, she'd come home and say, "I'm tired." I'd say, only partly tongue in cheek, "What the fuck do you think I am? I'm 24 hours with the baby! Do you think that's easy?" I'd say, "You're going to take some more interest in the child." I don't care whether it's a father or a mother. When I'm going on about pimples and bones and which TV shows to let him watch, I would say, "Listen, this is important. I don't want to hear about your $20,000,000 deal tonight!" [To Yoko] I would like both parents to take care of the children, but how is a different matter.
ONO: Society should be more supportive and understanding.
LENNON: It's true. The saying "You've come a long way, baby" applies more to me than to her. As Harry Nilsson says, "Everything is the opposite of what it is, isn't it?" It's men who've come a long way from even contemplating the idea of equality. But although there is this thing called the women's movement, society just took a laxative and they've just farted. They haven't really had a good shit yet. The seed was planted sometime in the late Sixties, right? But the real changes are coming. I am the one who has come a long way. I was the pig. And it is a relief not to be a pig. The pressures of being a pig were enormous. I don't have any hankering to be looked upon as a sex object, a male, macho rock-'n'-roll singer. I got over that a long time ago. I'm not even interested in projecting that. So I like it to be known that, yes, I looked after the baby and I made bread and I was a househusband and I am proud of it. It's the wave of the future and I'm glad to be in on the forefront of that, too.
ONO: So maybe both of us learned a lot about how men and women suffer because of the social structure. And the only way to change it is to be aware of it. It sounds simple, but important things are simple.
PLAYBOY: John, does it take actually reversing roles with women to understand?
LENNON: It did for this man. But don't forget, I'm the one who benefited the most from doing it. Now I can step back and say Sean is going to be five years old and I was able to spend his first five years with him and I am very proud of that. And come to think of it, it looks like I'm going to be 40 and life begins at 40 -- so they promise. And I believe it, too. I feel fine and I'm very excited. It's like, you know, hitting 21, like, "Wow, what's going to happen next?" Only this time we're together.
ONO: If two are gathered together, there's nothing you can't do.
PLAYBOY: What does the title of your new album, "Double Fantasy," mean?
LENNON: It's a flower, a type of freesia, but what it means to us is that if two people picture the same image at the same time, that is the secret. You can be together but projecting two different images and either whoever's the stronger at the time will get his or her fantasy fulfilled or you will get nothing but mishmash.
PLAYBOY: You saw the news item that said you were putting your sex fantasies out as an album.
LENNON: Oh, yeah. That is like when we did the bed-in in Toronto in 1969. They all came charging through the door, thinking we were going to be screwing in bed. Of course, we were just sitting there with peace signs.
PLAYBOY: What was that famous bed-in all about?
LENNON: Our life is our art. That's what the bed-ins were. When we got married, we knew our honeymoon was going to be public, anyway, so we decided to use it to make a statement. We sat in bed and talked to reporters for seven days. It was hilarious. In effect, we were doing a commercial for peace on the front page of the papers instead of a commercial for war.
PLAYBOY: You stayed in bed and talked about peace?
LENNON: Yes. We answered questions. One guy kept going over the point about Hitler: "What do you do about Fascists? How can you have peace when you've got a Hitler?" Yoko said, "I would have gone to bed with him." She said she'd have needed only ten days with him. People loved that one.
ONO: I said it facetiously, of course. But the point is, you're not going to change the world by fighting. Maybe I was naive about the ten days with Hitler. After all, it took 13 years with John Lennon. [She giggles]
PLAYBOY: What were the reports about your making love in a bag?
ONO: We never made love in a bag. People probably imagined that we were making love. It was just, all of us are in a bag, you know. The point was the outline of the bag, you know, the movement of the bag, how much we see of a person, you know. But, inside, there might be a lot going on. Or maybe nothing's going on.
PLAYBOY: Briefly, what about the statement on the new album?
LENNON: Very briefly, it's about very ordinary things between two people. The lyrics are direct. Simple and straight. I went through my Dylanesque period a long time ago with songs like "I am the Walrus:" the trick of never saying what you mean but giving the impression of something more. Where more or less can be read into it. It's a good game.
PLAYBOY: What are your musical preferences these days?
LENNON: Well, I like all music, depending on what time of day it is. I don't like styles of music or people per se. I can't say I enjoy the Pretenders, but I like their hit record. I enjoy the B-52s, because I heard them doing Yoko. It's great. If Yoko ever goes back to her old sound, they'll be saying, "Yeah, she's copying the B-52s."
ONO: We were doing a lot of the punk stuff a long time ago.
PLAYBOY: Lennon and Ono, the original punks.
ONO: You're right.
PLAYBOY: John, what's your opinion of the newer waves?
LENNON: I love all this punky stuff. It's pure. I'm not, however, crazy about the people who destroy themselves.
PLAYBOY: You disagree with Neil Young's lyric in "Rust Never Sleeps" -- "It's better to burn out than to fade away...."
LENNON: I hate it. It's better to fade away like an old soldier than to burn out. I don't appreciate worship of dead Sid Vicious or of dead James Dean or of dead John Wayne. It's the same thing. Making Sid Vicious a hero, Jim Morrison -- it's garbage to me. I worship the people who survive. Gloria Swanson, Greta Garbo. They're saying John Wayne conquered cancer -- he whipped it like a man. You know, I'm sorry that he died and all that -- I'm sorry for his family -- but he didn't whip cancer. It whipped him. I don't want Sean worshiping John Wayne or Sid Vicious. What do they teach you? Nothing. Death. Sid Vicious died for what? So that we might rock? I mean, it's garbage, you know. If Neil Young admires that sentiment so much, why doesn't he do it? Because he sure as hell faded away and came back many times, like all of us. No, thank you. I'll take the living and the healthy.
PLAYBOY: Do you listen to the radio?
LENNON: Muzak or classical. I don't purchase records. I do enjoy listening to things like Japanese folk music or Indian music. My tastes are very broad. When I was a housewife, I just had Muzak on -- background music -- 'cause it relaxes you.
PLAYBOY: Yoko?
ONO: No.
PLAYBOY: Do you go out and buy records?
ONO: Or read the newspaper or magazines or watch TV? No.
PLAYBOY: The inevitable question, John. Do you listen to your records?
LENNON: Least of all my own.
PLAYBOY: Even your classics?
LENNON: Are you kidding? For pleasure, I would never listen to them. When I hear them, I just think of the session -- it's like an actor watching himself in an old movie. When I hear a song, I remember the Abbey Road studio, the session, who fought with whom, where I was sitting, banging the tambourine in the corner----
ONO: In fact, we really don't enjoy listening to other people's work much. We sort of analyze everything we hear.
PLAYBOY: Yoko, were you a Beatles fan?
ONO: No. Now I notice the songs, of course. In a restaurant, John will point out, "Ahh, they're playing George" or something.
PLAYBOY: John, do you ever go out to hear music?
LENNON: No, I'm not interested. I'm not a fan, you see. I might like Jerry Lee Lewis singing "A Whole Lot a Shakin'" on the record, but I'm not interested in seeing him perform it.
PLAYBOY: Your songs are performed more than most other songwriters'. How does that feel?
LENNON: I'm always proud and pleased when people do my songs. It gives me pleasure that they even attempt them, because a lot of my songs aren't that doable. I go to restaurants and the groups always play "Yesterday." I even signed a guy's violin in Spain after he played us "Yesterday." He couldn't understand that I didn't write the song. But I guess he couldn't have gone from table to table playing "I am the Walrus."
PLAYBOY: How does it feel to have influenced so many people?
LENNON: It wasn't really me or us. It was the times. It happened to me when I heard rock 'n' roll in the Fifties. I had no idea about doing music as a way of life until rock 'n' roll hit me.
PLAYBOY: Do you recall what specifically hit you?
LENNON: It was "Rock Around the Clock," I think. I enjoyed Bill Haley, but I wasn't overwhelmed by him. It wasn't until "Heartbreak Hotel" that I really got into it.
ONO: I am sure there are people whose lives were affected because they heard Indian music or Mozart or Bach. More than anything, it was the time and the place when the Beatles came up. Something did happen there. It was a kind of chemical. It was as if several people gathered around a table and a ghost appeared. It was that kind of communication. So they were like mediums, in a way. It's not something you can force. It was the people, the time, their youth and enthusiasm.
PLAYBOY: For the sake of argument, we'll maintain that no other contemporary artist or group of artists moved as many people in such a profound way as the Beatles.
LENNON: But what moved the Beatles?
PLAYBOY: You tell us.
LENNON: All right. Whatever wind was blowing at the time moved the Beatles, too. I'm not saying we weren't flags on the top of a ship; but the whole boat was moving. Maybe the Beatles were in the crow's-nest, shouting, "Land ho," or something like that, but we were all in the same damn boat.
ONO: The Beatles themselves were a social phenomenon not that aware of what they were doing. In a way----
LENNON: [Under his breath] This Beatles talk bores me to death.
ONO: As I said, they were like mediums. They weren't conscious of all they were saying, but it was coming through them.
PLAYBOY: Why?
LENNON: We tuned in to the message. That's all. I don't mean to belittle the Beatles when I say they weren't this, they weren't that. I'm just trying not to overblow their importance as separate from society. And I don't think they were more important than Glenn Miller or Woody Herman or Bessie Smith. It was our generation, that's all. It was Sixties music.
PLAYBOY: What do you say to those who insist that all rock since the Beatles has been the Beatles redone?
LENNON: All music is rehash. There are only a few notes. Just variations on a theme. Try to tell the kids in the Seventies who were screaming to the Bee Gees that their music was just the Beatles redone. There is nothing wrong with the Bee Gees. They do a damn good job. There was nothing else going on then.
PLAYBOY: Wasn't a lot of the Beatles' music at least more intelligent?
LENNON: The Beatles were more intellectual, so they appealed on that level, too. But the basic appeal of the Beatles was not their intelligence. It was their music. It was only after some guy in the "London Times" said there were Aeolian cadences in "It Won't Be Long" that the middle classes started listening to it -- because somebody put a tag on it.
PLAYBOY: Did you put Aeolian cadences in "It Won't Be Long?"
LENNON: To this day, I don't have any idea what they are. They sound like exotic birds.
PLAYBOY: How did you react to the misinterpretations of your songs?
LENNON: For instance?
PLAYBOY: The most obvious is the "Paul is dead" fiasco. You already explained the line in "Glass Onion." What about the line in "I am the Walrus" - - "I buried Paul"?
LENNON: I said "Cranberry sauce." That's all I said. Some people like ping-pong, other people like digging over graves. Some people will do anything rather than be here now.
PLAYBOY: What about the chant at the end of the song: "Smoke pot, smoke pot, everybody smoke pot"?
LENNON: No, no, no. I had this whole choir saying, "Everybody's got one, everybody's got one." But when you get 30 people, male and female, on top of 30 cellos and on top of the Beatles' rock-'n'-roll rhythm section, you can't hear what they're saying.
PLAYBOY: What does "everybody got"?
LENNON: Anything. You name it. One penis, one vagina, one asshole -- you name it.
PLAYBOY: Did it trouble you when the interpretations of your songs were destructive, such as when Charles Manson claimed that your lyrics were messages to him?
LENNON: No. It has nothing to do with me. It's like that guy, Son of Sam, who was having these talks with the dog. Manson was just an extreme version of the people who came up with the "Paul is dead" thing or who figured out that the initials to "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" were LSD and concluded I was writing about acid.
PLAYBOY: Where did "Lucy in the Sky" come from?
LENNON: My son Julian came in one day with a picture he painted about a school friend of his named Lucy. He had sketched in some stars in the sky and called it "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds," Simple.
PLAYBOY: The other images in the song weren't drug-inspired?
LENNON: The images were from "Alice in Wonderland." It was Alice in the boat. She is buying an egg and it turns into Humpty Dumpty. The woman serving in the shop turns into a sheep and the next minute they are rowing in a rowing boat somewhere and I was visualizing that. There was also the image of the female who would someday come save me -- a "girl with kaleidoscope eyes" who would come out of the sky. It turned out to be Yoko, though I hadn't met Yoko yet. So maybe it should be "Yoko in the Sky with Diamonds."
PLAYBOY: Do you have any interest in the pop historians analyzing the Beatles as a cultural phenomenon?
LENNON: It's all equally irrelevant. Mine is to do and other people's is to record, I suppose. Does it matter how many drugs were in Elvis' body? I mean, Brian Epstein's sex life will make a nice "Hollywood Babylon" someday, but it is irrelevant.
PLAYBOY: What started the rumors about you and Epstein?
LENNON: I went on holiday to Spain with Brian -- which started all the rumors that he and I were having a love affair. Well, it was almost a love affair, but not quite. It was never consummated. But we did have a pretty intense relationship. And it was my first experience with someone I knew was a homosexual. He admitted it to me. We had this holiday together because Cyn was pregnant and we left her with the baby and went to Spain. Lots of funny stories, you know. We used to sit in cafs and Brian would look at all the boys and I would ask, "Do you like that one? Do you like this one?" It was just the combination of our closeness and the trip that started the rumors.
PLAYBOY: It's interesting to hear you talk about your old songs such as "Lucy in the Sky" and "Glass Onion." Will you give some brief thoughts on some of our favorites?
LENNON: Right.
PLAYBOY: Let's start with "In My Life."
LENNON: It was the first song I wrote that was consciously about my life. [Sings] "There are places I'll remember/all my life though some have changed. . . ." Before, we were just writing songs a la Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly -- pop songs with no more thought to them than that. The words were almost irrelevant. "In My Life" started out as a bus journey from my house at 250 Menlove Avenue to town, mentioning all the places I could recall. I wrote it all down and it was boring. So I forgot about it and laid back and these lyrics started coming to me about friends and lovers of the past. Paul helped with the middle eight.
PLAYBOY: "Yesterday."
LENNON: Well, we all know about "Yesterday." I have had so much accolade for "Yesterday." That is Paul's song, of course, and Paul's baby. Well done. Beautiful -- and I never wished I had written it.
PLAYBOY: "With a Little Help from My Friends."
LENNON: This is Paul, with a little help from me. "What do you see when you turn out the light/I can't tell you, but I know it's mine ..." is mine.
PLAYBOY: "I am the Walrus."
LENNON: The first line was written on one acid trip one weekend. The second line was written on the next acid trip the next weekend, and it was filled in after I met Yoko. Part of it was putting down Hare Krishna. All these people were going on about Hare Krishna, Allen Ginsberg in particular. The reference to "Element'ry penguin" is the elementary, naive attitude of going around chanting, "Hare Krishna," or putting all your faith in any one idol. I was writing obscurely, a la Dylan, in those days.
PLAYBOY: The song is very complicated, musically.
LENNON: It actually was fantastic in stereo, but you never hear it all. There was too much to get on. It was too messy a mix. One track was live BBC Radio -- Shakespeare or something -- I just fed in whatever lines came in.
PLAYBOY: What about the walrus itself?
LENNON: It's from "The Walrus and the Carpenter." "Alice in Wonderland." To me, it was a beautiful poem. It never dawned on me that Lewis Carroll was commenting on the capitalist and social system. I never went into that bit about what he really meant, like people are doing with the Beatles' work. Later, I went back and looked at it and realized that the walrus was the bad guy in the story and the carpenter was the good guy. I thought, Oh, shit, I picked the wrong guy. I should have said, "I am the carpenter." But that wouldn't have been the same, would it? [Singing] "I am the carpenter...."
PLAYBOY: How about "She Came in Through the Bathroom Window?"
LENNON: That was written by Paul when we were in New York forming Apple, and he first met Linda. Maybe she's the one who came in the window. She must have. I don't know. Somebody came in the window.
PLAYBOY: "I Feel Fine."
LENNON: That's me, including the guitar lick with the first feedback ever recorded. I defy anybody to find an earlier record -- unless it is some old blues record from the Twenties -- with feedback on it.
PLAYBOY: "When I'm Sixty-Four."
LENNON: Paul completely. I would never even dream of writing a song like that. There are some areas I never think about and that is one of them.
Monday, October 12, 2009
The Maharishi and Me
Allen GinsbergI saw Maharishi speak here January 21st and then went up to Plaza Hotel that evening (I'd phoned for tickets to his organisation and on return telephone call they invited me up, saying Maharishi wanted to see me) . . . so surrounded by his disciples I sat at his feet on the floor and listened while he spoke.
Yelling C.I.A.
At a previous press conference I'd not been at I heard he'd said all sorts of outlandish things like poverty was laziness and I saw in "IT" his equatory communism = weakism. So after I was introduced I sat at his feet and literally started yelling at him . . . . spoke for half an hour almost, challenging, arguing . . . all in good humour though his business managers and devotees gasped with horror occasionally. But I never got impolite and he stayed calm and rather sweet so no harm. He'd been discussing U.S. 'dis-satisfaction' as Johnson's phrase had been quoted to him earlier, so I said that specific dis-satisfaction was among young people over the Vietnam war, and it was a problem troubling everyone in his audience that day, at least of the young people; that though the US was as he said Creative, its creations were massively negative as Vietnam at this point and that's why people were restless and looked for spiritual guidance from him and that he, Maharishi, hadn't covered the problem satisfactorily. He said Johnson and his secret police had more information and they knew what they were doing. I said they were a buncha dumbells and they don't know and his implicit support of authoritarianism made lots a people wonder if weren't some kinda CIA agent. He giggled 'CIA?' His devotees began screaming so I said it was a common question so it should be proposed and they shouldn't stand around silent and fearful to speak.
Hari Krishna L.S.D.
Then I asked what about draft resistant kids, going to war and murder? He said either way meditate. I asked about Hari Krishna. He said one mantra won't fit everybody. As he'd put down drugs I said there wouldn't have been anybody to see him if it hadn't been for LSD. Devotees gasped. He said, well, LSD has done its thing, now forget it. Just let it drop. He said his meditation was stronger. I said excellent, if it works why not? I said I would be glad to try; can't do anything but good. Then he said that 'acid' damaged Hippies nervous systems, he had six hippies visit him in a room in LA and had to take them into the garden, they smelled so bad.
Hippies smell
I said WHAT? you must have been reading the newspapers. He said he didn't read newspapers. I said he likely had a misconception from his friends (at that point, I guess I said acid hippies were the largest part of the day's audience). He insisted that hippies smelled. I must say that was tendentious. His final statement on war was he didn't want to get into that, he wanted only to emphasise meditation, meditation, meditation. I said that's fine. I'll meditate.
All in all I thought his political statements not so evil as dim and thoughtless, somewhat sucking up to the establishment so as not to cause opposition and trouble. But judging from voicetone of his business manager -- a sort of business man western square sensitive -- sounds like he is surrounded by a conservative structure and he would come on unsympathetic in relation to social problems. I told him major cause US youth dis-satisfaction was increasing military police state tendency in US and spoiling everyone's normal life and feelings which I think is a statement partially accurate and something to him to consider since he makes social generalisation as apparently he does.
Avoid the authorities
In a sense his position is not far from Krishna-murti or Leary -- stay out of politics, 'avoid the authorities, get into meditation and inner peace etc.' His division of the peace problem into parts . . . . individuals solve their own . . . is real enough. I don't suppose he's built or required to be a social utopian structure messiah. But in as much as he does stray into political generalisations he sounds inexperienced or ignorant and unfamiliarly authoritarian.
So anyway that's what I could come to listening and talking. He was nice to me, didn't know who I was, asked at first what I did. I said Kovie -- poet. There's an element of too much mesmerised politeness at his darshans (public viewings) -- a guru is someone who you should make it with, learn from, listen to, enquire -- otherwise it's mere 'religion' which Maharishi himself puts down as a failure.
Definitely dim-witted
The main burden that everyone should meditate half hour morning and night makes sense. His blank cheque claims that his extra special meditation form is more efficient than any other is something I haven't tried so I can't judge. His high powered organisation method of advertising meditation is getting, like Pyramid club of people meditating and massive enthusiasm application which would certainly tend to accomplish general peacefulness if it caught on massively and universally. His political statements are definitely dim-witted and a bit out of place.
Friday, August 14, 2009
Beatle People: Allen Ginsberg
Irwin Allen Ginsberg (pronounced /ˈɡɪnzbÉ™rÉ¡/; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet. Ginsberg is best known for the poem "Howl" (1956), celebrating his friends who were members of the Beat Generation and attacking what he saw as the destructive forces of materialism and conformity in the United States.Early life and family
Ginsberg was born into a Jewish family in Newark, New Jersey, and grew up in nearby Paterson. His father Louis Ginsberg was a poet and a high school teacher. Ginsberg's mother, Naomi Livergant Ginsberg (who was affected by a rare psychological illness which was never properly diagnosed) was an active member of the Communist Party and often took Ginsberg and his brother Eugene to party meetings. Ginsberg later said that his mother "made up bedtime stories that all went something like: 'The good king rode forth from his castle, saw the suffering workers and healed them.'"
As a young teenager, Ginsberg began to write letters to The New York Times about political issues such as World War II and workers' rights. When he was in junior high school, he accompanied his mother by bus to her therapist. The trip disturbed Ginsberg — he mentioned it and other moments from his childhood in his long autobiographical poem "Kaddish for Naomi Ginsberg (1894-1956)." While in high school, Ginsberg began reading Walt Whitman; he said he was inspired by his teacher's passion in reading.
In 1943, Ginsberg graduated from Eastside High School and briefly attended Montclair State College before entering Columbia University on a scholarship from the Young Men's Hebrew Association of Paterson. In 1945, he joined the Merchant Marine to earn money to continue his education at Columbia. While at Columbia, Ginsberg contributed to the Columbia Review literary journal, the Jester humor magazine, won the Woodberry Poetry Prize and served as president of the Philolexian Society, the campus literary and debate group.
Ginsberg worked for a while as a clerk in the Gotham Book Mart, a renowned bookstore and literary hotspot, where he undoubtedly came in contact with many renowned authors and poets.
New York Beats
In Ginsberg's freshman year at Columbia he met fellow undergraduate Lucien Carr, who introduced him to a number of future Beat writers including Jack Kerouac, William S. Burroughs, and John Clellon Holmes. They bonded because they saw in one another excitement about the potential of the youth of America, a potential which existed outside the strict conformist confines of post-World War II McCarthy-era America. Ginsberg and Carr talked excitedly about a "New Vision" (a phrase adapted from Arthur Rimbaud) for literature and America. Carr also introduced Ginsberg to Neal Cassady, for whom Ginsberg had a long infatuation. Kerouac later described the meeting between Ginsberg and Cassady in the first chapter of his 1957 novel On the Road. Kerouac saw them then as the dark (Ginsberg) and light (Cassady) side of their "New Vision." Kerouac's perception had to do partly with Ginsberg's association with Communism (though Ginsberg himself was never a Communist); Kerouac called Ginsberg "Carlo Marx" in On the Road. This was a source of strain in their relationship since Kerouac grew increasingly distrustful of Communism.
In 1948 in an apartment in Harlem, Ginsberg had an auditory hallucination of William Blake reading his poems "Ah, Sunflower", "The Sick Rose", and "Little Girl Lost" (later referred to as his "Blake vision"). Ginsberg was reading these poems at the time, and he said he was very familiar with them; at one point he claimed he heard them being read by what sounded like the voice of God but what he interpreted as the voice of Blake. He had at that moment pivotal revelations that defined his understanding of the universe. He believed that he witnessed then the interconnectedness of the universe. He looked at lattice work on the fire escape and realized some hand had crafted that; he then looked at the sky and intuited that some hand had crafted that also, or rather that the sky was the hand that crafted itself. He explained that this hallucination was not inspired by drug use, but said he sought to recapture that feeling later with various drugs.
Also in New York, Ginsberg met Gregory Corso in the Pony Stable Bar, one of New York's first openly lesbian bars. Corso, recently released from prison, was supported by the Pony Stable patrons and was writing poetry there the night of their meeting. Ginsberg claims he was immediately attracted to Corso, who was straight but understanding of homosexuality after three years in prison. Ginsberg was even more struck by reading Corso's poems, realizing Corso was "spiritually gifted." Ginsberg introduced Corso to the rest of his inner circle. In their first meeting at the Pony Stable, Corso showed Ginsberg a poem about a woman who lived across the street from him, and sunbathed naked in the window. Amazingly, the woman happened to be Ginsberg's former girlfriend from one of his forays into heterosexuality. Ginsberg and Corso remained life-long friends and collaborators.
It was also during this period that Ginsberg was romantically involved with Elise Cowen.
San Francisco Renaissance
In 1954 in San Francisco, Ginsberg met Peter Orlovsky, with whom he fell in love and who remained his life-long partner.
Also in San Francisco Ginsberg met members of the San Francisco Renaissance and other poets who would later be associated with the Beat Generation in a broader sense. Ginsberg's mentor William Carlos Williams wrote an introductory letter to San Francisco Renaissance figurehead Kenneth Rexroth, who then introduced Ginsberg into the San Francisco poetry scene. There, Ginsberg also met three budding poets and Zen enthusiasts who were friends at Reed College: Gary Snyder, Philip Whalen, and Lew Welch. In 1959, along with poets John Kelly, Bob Kaufman, A. D. Winans, and William Margolis, Ginsberg was one of the founders of the Beatitude poetry magazine.
Wally Hedrick — a painter and co-founder of the Six Gallery — approached Ginsberg in the summer of 1955 and asked him to organize a poetry reading at the Six Gallery. At first, Ginsberg refused, but once he’d written a rough draft of "Howl", he changed his "fucking mind," as he put it. Ginsberg advertised the event as "Six Poets at the Six Gallery." One of the most important events in Beat mythos, known simply as "The Six Gallery reading" took place on October 7, 1955. The event, in essence, brought together the East and West Coast factions of the Beat Generation. Of more personal significance to Ginsberg: that night was the first public reading of "Howl", a poem that brought worldwide fame to Ginsberg and to many of the poets associated with him. An account of that night can be found in Kerouac's novel The Dharma Bums, describing how change was collected from audience members to buy jugs of wine, and Ginsberg reading passionately, drunken, with arms outstretched. A taped recording of the reading of "Howl" that Ginsberg gave at Reed College has recently been rediscovered and appeared on their multimedia website from 9am PST 15 February 2008.
Ginsberg's principal work, "Howl", is well-known for its opening line: "I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked...." "Howl" was considered scandalous at the time of its publication, because of the rawness of its language, which is frequently explicit. Shortly after its 1956 publication by San Francisco's City Lights Bookstore, it was banned for obscenity. The ban became a cause célèbre among defenders of the First Amendment, and was later lifted after Judge Clayton W. Horn declared the poem to possess redeeming artistic value.
Biographical references in "Howl"
Ginsberg claimed at one point that all of his work was an extended biography (like Kerouac's Duluoz Legend). "Howl" is not only a biography of Ginsberg's experiences before 1955 but also a history of the Beat Generation. Ginsberg also later claimed that at the core of "Howl" were his unresolved emotions about his schizophrenic mother. Though "Kaddish" deals more explicitly with his mother (so explicitly that a line-by-line analysis would be simultaneously overly-exhaustive and relatively unrevealing), "Howl" in many ways is driven by the same emotions. Though references in most of his poetry reveal much about his biography, his relationship to other members of the Beat Generation, and his own political views, "Howl", his most famous poem, is still perhaps the best place to start.
To Paris and the "Beat Hotel"
In 1957, Ginsberg surprised the literary world by abandoning San Francisco. After a spell in Morocco, he and Peter Orlovsky joined Gregory Corso in Paris. Corso introduced them to a shabby lodging house above a bar at 9 rue Gît-le-Coeur that was to become known as the Beat Hotel. They were soon joined by William Burroughs and others. It was a productive, creative time for all of them. There, Ginsberg finished his epic poem "Kaddish", Corso composed "Bomb" and "Marriage", and Burroughs (with help from Ginsberg and Corso) put together Naked Lunch, from previous writings. This period was documented by the photographer Harold Chapman, who moved in at about the same time, and took pictures constantly of the residents of the "hotel" until it closed in 1963.
England and the International Poetry Incarnation
In May, 1965, Allen Ginsberg arrived at Better Books, London, and offered to read anywhere for free.
Shortly after his arrival, he gave a reading at Better Books, which was described by Jeff Nuttall as "the first healing wind on a very parched collective mind." Tom McGrath wrote "This could well turn out to have been a very significant moment in the history of England - or at least in the history of English Poetry."
Shortly after the reading at Better Books, plans were hatched for the International Poetry Incarnation, which was to be held at the Royal Albert Hall in London on June 11, 1965.
The event attracted an audience of 7,000 people to readings and live and tape performances by a wide variety of figures, including Allen Ginsberg, Adrian Mitchell, Alexander Trocchi, Harry Fainlight, Anselm Hollo, Christopher Logue, George Macbeth, Gregory Corso, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Michael Horovitz, Simon Vinkenoog, Spike Hawkins, Tom McGrath and William Burroughs.
Peter Whitehead documented the event on film and released it as Wholly Communion.
Continuing literary activity
Though "Beat" is most accurately applied to Ginsberg and his closest friends (Corso, Orlovsky, Kerouac, Burroughs, etc.), the term "Beat Generation" has become associated with many of the other poets Ginsberg met and became friends with in the late 1950s and early 1960s. A key feature of this term seems to be a friendship with Ginsberg. Friendship with Kerouac or Burroughs might also apply, but both writers later strove to disassociate themselves from the name "Beat Generation." Part of their dissatisfaction with the term came from the mistaken identification of Ginsberg as the leader. Ginsberg never claimed to be the leader of a movement. He did, however, claim that many of the writers with whom he had become friends in this period shared many of the same intentions and themes. Some of these friends include: Bob Kaufman; LeRoi Jones before he became Amiri Baraka, who, after reading "Howl", wrote a letter to Ginsberg on a sheet of toilet paper; Diane DiPrima; Jim Cohn; poets associated with the Black Mountain College such as Robert Creeley and Denise Levertov; poets associated with the New York School such as Frank O'Hara and Kenneth Koch.
Later in his life, Ginsberg formed a bridge between the beat movement of the 1950s and the hippies of the 1960s, befriending, among others, Timothy Leary, Ken Kesey, and Bob Dylan. Ginsberg gave his last ever reading at Booksmith, a bookstore located in the Haight Ashbury neighborhood of San Francisco, a few months before his death.
Buddhism and Krishnaism
Ginsberg's spiritual journey began early on with his spontaneous visions, and continued with an early trip to India and a chance encounter on a New York City street with Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche (they both tried to catch the same cab), a Tibetan Buddhist meditation master of the Vajrayana school, who became his friend and life-long teacher. Ginsberg helped Trungpa (and New York poet Anne Waldman) in founding the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa Institute in Boulder, Colorado.
Ginsberg was also involved with Krishnaism. He befriended A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the founder of the Hare Krishna movement in the Western world, a relationship that is documented by Satsvarupa dasa Goswami in his biographical account Srila Prabhupada Lilamrta. Ginsberg donated money, materials, and his reputation to help the Swami establish the first temple, and toured with him to promote his cause.
Music and chanting were both important parts of Ginsberg's live delivery during poetry readings. He often accompanied himself on a harmonium, and was often accompanied by a guitarist. When Ginsberg asked if he could sing a song in praise of Lord Krishna on William F. Buckley, Jr.'s TV show Firing Line on September 3, 1968, Buckley acceded and the poet chanted slowly as he played dolefully on a harmonium. According to Richard Brookhiser, an associate of Buckley's, the host commented that it was "the most unharried Krishna I've ever heard."
Attendance to his poetry readings was generally standing room only for most of his career, no matter where in the world he appeared. Ginsberg came in touch with the Hungryalist poets of Bengal, especially Malay Roy Choudhury, who introduced Ginsberg to the three fishes with one head of Indian emperor Jalaluddin Mohammad Akbar. The three fishes symbolised coexistence of all thought, philosophy and religion.
Death
Ginsberg won the National Book Award for his book The Fall of America. In 1993, the French Minister of Culture awarded him the medal of Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres (the Order of Arts and Letters).
With the exception of a special guest reading at the NYU Poetry Slam on February 20, 1997, Ginsberg gave what is thought to be his last reading at The Booksmith in San Francisco December 16, 1996. He died April 5, 1997, surrounded by family and friends in his East Village loft in New York City, succumbing to liver cancer via complications of hepatitis. He was 70 years old. Ginsberg continued to write through his final illness, with his last poem, "Things I'll Not Do (Nostalgias)," written on March 30.
Ginsberg is buried in his family plot in Gomel Chesed Cemetery, one of a cluster of Jewish cemeteries at the corner of McClellan Street and Mt. Olivet Avenue near the city lines of Elizabeth and Newark, New Jersey. The family plot, located toward the western edge of the cemetery at the far end of the walk from the third gate along Mt. Olivet Avenue, is marked by a large Ginsberg and Litzky stone, and Ginsberg himself and each family member have smaller markers. The grave itself and the cemetery are neither picturesque nor otherwise notable (Ginsberg's grave is located near the rear fence of the flat cemetery, which is in the midst of an industrial area); although it has not become a major place of pilgrimage, there is a steady trickle of visitors to the grave, as indicated by a handful of stones always on his marker and the occasional book or other item left by other poets and admirers].
Free Speech
Ginsberg's willingness to talk about taboo subjects made him a controversial figure during the conservative 1950s and a significant figure in the 1960s. But Ginsberg continued to broach controversial subjects throughout the 1970s, '80s, and '90s. When explaining how he approached controversial topics, he often pointed to Herbert Huncke: he said that when he first got to know Huncke in the 1940s, Ginsberg saw that he was sick from his heroin addiction, but at the time heroin was a taboo subject and Huncke was left with nowhere to go for help. Likewise, he continuously attempted to force the world into a dialogue about controversial subjects because he thought that no change could be made in a polite silence.
In the late 1920s and early 1930s, busking (i.e., public street performance) had grown to be quite a controversial enterprise in New York City. The country was in the midst of a horrible economic depression and many people had turned to busking as a source of income. Buskers were everywhere and fights over locations were alarmingly common between the buskers themselves and the buskers, merchants, and vendors. Out of frustration over the complaining, fighting, and violence, Mayor Fiorello La Guardia banned street performances in New York on the grounds of safety issues regarding the escalating conflicts. Busking went on, but on a much smaller scale. If anybody complained about a busker, at their discretion the police could order the busker to move on or could even arrest him or her. In 1970 Allen Ginsberg challenged the constitutionality of this ban. The ban was lifted in 1970 after being found to be unconstitutional by New York mayor John Lindsay.
Role in Vietnam War protests
Ginsberg also played a key role in ensuring that a 1965 protest of the Vietnam war, which took place at the Oakland-Berkeley city line and drew several thousand marchers, was not violently interrupted by the California chapter of the notorious motorcycle gang, the Hells Angels, and their leader, Sonny Barger.
The day prior to the scheduled march, the Hells Angels attacked the front line of a smaller scale protest where a confrontation between police and demonstrators was brewing. The Hells Angels came in on motorcycles and slashed banners while yelling "Go back to Russia, you fucking communists!" at the protesters. The Hells Angels then vowed to disrupt the larger protest the next day.
Ginsberg traveled to Barger's home in Oakland to talk the situation through. It is rumored that he offered Barger and other members of the Hells Angels LSD as a gesture of friendship and goodwill. In the end, Barger and the other Hells Angels that were present came away deeply impressed by the courage of Ginsberg and his companion Ken Kesey. They vowed not to attack the next day's protest march and furthermore deemed Ginsberg a man who was worth helping out.
It was shortly after the Tompkins Square Park riots in New York that Ginsberg was involved in a fracas with the Mentofreeist group and was assaulted by its leader, Vargus Pike. Pike was arrested, and was later released when Ginsberg, sporting a black eye, refused to press charges.
Relationship to Communism
Ginsberg talked openly about his connections with Communism and his admiration for past communist heroes and the labor movement at a time when the Red Scare and McCarthyism were still raging. He admired Castro and many other quasi-Marxist figures from the 20th century. In "America" (1956), Ginsberg writes: "America I used to be a communist when I was a kid I'm not sorry...." Biographer Jonah Raskin has claimed that despite his often stark opposition to communist orthodoxy, Ginsberg held "his own idiosyncratic version of communism." On the other hand, throughout his life Ginsberg often objected to being characterized as a Communist, stating publicly in 1970: "I am not, as a matter of fact, a member of the Communist party, nor am I dedicated to the overthrow of [the U.S.] government or any government by violence. ... I must say that I see little difference between the armed and violent governments both Communist and Capitalist that I have observed ..."
Ginsberg traveled to several Communist countries to promote free speech. He claimed that Communist countries, China for example, welcomed him because they thought he was an enemy of Capitalism but often turned against him when they saw him as a trouble maker. For example, in 1965 Ginsberg was deported from Cuba for publicly protesting Cuba's anti-marijuana stance. The Cubans sent him to Czechoslovakia, where one week after being named the King of a May Day parade, Ginsberg was labeled an "immoral menace" by the Czech government because of his free expression of radical ideas, and was then deported. Vaclav Havel points to Ginsberg as an important inspiration in striving for freedom.
Gay Rights
One contribution that is often considered his most significant and most controversial was his openness about homosexuality. Ginsberg was an early proponent of freedom for homosexuals. In 1943 he discovered within himself "mountains of homosexuality." He expressed this desire openly and graphically in his poetry. He also struck a note for gay marriage by listing Peter Orlovsky, his lifelong companion, as his spouse in his Who's Who entry. Later homosexual writers saw his frank talk about homosexuality as an opening to speak more openly and honestly about something often before only hinted at or spoken of in metaphor.
In writing about sexuality in graphic detail and in his frequent use of language seen as indecent he challenged—and ultimately changed—obscenity laws. He was a staunch supporter of others whose expression challenged obscenity laws (William S. Burroughs and Lenny Bruce, for example).
Radio talk show host, Michael Savage befriended and traveled with Beat poets Allen Ginsberg and Lawrence Ferlinghetti. Stephen Schwartz, also an acquaintance of Savage from this time, reported Savage possessed a photograph of himself and Ginsberg swimming naked in Hawaii and used the photograph as sort of a "calling card." Savage maintained a correspondence with Ginsberg consisting of ten letters and a trio of postcards across four years, which is maintained with Ginsberg's papers at Stanford University. One letter asked for Ginsberg to do a poetry reading, so others could "hear and see and know why I adore your public image." One postcard from Michael Savage mentions his desire to photograph Ginsberg "nude, in a provocative way."
Association with NAMBLA
Ginsberg also spoke out in defense of the freedom of expression of the North American Man/Boy Love Association (NAMBLA). In "Thoughts on NAMBLA," a 1994 essay published in the collection Deliberate Prose, Ginsberg stated, "I joined NAMBLA in defense of free speech." In the essay, he referred to NAMBLA "as a forum for reform of those laws on youthful sexuality which members deem oppressive, a discussion society not a sex club." Ginsberg expressed the opinion that the appreciation of youthful bodies and "the human form divine" has been a common theme throughout the history of culture, "from Rome's Vatican to Florence's Uffizi galleries to New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art", and that laws regarding the issue needed to be more openly discussed. In an interview for the Harvard Gay and Lesbian Review he said:
"Everybody likes little kids. All you've got to do is walk through the Vatican and see all the little statues of little prepubescents, pubescents and postpubescents. Naked kids have been a staple of delight for centuries, for both parents and onlookers."
—Intermountain Jewish News
Demystification of drugs
Ginsberg also talked often about drug use. Throughout the 1960s he took an active role in the demystification of LSD and with Timothy Leary worked to promote its common use. He was also for many decades an advocate of marijuana legalization, and at the same time warned his audiences against the hazards of tobacco in his Put Down Your Cigarette Rag (Don't Smoke): "Don't Smoke Don't Smoke Nicotine Nicotine No / No don't smoke the official Dope Smoke Dope Dope."
Career
Though early on he had intentions to be a labor lawyer, Ginsberg wrote poetry for most of his life. Most of his very early poetry was written in formal rhyme and meter like his father or like his idol William Blake. His admiration for the writing of Jack Kerouac inspired him to take poetry more seriously. Though he took odd jobs to support himself, in 1955, upon the advice of a psychiatrist, Ginsberg dropped out of the working world to devote his entire life to poetry. Soon after, he wrote "Howl", the poem that brought him and his friends much fame and allowed him to live as a professional poet for the rest of his life. Later in life, Ginsberg entered academia, teaching poetry as Distinguished Professor of English at Brooklyn College from 1986 until his death.
Inspiration from friends
Since Ginsberg's poetry is intensely personal, and since much of the vitality of those associated with the beat generation comes from mutual inspiration, much credit for style, inspiration, and content can be given to Ginsberg's friends.
Ginsberg claimed throughout his life that his biggest inspiration was Kerouac's concept of "spontaneous prose". He believed literature should come from the soul without conscious restrictions. However, Ginsberg was much more prone to revise than Kerouac. For example, when Kerouac saw the first draft of "Howl" he disliked the fact that Ginsberg had made editorial changes in pencil (transposing "negro" and "angry" in the first line, for example). Kerouac only wrote out his concepts of Spontaneous Prose at Ginsberg's insistence because Ginsberg wanted to learn how to apply the technique to his poetry.
The inspiration for "Howl" was Ginsberg's friend, Carl Solomon and "Howl" is dedicated to Solomon (whom Ginsberg also directly addresses in the third section of the poem). Solomon was a Dada and Surrealism enthusiast (he introduced Ginsberg to Artaud) who suffered bouts of depression. Solomon wanted to commit suicide, but he thought a form of suicide appropriate to dadaism would be to go to a mental institution and demand a lobotomy. The institution refused, giving him many forms of therapy, including electroshock therapy. Much of the final section of the first part of "Howl" is a description of this.
Ginsberg used Solomon as an example of all those ground down by the machine of "Moloch." Moloch, to whom the second section is addressed, is a Levantine god to whom children were sacrificed. Ginsberg may have gotten the name from the Kenneth Rexroth poem "Thou Shalt Not Kill", a poem about the death of one of Ginsberg's heroes, Dylan Thomas. But Moloch is mentioned a few times in the Torah and references to Ginsberg's Jewish background are not infrequent in his work. Ginsberg said the image of Moloch was inspired by peyote visions he had of the Francis Drake Hotel in San Francisco which appeared to him as a skull; he took it as a symbol of the city (not specifically San Francisco, but all cities). Ginsberg later acknowledged in various publications and interviews that behind the visions of the Francis Drake Hotel were memories of the Moloch of Fritz Lang's film Metropolis (1927) and of the woodcut novels of Lynd Ward. Moloch has subsequently been interpreted as any system of control, including the conformist society of post-World War II America focused on material gain, which Ginsberg frequently blamed for the destruction of all those outside of societal norms.
He also made sure to emphasize that Moloch is a part of all of us: the decision to defy socially created systems of control—and therefore go against Moloch—is a form of self-destruction. Many of the characters Ginsberg references in "Howl", such as Neal Cassady and Herbert Huncke, destroyed themselves through excessive substance abuse or a generally wild lifestyle. The personal aspects of "Howl" are perhaps as important as the political aspects. Carl Solomon, the prime example of a "best mind" destroyed by defying society, is associated with Ginsberg's schizophrenic mother: the line "with mother finally ****** (fucked)" comes after a long section about Carl Solomon, and in Part III, Ginsberg says "I'm with you in Rockland where you imitate the shade of my mother." Ginsberg later admitted that the drive to write "Howl" was fueled by sympathy for his ailing mother, an issue which he was not yet ready to deal with directly. He dealt with it directly with 1959's "Kaddish."
Inspiration from mentors and idols
Ginsberg's poetry was strongly influenced by Modernism (specifically Ezra Pound, T. S. Eliot, Hart Crane, and most importantly William Carlos Williams), Romanticism (specifically Percy Shelley and John Keats), the beat and cadence of jazz (specifically that of bop musicians such as Charlie Parker), and his Kagyu Buddhist practice and Jewish background. He considered himself to have inherited the visionary poetic mantle handed down from the English poet and artist William Blake, and the American poet Walt Whitman. The power of Ginsberg's verse, its searching, probing focus, its long and lilting lines, as well as its New World exuberance, all echo the continuity of inspiration that he claimed.
He studied poetry under William Carlos Williams, who was then in the middle of writing his epic poem Paterson about the industrial city near his home. Ginsberg, after attending a reading by Williams, sent the older poet several of his poems and wrote an introductory letter. Most of these early poems were rhymed and metered and included archaic pronouns like "thee." Williams hated the poems. He told Ginsberg later, "In this mode perfection is basic, and these poems are not perfect."
Though he hated the early poems, Williams loved the exuberance in Ginsberg's letter. He included the letter in a later part of "Paterson." He taught Ginsberg not to emulate the old masters but to speak with his own voice and the voice of the common American. Williams taught him to focus on strong visual images, in line with Williams' own motto "No ideas but in things." His time studying under Williams led to a tremendous shift from the early formalist work to a loose, colloquial free verse style. Early breakthrough poems include "Bricklayer's Lunch Hour" and "Dream Record."
Carl Solomon introduced Ginsberg to the work of Antonin Artaud ("To Have Done with the Judgement of God" and "Van Gogh: The Man Suicided by Society"), and Jean Genet (Our Lady of the Flowers). Philip Lamantia introduced him to other Surrealists and Surrealism continued to be an influence (for example, sections of Kaddish were inspired by André Breton's "Free Union"). Ginsberg claimed that the anaphoric repetition of "Howl" and other poems was inspired by Christopher Smart in such poems as "Jubilate Agno." Ginsberg also claimed other more traditional influences, such as: Franz Kafka, Herman Melville, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Edgar Allan Poe, and even Emily Dickinson.
Ginsberg also made an intense study of haiku and the paintings of Paul Cézanne, from which he adapted a concept important to his work, which he called the "Eyeball Kick". He noticed in viewing Cézanne's paintings that when the eye moved from one color to a contrasting color, the eye would spasm, or "kick." Likewise, he discovered that the contrast of two seeming opposites was a common feature in haiku. Ginsberg used this technique in his poetry, putting together two starkly dissimilar images: something weak with something strong, an artifact of high culture with an artifact of low culture, something holy with something unholy. The example Ginsberg most often used was "hydrogen jukebox" (which later became the title of an opera he wrote with Philip Glass). Another example is Ginsberg's observation on Bob Dylan during Dylan's hectic and intense 1966 electric-guitar tour, fuelled by a cocktail of amphetamines, opiates, alcohol, and psychedelics, as a "Dexedrine Clown." The phrases "eyeball kick" and "hydrogen jukebox" both show up in "Howl," as well as a direct quote from Cézanne: "Pater Omnipotens Aeterna Deus."
Style and technique
From the study of his idols and mentors and the inspiration of his friends—not to mention his own experiments—Ginsberg developed an individualistic style that's easily identified as Ginsbergian. "Howl" came out during a potentially hostile literary environment less welcoming to poetry outside of tradition; there was a renewed focus on form and structure among academic poets and critics partly inspired by New Criticism. Consequently, Ginsberg often had to defend his choice to break away from traditional poetic structure, often citing Williams, Pound, and Whitman as precursors. Ginsberg's style may have seemed to critics chaotic or unpoetic, but to Ginsberg it was an open, ecstatic expression of thoughts and feelings that were naturally poetic. He believed strongly that traditional formalist considerations were archaic and didn't apply to reality. Though some, Diana Trilling for example, have pointed to Ginsberg's occasional use of meter (for example the anapest of "who came back to Denver and waited in vain"), Ginsberg denied any intention toward meter and claimed instead that meter follows the natural poetic voice, not the other way around; he said, as he learned from Williams, that natural speech is occasionally dactylic, so poetry that imitates natural speech will sometimes fall into a dactylic structure but only accidentally. Like Williams, Ginsberg's line breaks were often determined by breath: one line in "Howl", for example, should be read in one breath. Ginsberg claimed he developed such a long line because he had long breaths (saying perhaps it was because he talked fast, or he did yoga, or he was Jewish). The long line could also be traced back to his study of Walt Whitman; Ginsberg claimed Whitman's long line was a dynamic technique few other poets had ventured to develop further. Whitman is often compared to Ginsberg because their poetry sexualized aspects of the male form — though there is no direct evidence Whitman was homosexual.
Many of Ginsberg's early long line experiments contain some sort of anaphoric repetition, or repetition of a "fixed base" (for example "who" in "Howl", "America" in "America"), and this has become a recognizable feature of Ginsberg's style. However, he said later this was a crutch because he lacked confidence in his style; he didn't yet trust "free flight". In the 60s, after employing it in some sections of Kaddish ("caw" for example) he, for the most part, abandoned the anaphoric repetition.
Several of his earlier experiments with methods for formatting poems as a whole become regular aspects of his style in later poems. In the original draft of "Howl," each line is in a "stepped triadic" format reminiscent of Williams (see "Ivy Leaves," for example). He abandoned the "stepped triadic" when he developed his long line, but the stepped lines showed up later, most significantly in the travelogues of The Fall of America. "Howl" and "Kaddish," arguably his two most important poems, are both organized as an inverted pyramid, with larger sections leading to smaller sections. In "America," he experimented with a mix of longer and shorter lines.
"Lightning's blue glare fills Oklahoma plains, the train rolls east casting yellow shadow on grass Twenty years ago approaching Texas, I saw sheet lightning cover Heaven's corners... An old man catching fireflies on the porch at night watched the Herd Boy cross the Milky Way to meet the Weaving Girl... How can we war against that?" (From Iron Horse, composed July 22-23, 1966, while riding a train from the West Coast to Chicago. The poem was dictated to a tape recorder, and later transcribed. The second part of the poem takes place on a Greyhound bus.)
Wikipedia
Thursday, June 18, 2009
June 1, 1969 - John and Yoko Meet Patrick Watson
Aired: Sunday 8 June 1969
John and Yoko's bed-in continued. John, Yoko and a roomful of visitors, including members of the Radha Krishna Temple, Allen Ginsberg, Phil Spector, Abbie Hoffman, rock writer Paul Williams, comedian Tommy Smothers and Timothy Leary, recorded the peace anthem 'Give Peace A Chance'.
John and Yoko's bed-in continued. John, Yoko and a roomful of visitors, including members of the Radha Krishna Temple, Allen Ginsberg, Phil Spector, Abbie Hoffman, rock writer Paul Williams, comedian Tommy Smothers and Timothy Leary, recorded the peace anthem 'Give Peace A Chance'.
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Beatle People: Barry Miles
Barry Miles (or "Miles") (born 1943) is a British author. In the 1960s, he was co-owner of the Indica Gallery and helped start the International Times.Life and work
Barry Miles was born in Cirencester, England.
In the 1960s, Miles was co-owner of the Indica Gallery, allowing him to meet many of the stars of the Swinging London social scene. Miles brought Paul McCartney into contact with people who wanted to start the International Times, which McCartney helped to fund. Miles would later become de facto manager of the Apple's short-lived Zapple Records label, and wrote McCartney's official biography, Many Years from Now (1998).
In 1965, Miles lived at 15 Hanson Street, London, and he and his wife introduced McCartney to Hash Brownies by using a recipe for Hash fudge which they had found in the Alice B. Toklas Cookbook.
With John Hopkins, Miles organized The 14 Hour Technicolor Dream, a concert on 29 April 1967 Alexandra Palace to raise funds for the International Times. It was a multi-artist event, featuring poets, artists and musicians. Pink Floyd headlined the event; other artists included: Yoko Ono and John Lennon, Arthur Brown, Soft Machine, Tomorrow and The Pretty Things.
Miles published a book named Hippie, telling the story of the hippie movement from the sixties to the early seventies with interviews, quotes, and images. He co-wrote I Want to Take You Higher (documenting the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum exhibit by the same name) with Charles Perry and James Henke.
Miles has criticized musicians who speak out in support of Libertarian and or pro-Capitalist views. Artists he has clashed with include Neil Peart of the Canadian band Rush. An article about Rush written by Barry Miles in the March 4th 1978 edition of the UK's New Musical Express contained vehement attacks. Miles' book about Frank Zappa also sharply criticized Zappa's views toward business and labor unions. The views of such musicians contrast sharply with Miles' Socialist ideology.
Miles has written biographies of Paul McCartney, The Beatles, William Burroughs, Jack Kerouac, Frank Zappa, Charles Bukowski and Allen Ginsberg, as well as books about John Lennon, the Beatles, and The Clash. His book on Pink Floyd came out in September, 2007.
Wikipedia
Friday, April 03, 2009
December 10, 1971 - Ten for Two
Crisler Arena, Ann Arbor
Taped: Friday 10 December 1971
Later this evening, John and Yoko are among a line-up of musicians performing at a benefit concert in the Chrysler Arena in Ann Arbor, Michigan, for the radical activist John Sinclair, who had been sentenced to 10 years imprisonment for attempting to sell two marijuana joints. Their acoustic performance includes: 'Attica State' (which suffers badly from feedback), 'The Luck Of The Irish', 'Sisters O Sisters' and 'John Sinclair' and is featured in the film of the event entitled Ten For Two, which is premiered in Ann Arbor during December 1972. A full American release will not take place until April 1, 1989, more than 17 years after the event. The John and Yoko produced film also features contributions from Bobby Seale, Alien Ginsberg, Jerry Rubin and David Dellinger. (Incidentally, Sinclair is released on December 13, three days after the concert.) The Detroit television station WTVS also covers John and Yoko's performance. Their uncut videotape footage runs to almost 19 minutes, four minutes longer than the official Ten For Two film version. Scenes where John's guitar string breaks prior to the start of 'Luck Of The Irish' are consigned by the Lennons to the cutting room floor. Following the performance, the Lennons are approached to appear as co-hosts on the Emmy Award-winning afternoon talk show, The Mike Douglas Show.
Taped: Friday 10 December 1971
Later this evening, John and Yoko are among a line-up of musicians performing at a benefit concert in the Chrysler Arena in Ann Arbor, Michigan, for the radical activist John Sinclair, who had been sentenced to 10 years imprisonment for attempting to sell two marijuana joints. Their acoustic performance includes: 'Attica State' (which suffers badly from feedback), 'The Luck Of The Irish', 'Sisters O Sisters' and 'John Sinclair' and is featured in the film of the event entitled Ten For Two, which is premiered in Ann Arbor during December 1972. A full American release will not take place until April 1, 1989, more than 17 years after the event. The John and Yoko produced film also features contributions from Bobby Seale, Alien Ginsberg, Jerry Rubin and David Dellinger. (Incidentally, Sinclair is released on December 13, three days after the concert.) The Detroit television station WTVS also covers John and Yoko's performance. Their uncut videotape footage runs to almost 19 minutes, four minutes longer than the official Ten For Two film version. Scenes where John's guitar string breaks prior to the start of 'Luck Of The Irish' are consigned by the Lennons to the cutting room floor. Following the performance, the Lennons are approached to appear as co-hosts on the Emmy Award-winning afternoon talk show, The Mike Douglas Show.
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Bob Dylan - Early Rarities
Early Dylan rarities. Feel free to add more in the comments if you know of them.
1958(circa)
John Bucklen Tape
1. Hey Little Richard
2. Chat #1
3. Chat #2
4. Buzz, Buzz, Buzz
5. Jenny, Jenny
6. Blue Moon
1960-05
Karen Wallace Tapes
(A)
1. The Two Sisters
2. (Rising Sun Comment)
3. Pastures Of Plenty
4. Blue Yodel #8 (Muleskinner Blues)
5. Payday At Coal Creek
(B) Excerpts
1. One Eyed Jacks
2. Go Down You Murderers
3. This Land Is Your Land
4. Rockabye My Sara Jane
5. Nobody Knows You When You're Down And Out
6. The Great Historical Bum
7. Mary Ann
8. Sinner Man
9. Abner Young
10. Blue Yodel #8 (Muleskinner Blues)
11. One Eyed Jacks
12. Columbus Stockade Blues
13. Go Down You Murderers
14. This Land Is Your Land
(C) Amphit Tape
1. Gotta Travel On
2. Roving Gambler
3. Two Sisters
4. Go Away From My Window
5. Rockabye My Sara Jane
6. Nobody Knows You When You're Down And Out
7. The Great Historical Bum
8. Mary Ann
9. Every Night When The Sun Goes Down
10. Sinner Man
11. Abner Young
12. 900 Miles
13. Blue Yodel #8 (Muleskinner Blues)
14. One Eyed Jacks
15. Columbus Stockdale Blues
16. Payday At Coal Creek
17. (Interview with Karen & Terri Wallace)
1960-09
Minnesota Party Tape
1. Red Rosey Bush
2. Johnny I Hardly Knew You
3. Jesus Christ
4. Streets Of Glory
5. Kc Moan
6. Blue Yodel #8
7. Roving Gambler
8. Talking Columbia
9. Talking Merchant Marine
10. Talking Hugh Brown
11. Talking Lobbyist
1961-02(circa)
East Orange Tape
1. San Francisco Bay Blues
2. Jesus Met The Woman At The Well
3. Gypsy Davey
4. Pastures Of Plenty
5. Trail Of The Buffalo
6. Jesse James
7. Car, Car - Southern Cannonball - Bring Me Back My Blue-Eyed Boy
1961-05
Minnesota Party Tape
1. Railroad Bill
2. Will The Circle Be Unbroken
3. Man Of Constant Sorrow
4. Pretty Polly
5. Railroad Boy
6. James Alley Blues
7. Bonnie, Why'd You Cut My Hair
8. This Land Is Your Land
9. Two Trains Running
10. Wild Mountain Thyme
11. How Did O
12. Car, Car
13. Don't You Push Me Down
14. Come See
15. I Want It Now
16. San Francisco Bay Blues
17. Devilish Mary
18. (As I Go) Ramblin' Round
19. Death Don't Have No Mercy
20. It's Hard To Be Blind
21. This Train Is Bound For Glory
22. (Harmonica Solo)
23. Talkin' Fish Blues
24. Pastures Of Plenty
1961-10-29
"Oscar Brand Show"
1. Sally Girl + The Girl I Left Behind
1961-11
"Bob Dylan" Outtakes
1. He Was A Friend Of Mine
2. Man On The Street
1961-11-23
1st McKenzie Tape
1. Hard Times In New York Town
2. Wayfaring Stranger
3. Long Time Man Feel Bad
4. Lonesome Whistle Blues
5. Baby Of Mine
6. Baby Let Me Follow You DOwn
7. San Francisco Bay Blues
8. You're No Good
9. House Of The Rising Sun
10. (Instrumental)
1961-12-04
2nd McKenzie Tape
1. Rollin' In My Sweet Baby's Arms (not Dylan)
2. Bells Of Rhymney (not Dylan)
3. Come All Ye Fair And Tender Ladies (not Dylan)
4. Bells Of Rhymney (not Dylan)
5. This Land Is Your Land
1961-12-22
Minnesota Hotel Tape
1. Candy Man
2. Baby Please Don't Go
3. Hard Times In New York Town
4. Stealin'
5. Poor Lazarus
6. I Ain't Got No Home
7. It's Hard To Be Blind
8. Dink's Song
9. Man Of Constant Sorrow
10. The Story Of East Orange
11. Namoi Wise
12. Wade In The Water
13. I Was Young When I Left Home
14. In The Evening When The Sun Goes Down
15. Baby Let Me Follow You Down
16. Sally Gal
17. Gospel Plough
18. Long John
19. Cocaine Blues
20. Vd Blues
21. Vd Waltz
22. Vd City
23. Vd Gunner's Blues
24. See That My Grave's Kept Clean
25. Ramblin' Round
26. Black Cross
1962-01(circa)
1. He Was A Friend Of Mine
2. Man On The Street
3. Hard Times In New York Town
4. Poor Boy Blues
5. Ballad For A Friend
6. Rambling, Gambling Willie
7. Man On The Street
8. Talking Bear Mt. Picnic Massacre Blues
9. Standing On The Highway
1962-01-13
"Cynthia Gooding Radio Show"
1. Lonesome Whistle Blues
2. (Conversation #1)
3. Fixin' To Die
4. (Conversation #2)
5. Tell Me Baby
6. (Conversation #3)
7. Hard Travel
8. (Conversation #4)
9. The Death Of Emmett Till
10. (Conversation #5)
11. Standing On The Highway
12. (Conversation #6)
13. Long John
14. (Conversation #7)
15. Stealin'
16. (Conversation #8)
17. Long Time Man Feel Bad
18. (Conversation #9)
19. Baby Please Don't Go
20. (Conversation #10)
21. Hard Times In New York Town
1962-03...63-04
"The Freewheelin' BD" Outtakes
1. House Carpenter
2. Goin' Down To New Orleans
3. Sally Gal #1
4. Rambling, Gambling Willie
5. Corrina Corrina #1
6. The Death Of Emmett Till
7. Talkin' John Birch Paranoid Blues
8. (I Heard That) Lonesome Whistle
9. Rocks And Gravel #1
10. Let Me Die In My Footsteps
11. Talkin' Hava Negeilah Blues
12. Sally Gal #2
13. Baby Please Don't Go
14. Milk Cow's Calf's Blues #1
15. Wichita (Going To Louisiana) #1
16. Talkin' Bear Mountain Picnic Blues
17. Milk Cow's Calf's Blues #2
18. Wichita (Going To Louisiana) #2
19. Baby, I'm In The Mood For You #1
20. Quit Your Low Down Ways
21. Worried Blues
22. Baby, I'm In The Mood For You #2
23. Corrina Corrina #2
24. That's Alright Mama #1
25. Mixed Up Confusion #1
26. Mixed Up Confusion #2
27. That's Alright Mama #2
28. Rocks And Gravel #2
29. Mixed Up Confusion #3
30. Ballad Of Hollis Brown
31. Kingsport Town
32. Whatcha Gonna Do #1
33. Hero Blues #1
34. Whatcha Gonna Do #2
35. I Shall Be Free #1
36. I Shall Be Free #2
37. I Shall Be Free #3
38. I Shall Be Free #4 & 5
39. Hero Blues #2
40. Walls Of Red Wing
1962-05
"Broadside Show"
1. (Interview)
2. Ballad Of Donald White
3. (Interview)
4. The Death Of Emmett Till
5. (Interview)
6. Blowin' In The Wind (with Pete Seeger, etc.)
1962-07...64-06
Witmark Demos
1. Blowin' In The Wind
2. Long Ago Far Away
3. A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall
4. Tommorrow Is A Long Time
5. The Death Of Emmett Till
6. Let Me Die In My Footsteps
7. Ballad Of Hollis Brown
8. Quit Your Lowdown Ways
9. Baby, I'm In The Mood For You
10. Bound To Lose, Bound To Win
11. All Over You
12. I'd Hate To Be You On That Dreadful Day
13. Talkin' John Birch Paranoid Blues
14. Long Time Gone
15. Masters Of War
16. Farewell
17. Oxford Town
18. Don't Think Twice, It's All Right
19. Walkin' Down The Line
20. I Shall Be Free
21. Bob Dylan's Blues
22. Bob Dylan's Dream
23. Boots Of Spanish Leather
24. Girl From The North Country
25. Seven Curses
26. Hero Blues
27. Whatcha Gonna Do
28. Gypsy Lou
29. Ain't Gonna Grieve
30. John Brown
31. Only A Hobo
32. When The Ship Comes In
33. The Times They Are A-Changin'
34. Paths Of Victory
35. Guess I'm Doin' Fine
36. Baby Let Me Follow You Down
37. Mr. Tambourine Man
38. Mama, You Been On My Mind
39. I'll Keep It With Mine
1962-09
3rd McKenzie Tape
1. (Instrumental)
2. See That My Grave Is Kept Clean
3. Ballad Of Donald White
4. A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall
5. James Alley Blues
1962-10
"Billy Faier Show"
1. Baby Let Me Follow You Down
2. Talkin' John Birch Paranoid Blues
3. The Death Of Emmett Till
4. Make Me A Pallet On Your Floor
1962-10...63-03
Broadside Office Demos
1. I'd Hate To Be You On That Dreadful Day
2. Oxford Town
3. Paths Of Victory
4. Walkin' Down The Line
5. Playboys And Playgirls
6. Talkin' Devil
7. Farewell
8. Masters Of War
9. Let Me Die In My Footsteps
10. Only A Hobo
11. John Brown
12. I Shall Be Free
13. Train A-Travellin'
14. Cuban Missile Crisis
1962-12-30 + 63-01-04
"Madhouse On Castle Street"
1. Blowin' In The Wind
2. Ballad Of The Gliding Swan
1963
"The Times They Are A-Changin'" Outtakes
1. Seven Curses
2. Paths Of Victory
3. Only A Hobo
4. Moonshiner
5. Hero Blues
6. Percy's Song #1
7. East Laredo Blues
8. That's All Right Mama
9. Eternal Circle #1
10. Suze (The Cough Song)
11. Lay Down Your Weary Tune
12. Bob Dylan's New Orleans Rag #1
13
14. Sally Free And Easy
15. Eternal Circle #2
16. Percy's Song #2
1963-02
"Skip Weshner Show"
1963-02-08
Gerde's Folk City Session
1. Lonesome River Edge
2. Back Door Blues
3. Bob Dylan's Dream
4. You Can Get Her
5. Farwell (with Happy Traum)
6. All Over You (with Happy Traum)
7. Masters Of War (with Happy Traum)
8. (Instrumental)
9. Keep Your Hands Off Her (with Happy Traum)
10. Honey Babe
11. Goin' Back To Rome
12. Stealin' (with Happy Traum & Gil Turner)
1963-03
"Oscar Brand Show"
1963-04-12
4th McKenzie Tape
1. I Rode Out One Morning
2. (Instrumental)
3. Don't Think Twice, It's All Right (Inst)
4. (Instrumental)
5. Long Time Gone
6. Only A Hobo
7. House Of The Risin' Sun
8. Worried Blues
1963-04-26
"Studs Terkel's Wax Museum"
0. (Introduction)
1. Farewell
2. A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall
3. Bob Dylan's Dream
4. Boots Of Spanish Leather
5. John Brown
6. Who Killed Davey Moore
7. Blowin' In The Wind
1963-07-30
"Songs of Freedom"
1. Blowin' In The Wind
2. Only A Pawn In Their Game
1964-02-01
"Quest"
1. The Times They Are A-Changin'
2. Talking World War III Blues
3. The Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll
4. Girl From The North Country
5. A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall
6. Restless Farewell
1964-02-25
"Steve Allen Show"
1. The Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll
1964-05
"Tonight"
1. With God On Our Side
1964-06-09
"Another Side of Bob Dylan" Outtakes
1. I Don't Believe You
2. Chimes Of Freedom
3. Motorpsycho Nitemare
4. Mr. Tambourine Man (with Jack Elliott)
5. All I Really Want To Do
6. Black Crow Blues
7. I Shall Be Free #10
8. Denise
9. Mama, You Been On My Mind
1965-01-13...15
"Bringing It All Back Home" Outtakes
1. Love Minus Zero - No Limit
2. I'll Keep It With Mine
3. It's All Over Now, Baby Blue
4. She Belongs To Me
5. Subterranean Homesick Blues
6. Farewell, Angelina
7. You Don't Have To Do That
8. California (Outlaw Blues)
9. I'll Keep It With Mine (Inst)
10. If You Gotta Go, Go Now
1965-02-17
"Les Crane Show"
1965-05-03(circa)
In London Hotel Room (with Joan Baez)
1. Lost Highway
2. I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry
1965-05-12
Levy's Recording Studio
1. (Miami Sales Convention)
2. If You Gotta Go, Go Now
1965-06...08
"Highway 61 Revisited" Outtakes
1. Phantom Engeneer
2. Sitting On A Barbed Wire Fence #1
3. Sitting On A Barbed Wire Fence #2
4. Like A Rolling Stone
5. Like A Rolling Stone
6. Like A Rolling Stone
7. Like A Rolling Stone
8. Like A Rolling Stone
9. Like A Rolling Stone
10. Like A Rolling Stone
11. Like A Rolling Stone
12. Like A Rolling Stone
13. Like A Rolling Stone
14. Like A Rolling Stone
15. Like A Rolling Stone
16. Like A Rolling Stone
17. Lunatic Princess Revisited
18. Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window #1
19. Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window #2
20. Desolation Row
21. Tombstone Blues (chorus overdub)
1965-10...66-02
"Blonde On Blonde" Outtakes
1. Medicine Sunday (Midnight Train)
2. Jet Pilot
3. Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window
4. Number One (Inst)
5. I Wanna Be Your Lover #1
6. I Wanna Be Your Lover #2
7. Freeze Out (Visions Of Johanna) #1
8. Freeze Out (Visions Of Johanna) #2
9. She's Your Lover Now #1
10. She's Your Lover Now #2
11. I'll Keep It With Mine
12. I'll Keep It With Mine (Inst)
1966-03-13
Denver Hotel Tape
1. Positively Van Gogh
2. Don't Tell Him
3. If You Want My Love
4. Just Like A Woman
5. Sad-Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands
1966-05-18
Glasgow Hotel Tape
1. What Kind Of Friend Is This
2. I Can't Leave Her Behind #1 & 2
1967 Basement Reels 1
1. Lock Your Door
2. Baby Won't You Be My Baby
3. Try Me Little Girl
4. I Can't Make It Alone
5. Don't You Try Me Now
6. Young But Daily Growing
7. Bonnie Ship The Diamond
8. The Hills Of Mexico
9. Down On Me
10. One For The Road
11. I'm Alright
12. One Single River
13. People Get Ready
14. I Don't Hurt Anymore
15. Be Careful Of The Stones That You Throw
16. One Man's Loss
17. (Instrumental)
18. Baby Ain't That Fine
19. Rocks, Salt, And Nails
20. A Fool Such As I
21. Silhouettes
22. Bring It On Home
23. The King Of France
24. Rocks, Salt, And Nails
25. Baby Ain't That Fine
26. I Don't Hurt Anymore
1967 Basement Reels 2
1. Nine Hundred Miles
2. Goin' Down The Road
3. Spanish Is The Loving Tongue
4. (Piano & Harmonica Riffs)
5. (Piano Instrumental)
6. On A Rainy Afternoon
7. I Can't Come With A Broken Heart (False Start)
8. I Can't Come With A Broken Heart
9. Come All Ye Fair And Tender Ladies
10. Under Control
11. Ol' Roison The Beau
12. I'm Guilty Of Loving You
13. Johnny Todd
14. Cool Water
15. Banks Of The Royal Canal
16. Po' Lazarus
17. Spanish Is The Loving Tongue
18. Under Control
19. Ol' Roison The Beau
20. I'm Guilty Of Loving You
21. Johnny Todd
22. Cool Water
23. Banks Of The Royal Canal
24. Po' Lazarus
1967 Basement Reels 3
1. Belchezaar #1 & #2
2. I Forgot To Remember To Forget
3. You Win Again
4. I'm Still In Love With You
5. Waltzin' With Sin
6. Waltzin' With Sin
7. Big River
8. Big River
9. Bells Of Rhymney
10. Folsom Prison Blues
11. Ruben Remus
12. Yazoo Street Scandal
13. You Said You Love Me
14. You Said You Love Me
15. (Organ Riffs)
16. Beautiful Thing
17. Beautiful Thing
18. (Instrumental)
19. Bacon Fat
20. Belchezaar
21. I Forgot To Remember To Forget
22. You Win Again
23. I'm Still In Love With You
24. Waltzin' With Sin
25. Folsom Prison Blues
26. Bells Of Rhymney
27. Big River
1967 Basement Reels 4
1. I'm A Fool For You
2. Next TIme On The Highway
3. The Big Flood
4. You Gotta Quit Kickin' My Dog
5. See You Later Allen Ginsberg
6. Won't You Please Come Home
7. The Spanish Song #1
8. The Spanish Song #2
9. I'm Your Teenage Prayer
10. Four Strong Winds
11. The French Girl #1
12. The French Girl #2
13. Joshua Gone Barbados
14. I'm In The Mood For Love
15. All American Boy
16. Bourbon Street
17. Tiny Montgomery
18. Sign Of The Cross
19. This Wheel's On Fire
20. You Ain't Goin' Nowhere
21. Katie's Been Gone
22. Ruben Remus
23. Yazoo Street Scandal
24. All American Boy
1967 Basement Reels 5
1. Odds And Ends
2. Nothing Was Delivered
3. Million Dollar Bash
4. Yea! Heavy And A Bottle Of Bread
5. Crash On The Levee
6. Lo And Behold
7. (Instrumental [12 Seconds])
8. You Ain't Goin' Nowhere
9. Quinn The Eskimo
10. Nothing Was Delivered
11. Open The Door Homer
12. Million Dollar Bash
13. Yea! Heavy And A Bottle Of Bread
14. Too Much Of Nothing
15. I Shall Be Released
16. I'm Not There
17. Please Mrs. Henry
18. Crash On The Levee
19. Lo And Behold
20. Odds And Ends
21. Get Your Rocks Off
22. Clothes Line Saga (Including False Start)
23. Apple Suckling Tree
24. Going To Acapulco
25. (9 Seconds)
26. (Blues Improvisation)
27. Silent Weekend
28. Gonna Get You Now
1967 Basement Reels 6
1. Wildwood Flower
2. See That My Grave Is Kept Clean
3. She'll Be Coming Round The Mountain
4. (Instrumental)
5. Flight Of The Bumblebee
6. Confidential
7. Yazoo Street Scandal
8. You Say You Love Me
9. You Say You Love Me
10. (Instrumental)
11. (Instrumental)
12. Sonny Boy (with Tiny Tim)
13. All You Have To Do Is Dream #1
14. All You Have To Do Is Dream #2
15. All You Have To Do Is Dream #3 (Inst)
16. (Piano Solo)
17. Orange Juice Blues (Inst)
18. Ferdinand The Impostor
19. (Instrumental)
20. Be My Baby (with Tiny Tim)
21. I Got You Babe (with Tiny Tim)
22. Memphis Tennessee (with Tiny Tim)
23. Ferdinand The Impostor
24. If I Lose
25. (Instrumental)
26. Orange Juice Blues
1967 Basement Reels 7
The 14 Song Acetate
1. Million Dollar Bash
2. Yea! Heavy And A Bottle Of Bread
3. Please Mrs. Henry
4. Crash On The Levee (Down In The Flood)
5. Lo And Behold
6. Tiny Montgomery
7. This Wheel's On Fire
8. You Ain't Goin' Nowhere
9. I Shall Be Released
10. Too Much Of Nothing
11. Tears Of Rage
12. Quinn The Eskimo
13. Open The Door Henry
14. Nothing Was Delivered
1967 Basement Reels 8
The 20 Song Acetate
1. This Wheel's On Fire
2. You Ain't Goin' Nowhere
3. I Shall Be Released
4. Too Much Of Nothing
5. Open The Door Homer
6. Open The Door Homer
7. Open The Door Homer
8. Nothing Was Delivered
9. Nothing Was Delivered
10. Tears Of Rage
11. Tears Of Rage
12. Tears Of Rage
13. Quinn The Eskimo
14. Quinn The Eskimo
15. Million Dollar Bash
16. Yea! Heavy And A Bottle Of Bread
17. Please Mrs. Henry
18. Crash On The Levee (Down In The Flood)
19. Lo And Behold
20. Tiny Montgomery
1967 Basement Reels 9
Big Ben Demos
1. This Wheel's On Fire
2. Nothing Was Delivered
3. Open The Door Homer
4. Quinn The Eskimo
5. You Ain't Goin' Nowhere
6. Too Much Of Nothing
7. Tears Of Rage
8. Please Mrs. Henry
9. I Shall Be Released
10. Million Dollar Bash
11. Apple Suckling Tree
12. Clothes Line Saga
13. Yea! Heavy And A Bottle Of Bread
14. I'm Not There
15. Odds And Ends
16. Get Your Rocks Off
17. Crash On The Levee
18. Lo And Behold
19. Tiny Montgomery
1967 Basement Reels 10
1. (Jam)
2. Gloria - Banana Boat Song 1 (with count-in)
3. (Instrumental)
4. Ruben Remus (Inst)
5. Beautiful Thing
6. Beautiful Thing
7. Orange Juice Blues
8. Katie's Been Gone
9. Ruben Remus
10. Orange Juice Blues
11. Yazoo Street Scandal
12. (Organ Riffs)
13. (Blues Instrumental)
14. Ferdinand The Impostor
15. If I Lose
16. Bacon Fat
17. Long Distance Operator
18. Spoken Word (Inst)
19. Blue Moon (Inst)
20. Gloria - Banana Boat Song 2
21. Apple Suckling Tree
22. Apple Suckling Tree
23. Apple Suckling Tree
24. Apple Suckling Tree
25. Apple Suckling Tree
26. Katie's Been Gone
27. It's Just Another Tomato In The Glass
28. (Organ Riffs)
29. Don't Ya Tell Henry
30. Ferdinand The Imposter
31. Ain't That A Kindness
1967 Basement Reels 11
Odds And Ends
1. Silhouettes
2. Clothes Line Saga (False Start)
3. Clothes Line Saga
4. Santa Fe
5. Ginsberg Reads Poetry Over Music (Allen Ginsberg)
6. Too Much Of Nothing
7. Bessie Smith
8. Ain't No More Crane
1967-04...10
Basement Tapes 1
1. All You Have To Do Is Dream #1
2. I Can't Make It Alone
3. Down On Me
4. Bonnie Ship The Diamond
5. One Man's Loss
6. Baby Ain't That Fine
7. Rock Salt And Nails
8. A Fool Such As I
9. Stones That You Throw
10. Hills Of Mexico
11. It's Alright
12. Song For Canada (One Single River)
13. Try Me Little Girl
14. One For The Road
15. I Don't Hurt Anymore
16. People Get Ready
17. Lock Your Door - Baby, Won't You Be My Baby
18. Don't You Try Me Now
19. All You Have To Do Is Dream #2
20. You Say You Love Me
21. Young But Daily Growin'
1967-04...10
Basement Tapes 2
1. Odds And Ends #1
2. Nothing Was Delivered #2
3. Odds And Ends #2
4. Get Your Rocks Off
5. Clothes Line Saga
6. Apple Suckling Tree #1
7. Apple Suckling Tree #2
8. Goin' To Acapulco
9. Gonna Get You Now
10. Tears Of Rage #1
11. Tears Of Rage #2
12. Tears Of Rage #3
13. Quinn The Eskimo #1
14. Quinn The Eskimo #2
15. Open The Door Homer #1
16. Open The Door Homer #2
17. Open The Door Homer #3
18. Nothing Was Delivered #2
19. I'm Not There
20. Don't Ya Tell Henry
21. Too Much Of Nothing #2
1967-04...10
Basement Tapes 3
1. Million Dollar Bash #1
2. Yea Heavy And A Bottle Of Bread #1
3. Million Dollar Bash #2
4. Yea Heavy And A Bottle Of Bread #2
5. Please Mrs. Henry
6. Crash On The Levee #1
7. Crash On The Levee #2
8. Lo And Behold #1
9. Lo And Behold #2
10. Ferdinard The Impostor
11. Tiny Montgomery
12. This Wheel's On Fire
13. You Ain't Goin' Nowhere
14. I Shall Be Released
15. Too Much Of Nothing #2
16. Even A Tomato
17. Santa Fe
18. Silent Weekend
19. Too Much Of Nothing #1
20. Sign On The Cross
1967-04...10
Basement Tapes 4
1. You Ain't Goin' Nowhere
2. Bourbon Street
3. All American Boy
4. Wildwood Flower
5. See That My Grave Is Kept Clean
6. She'll Be Comin' Round The Mountain
7. Flight Of The Bumblebee
8. Confidential To Me
9. I'm A Fool For You
10. Next Time On The Highway
11. The Big Flood
12. Every Time I Come To Town
13. See You Later Allen Ginsberg
14. The Spanish Song #1 & #2
15. I Am A Teenage Prayer
16. I'm In The Mood
17. Belchezaar #1 & #2
18. Bring It On Home
19. The King Of France
20. If I Lose, Let Me Lose
1967-04...10
Basement Tapes 5
1. Four Strong Winds
2. The French Girl #1 & #2
3. Joshua Gone Barbados
4. I Forgot To Remember To Forget
5. You Win Again
6. Still In Town
7. Waltzing With Sin
8. Big River
9. Folsom Prison Blues
10. Bells Of Rhymney
11. Nine Hundred Miles
12. No Shoes On My Feet
13. Spanish Is The Loving Tongue
14. On A Rainy Afternoon
15. I Can't Come In With A Broken Heart
16. Under Control
17. Ol' Roison The Beau
18. I'm Guilty Of Loving You
19. Johnny Todd
20. Cool Water
21. Banks Of The Royal Canal
22. Po' Lazarus
1968-11
Dylan's Home Session (with George Harrison)
1. I'd Have You Any Time
2. Nowhere To Go
1969-02-17...18
"Nashville Skyline" Outtakes (with Johnny Cash)
1. One Too Many Mornings #1
2. One Too Many Mornings #2
3. Good Ol' Mountain Dew
4. I Still Miss Someone
5. Careless Love
6. Matchbox
7. That's Alright Mama
8. Big River
9. Girl From The North Country
10. I Walk The Line
11. You Are My Sunshine
12. Ring Of Fire
13. Guess Things Happen That Way...
14. Just A Closer Walk With Thee
15. T For Texas (Blue Yodel #1)
16. Blue Yodel #5
1969-05-03
"Self Portrait" Outtakes
1
2. Folsom Prison Blues
1970-05-01
George Harrison Sessions
1. Working On A Guru
2. If Not For You
3. Song To Woody
4. Mama, You Been On My Mind
5. Justine (Don't Think Twice, It's All Right)
6. Yesterday
7. Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues
8. Da Doo Ron Ron
9. One Too Many Mornings #1 (Inst)
10. One Too Many Mornings #2
11. Ghost Riders In The Sky
12. Cupid
13. All I Have To Do Is Dream
14. Gates Of Eden
15. I Threw It All Away
16. I Don't Believe You
17. Match Box
18. Your True Love
19. Telephone Wire (Las Vegas Blues)
20. Fishin' Blues + Honey, Just Allow Me One More Chance
21. Rainy Day WOmen #12 & 35
1958(circa)
John Bucklen Tape
1. Hey Little Richard
2. Chat #1
3. Chat #2
4. Buzz, Buzz, Buzz
5. Jenny, Jenny
6. Blue Moon
1960-05
Karen Wallace Tapes
(A)
1. The Two Sisters
2. (Rising Sun Comment)
3. Pastures Of Plenty
4. Blue Yodel #8 (Muleskinner Blues)
5. Payday At Coal Creek
(B) Excerpts
1. One Eyed Jacks
2. Go Down You Murderers
3. This Land Is Your Land
4. Rockabye My Sara Jane
5. Nobody Knows You When You're Down And Out
6. The Great Historical Bum
7. Mary Ann
8. Sinner Man
9. Abner Young
10. Blue Yodel #8 (Muleskinner Blues)
11. One Eyed Jacks
12. Columbus Stockade Blues
13. Go Down You Murderers
14. This Land Is Your Land
(C) Amphit Tape
1. Gotta Travel On
2. Roving Gambler
3. Two Sisters
4. Go Away From My Window
5. Rockabye My Sara Jane
6. Nobody Knows You When You're Down And Out
7. The Great Historical Bum
8. Mary Ann
9. Every Night When The Sun Goes Down
10. Sinner Man
11. Abner Young
12. 900 Miles
13. Blue Yodel #8 (Muleskinner Blues)
14. One Eyed Jacks
15. Columbus Stockdale Blues
16. Payday At Coal Creek
17. (Interview with Karen & Terri Wallace)
1960-09
Minnesota Party Tape
1. Red Rosey Bush
2. Johnny I Hardly Knew You
3. Jesus Christ
4. Streets Of Glory
5. Kc Moan
6. Blue Yodel #8
7. Roving Gambler
8. Talking Columbia
9. Talking Merchant Marine
10. Talking Hugh Brown
11. Talking Lobbyist
1961-02(circa)
East Orange Tape
1. San Francisco Bay Blues
2. Jesus Met The Woman At The Well
3. Gypsy Davey
4. Pastures Of Plenty
5. Trail Of The Buffalo
6. Jesse James
7. Car, Car - Southern Cannonball - Bring Me Back My Blue-Eyed Boy
1961-05
Minnesota Party Tape
1. Railroad Bill
2. Will The Circle Be Unbroken
3. Man Of Constant Sorrow
4. Pretty Polly
5. Railroad Boy
6. James Alley Blues
7. Bonnie, Why'd You Cut My Hair
8. This Land Is Your Land
9. Two Trains Running
10. Wild Mountain Thyme
11. How Did O
12. Car, Car
13. Don't You Push Me Down
14. Come See
15. I Want It Now
16. San Francisco Bay Blues
17. Devilish Mary
18. (As I Go) Ramblin' Round
19. Death Don't Have No Mercy
20. It's Hard To Be Blind
21. This Train Is Bound For Glory
22. (Harmonica Solo)
23. Talkin' Fish Blues
24. Pastures Of Plenty
1961-10-29
"Oscar Brand Show"
1. Sally Girl + The Girl I Left Behind
1961-11
"Bob Dylan" Outtakes
1. He Was A Friend Of Mine
2. Man On The Street
1961-11-23
1st McKenzie Tape
1. Hard Times In New York Town
2. Wayfaring Stranger
3. Long Time Man Feel Bad
4. Lonesome Whistle Blues
5. Baby Of Mine
6. Baby Let Me Follow You DOwn
7. San Francisco Bay Blues
8. You're No Good
9. House Of The Rising Sun
10. (Instrumental)
1961-12-04
2nd McKenzie Tape
1. Rollin' In My Sweet Baby's Arms (not Dylan)
2. Bells Of Rhymney (not Dylan)
3. Come All Ye Fair And Tender Ladies (not Dylan)
4. Bells Of Rhymney (not Dylan)
5. This Land Is Your Land
1961-12-22
Minnesota Hotel Tape
1. Candy Man
2. Baby Please Don't Go
3. Hard Times In New York Town
4. Stealin'
5. Poor Lazarus
6. I Ain't Got No Home
7. It's Hard To Be Blind
8. Dink's Song
9. Man Of Constant Sorrow
10. The Story Of East Orange
11. Namoi Wise
12. Wade In The Water
13. I Was Young When I Left Home
14. In The Evening When The Sun Goes Down
15. Baby Let Me Follow You Down
16. Sally Gal
17. Gospel Plough
18. Long John
19. Cocaine Blues
20. Vd Blues
21. Vd Waltz
22. Vd City
23. Vd Gunner's Blues
24. See That My Grave's Kept Clean
25. Ramblin' Round
26. Black Cross
1962-01(circa)
1. He Was A Friend Of Mine
2. Man On The Street
3. Hard Times In New York Town
4. Poor Boy Blues
5. Ballad For A Friend
6. Rambling, Gambling Willie
7. Man On The Street
8. Talking Bear Mt. Picnic Massacre Blues
9. Standing On The Highway
1962-01-13
"Cynthia Gooding Radio Show"
1. Lonesome Whistle Blues
2. (Conversation #1)
3. Fixin' To Die
4. (Conversation #2)
5. Tell Me Baby
6. (Conversation #3)
7. Hard Travel
8. (Conversation #4)
9. The Death Of Emmett Till
10. (Conversation #5)
11. Standing On The Highway
12. (Conversation #6)
13. Long John
14. (Conversation #7)
15. Stealin'
16. (Conversation #8)
17. Long Time Man Feel Bad
18. (Conversation #9)
19. Baby Please Don't Go
20. (Conversation #10)
21. Hard Times In New York Town
1962-03...63-04
"The Freewheelin' BD" Outtakes
1. House Carpenter
2. Goin' Down To New Orleans
3. Sally Gal #1
4. Rambling, Gambling Willie
5. Corrina Corrina #1
6. The Death Of Emmett Till
7. Talkin' John Birch Paranoid Blues
8. (I Heard That) Lonesome Whistle
9. Rocks And Gravel #1
10. Let Me Die In My Footsteps
11. Talkin' Hava Negeilah Blues
12. Sally Gal #2
13. Baby Please Don't Go
14. Milk Cow's Calf's Blues #1
15. Wichita (Going To Louisiana) #1
16. Talkin' Bear Mountain Picnic Blues
17. Milk Cow's Calf's Blues #2
18. Wichita (Going To Louisiana) #2
19. Baby, I'm In The Mood For You #1
20. Quit Your Low Down Ways
21. Worried Blues
22. Baby, I'm In The Mood For You #2
23. Corrina Corrina #2
24. That's Alright Mama #1
25. Mixed Up Confusion #1
26. Mixed Up Confusion #2
27. That's Alright Mama #2
28. Rocks And Gravel #2
29. Mixed Up Confusion #3
30. Ballad Of Hollis Brown
31. Kingsport Town
32. Whatcha Gonna Do #1
33. Hero Blues #1
34. Whatcha Gonna Do #2
35. I Shall Be Free #1
36. I Shall Be Free #2
37. I Shall Be Free #3
38. I Shall Be Free #4 & 5
39. Hero Blues #2
40. Walls Of Red Wing
1962-05
"Broadside Show"
1. (Interview)
2. Ballad Of Donald White
3. (Interview)
4. The Death Of Emmett Till
5. (Interview)
6. Blowin' In The Wind (with Pete Seeger, etc.)
1962-07...64-06
Witmark Demos
1. Blowin' In The Wind
2. Long Ago Far Away
3. A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall
4. Tommorrow Is A Long Time
5. The Death Of Emmett Till
6. Let Me Die In My Footsteps
7. Ballad Of Hollis Brown
8. Quit Your Lowdown Ways
9. Baby, I'm In The Mood For You
10. Bound To Lose, Bound To Win
11. All Over You
12. I'd Hate To Be You On That Dreadful Day
13. Talkin' John Birch Paranoid Blues
14. Long Time Gone
15. Masters Of War
16. Farewell
17. Oxford Town
18. Don't Think Twice, It's All Right
19. Walkin' Down The Line
20. I Shall Be Free
21. Bob Dylan's Blues
22. Bob Dylan's Dream
23. Boots Of Spanish Leather
24. Girl From The North Country
25. Seven Curses
26. Hero Blues
27. Whatcha Gonna Do
28. Gypsy Lou
29. Ain't Gonna Grieve
30. John Brown
31. Only A Hobo
32. When The Ship Comes In
33. The Times They Are A-Changin'
34. Paths Of Victory
35. Guess I'm Doin' Fine
36. Baby Let Me Follow You Down
37. Mr. Tambourine Man
38. Mama, You Been On My Mind
39. I'll Keep It With Mine
1962-09
3rd McKenzie Tape
1. (Instrumental)
2. See That My Grave Is Kept Clean
3. Ballad Of Donald White
4. A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall
5. James Alley Blues
1962-10
"Billy Faier Show"
1. Baby Let Me Follow You Down
2. Talkin' John Birch Paranoid Blues
3. The Death Of Emmett Till
4. Make Me A Pallet On Your Floor
1962-10...63-03
Broadside Office Demos
1. I'd Hate To Be You On That Dreadful Day
2. Oxford Town
3. Paths Of Victory
4. Walkin' Down The Line
5. Playboys And Playgirls
6. Talkin' Devil
7. Farewell
8. Masters Of War
9. Let Me Die In My Footsteps
10. Only A Hobo
11. John Brown
12. I Shall Be Free
13. Train A-Travellin'
14. Cuban Missile Crisis
1962-12-30 + 63-01-04
"Madhouse On Castle Street"
1. Blowin' In The Wind
2. Ballad Of The Gliding Swan
1963
"The Times They Are A-Changin'" Outtakes
1. Seven Curses
2. Paths Of Victory
3. Only A Hobo
4. Moonshiner
5. Hero Blues
6. Percy's Song #1
7. East Laredo Blues
8. That's All Right Mama
9. Eternal Circle #1
10. Suze (The Cough Song)
11. Lay Down Your Weary Tune
12. Bob Dylan's New Orleans Rag #1
13
14. Sally Free And Easy
15. Eternal Circle #2
16. Percy's Song #2
1963-02
"Skip Weshner Show"
1963-02-08
Gerde's Folk City Session
1. Lonesome River Edge
2. Back Door Blues
3. Bob Dylan's Dream
4. You Can Get Her
5. Farwell (with Happy Traum)
6. All Over You (with Happy Traum)
7. Masters Of War (with Happy Traum)
8. (Instrumental)
9. Keep Your Hands Off Her (with Happy Traum)
10. Honey Babe
11. Goin' Back To Rome
12. Stealin' (with Happy Traum & Gil Turner)
1963-03
"Oscar Brand Show"
1963-04-12
4th McKenzie Tape
1. I Rode Out One Morning
2. (Instrumental)
3. Don't Think Twice, It's All Right (Inst)
4. (Instrumental)
5. Long Time Gone
6. Only A Hobo
7. House Of The Risin' Sun
8. Worried Blues
1963-04-26
"Studs Terkel's Wax Museum"
0. (Introduction)
1. Farewell
2. A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall
3. Bob Dylan's Dream
4. Boots Of Spanish Leather
5. John Brown
6. Who Killed Davey Moore
7. Blowin' In The Wind
1963-07-30
"Songs of Freedom"
1. Blowin' In The Wind
2. Only A Pawn In Their Game
1964-02-01
"Quest"
1. The Times They Are A-Changin'
2. Talking World War III Blues
3. The Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll
4. Girl From The North Country
5. A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall
6. Restless Farewell
1964-02-25
"Steve Allen Show"
1. The Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll
1964-05
"Tonight"
1. With God On Our Side
1964-06-09
"Another Side of Bob Dylan" Outtakes
1. I Don't Believe You
2. Chimes Of Freedom
3. Motorpsycho Nitemare
4. Mr. Tambourine Man (with Jack Elliott)
5. All I Really Want To Do
6. Black Crow Blues
7. I Shall Be Free #10
8. Denise
9. Mama, You Been On My Mind
1965-01-13...15
"Bringing It All Back Home" Outtakes
1. Love Minus Zero - No Limit
2. I'll Keep It With Mine
3. It's All Over Now, Baby Blue
4. She Belongs To Me
5. Subterranean Homesick Blues
6. Farewell, Angelina
7. You Don't Have To Do That
8. California (Outlaw Blues)
9. I'll Keep It With Mine (Inst)
10. If You Gotta Go, Go Now
1965-02-17
"Les Crane Show"
1965-05-03(circa)
In London Hotel Room (with Joan Baez)
1. Lost Highway
2. I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry
1965-05-12
Levy's Recording Studio
1. (Miami Sales Convention)
2. If You Gotta Go, Go Now
1965-06...08
"Highway 61 Revisited" Outtakes
1. Phantom Engeneer
2. Sitting On A Barbed Wire Fence #1
3. Sitting On A Barbed Wire Fence #2
4. Like A Rolling Stone
5. Like A Rolling Stone
6. Like A Rolling Stone
7. Like A Rolling Stone
8. Like A Rolling Stone
9. Like A Rolling Stone
10. Like A Rolling Stone
11. Like A Rolling Stone
12. Like A Rolling Stone
13. Like A Rolling Stone
14. Like A Rolling Stone
15. Like A Rolling Stone
16. Like A Rolling Stone
17. Lunatic Princess Revisited
18. Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window #1
19. Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window #2
20. Desolation Row
21. Tombstone Blues (chorus overdub)
1965-10...66-02
"Blonde On Blonde" Outtakes
1. Medicine Sunday (Midnight Train)
2. Jet Pilot
3. Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window
4. Number One (Inst)
5. I Wanna Be Your Lover #1
6. I Wanna Be Your Lover #2
7. Freeze Out (Visions Of Johanna) #1
8. Freeze Out (Visions Of Johanna) #2
9. She's Your Lover Now #1
10. She's Your Lover Now #2
11. I'll Keep It With Mine
12. I'll Keep It With Mine (Inst)
1966-03-13
Denver Hotel Tape
1. Positively Van Gogh
2. Don't Tell Him
3. If You Want My Love
4. Just Like A Woman
5. Sad-Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands
1966-05-18
Glasgow Hotel Tape
1. What Kind Of Friend Is This
2. I Can't Leave Her Behind #1 & 2
1967 Basement Reels 1
1. Lock Your Door
2. Baby Won't You Be My Baby
3. Try Me Little Girl
4. I Can't Make It Alone
5. Don't You Try Me Now
6. Young But Daily Growing
7. Bonnie Ship The Diamond
8. The Hills Of Mexico
9. Down On Me
10. One For The Road
11. I'm Alright
12. One Single River
13. People Get Ready
14. I Don't Hurt Anymore
15. Be Careful Of The Stones That You Throw
16. One Man's Loss
17. (Instrumental)
18. Baby Ain't That Fine
19. Rocks, Salt, And Nails
20. A Fool Such As I
21. Silhouettes
22. Bring It On Home
23. The King Of France
24. Rocks, Salt, And Nails
25. Baby Ain't That Fine
26. I Don't Hurt Anymore
1967 Basement Reels 2
1. Nine Hundred Miles
2. Goin' Down The Road
3. Spanish Is The Loving Tongue
4. (Piano & Harmonica Riffs)
5. (Piano Instrumental)
6. On A Rainy Afternoon
7. I Can't Come With A Broken Heart (False Start)
8. I Can't Come With A Broken Heart
9. Come All Ye Fair And Tender Ladies
10. Under Control
11. Ol' Roison The Beau
12. I'm Guilty Of Loving You
13. Johnny Todd
14. Cool Water
15. Banks Of The Royal Canal
16. Po' Lazarus
17. Spanish Is The Loving Tongue
18. Under Control
19. Ol' Roison The Beau
20. I'm Guilty Of Loving You
21. Johnny Todd
22. Cool Water
23. Banks Of The Royal Canal
24. Po' Lazarus
1967 Basement Reels 3
1. Belchezaar #1 & #2
2. I Forgot To Remember To Forget
3. You Win Again
4. I'm Still In Love With You
5. Waltzin' With Sin
6. Waltzin' With Sin
7. Big River
8. Big River
9. Bells Of Rhymney
10. Folsom Prison Blues
11. Ruben Remus
12. Yazoo Street Scandal
13. You Said You Love Me
14. You Said You Love Me
15. (Organ Riffs)
16. Beautiful Thing
17. Beautiful Thing
18. (Instrumental)
19. Bacon Fat
20. Belchezaar
21. I Forgot To Remember To Forget
22. You Win Again
23. I'm Still In Love With You
24. Waltzin' With Sin
25. Folsom Prison Blues
26. Bells Of Rhymney
27. Big River
1967 Basement Reels 4
1. I'm A Fool For You
2. Next TIme On The Highway
3. The Big Flood
4. You Gotta Quit Kickin' My Dog
5. See You Later Allen Ginsberg
6. Won't You Please Come Home
7. The Spanish Song #1
8. The Spanish Song #2
9. I'm Your Teenage Prayer
10. Four Strong Winds
11. The French Girl #1
12. The French Girl #2
13. Joshua Gone Barbados
14. I'm In The Mood For Love
15. All American Boy
16. Bourbon Street
17. Tiny Montgomery
18. Sign Of The Cross
19. This Wheel's On Fire
20. You Ain't Goin' Nowhere
21. Katie's Been Gone
22. Ruben Remus
23. Yazoo Street Scandal
24. All American Boy
1967 Basement Reels 5
1. Odds And Ends
2. Nothing Was Delivered
3. Million Dollar Bash
4. Yea! Heavy And A Bottle Of Bread
5. Crash On The Levee
6. Lo And Behold
7. (Instrumental [12 Seconds])
8. You Ain't Goin' Nowhere
9. Quinn The Eskimo
10. Nothing Was Delivered
11. Open The Door Homer
12. Million Dollar Bash
13. Yea! Heavy And A Bottle Of Bread
14. Too Much Of Nothing
15. I Shall Be Released
16. I'm Not There
17. Please Mrs. Henry
18. Crash On The Levee
19. Lo And Behold
20. Odds And Ends
21. Get Your Rocks Off
22. Clothes Line Saga (Including False Start)
23. Apple Suckling Tree
24. Going To Acapulco
25. (9 Seconds)
26. (Blues Improvisation)
27. Silent Weekend
28. Gonna Get You Now
1967 Basement Reels 6
1. Wildwood Flower
2. See That My Grave Is Kept Clean
3. She'll Be Coming Round The Mountain
4. (Instrumental)
5. Flight Of The Bumblebee
6. Confidential
7. Yazoo Street Scandal
8. You Say You Love Me
9. You Say You Love Me
10. (Instrumental)
11. (Instrumental)
12. Sonny Boy (with Tiny Tim)
13. All You Have To Do Is Dream #1
14. All You Have To Do Is Dream #2
15. All You Have To Do Is Dream #3 (Inst)
16. (Piano Solo)
17. Orange Juice Blues (Inst)
18. Ferdinand The Impostor
19. (Instrumental)
20. Be My Baby (with Tiny Tim)
21. I Got You Babe (with Tiny Tim)
22. Memphis Tennessee (with Tiny Tim)
23. Ferdinand The Impostor
24. If I Lose
25. (Instrumental)
26. Orange Juice Blues
1967 Basement Reels 7
The 14 Song Acetate
1. Million Dollar Bash
2. Yea! Heavy And A Bottle Of Bread
3. Please Mrs. Henry
4. Crash On The Levee (Down In The Flood)
5. Lo And Behold
6. Tiny Montgomery
7. This Wheel's On Fire
8. You Ain't Goin' Nowhere
9. I Shall Be Released
10. Too Much Of Nothing
11. Tears Of Rage
12. Quinn The Eskimo
13. Open The Door Henry
14. Nothing Was Delivered
1967 Basement Reels 8
The 20 Song Acetate
1. This Wheel's On Fire
2. You Ain't Goin' Nowhere
3. I Shall Be Released
4. Too Much Of Nothing
5. Open The Door Homer
6. Open The Door Homer
7. Open The Door Homer
8. Nothing Was Delivered
9. Nothing Was Delivered
10. Tears Of Rage
11. Tears Of Rage
12. Tears Of Rage
13. Quinn The Eskimo
14. Quinn The Eskimo
15. Million Dollar Bash
16. Yea! Heavy And A Bottle Of Bread
17. Please Mrs. Henry
18. Crash On The Levee (Down In The Flood)
19. Lo And Behold
20. Tiny Montgomery
1967 Basement Reels 9
Big Ben Demos
1. This Wheel's On Fire
2. Nothing Was Delivered
3. Open The Door Homer
4. Quinn The Eskimo
5. You Ain't Goin' Nowhere
6. Too Much Of Nothing
7. Tears Of Rage
8. Please Mrs. Henry
9. I Shall Be Released
10. Million Dollar Bash
11. Apple Suckling Tree
12. Clothes Line Saga
13. Yea! Heavy And A Bottle Of Bread
14. I'm Not There
15. Odds And Ends
16. Get Your Rocks Off
17. Crash On The Levee
18. Lo And Behold
19. Tiny Montgomery
1967 Basement Reels 10
1. (Jam)
2. Gloria - Banana Boat Song 1 (with count-in)
3. (Instrumental)
4. Ruben Remus (Inst)
5. Beautiful Thing
6. Beautiful Thing
7. Orange Juice Blues
8. Katie's Been Gone
9. Ruben Remus
10. Orange Juice Blues
11. Yazoo Street Scandal
12. (Organ Riffs)
13. (Blues Instrumental)
14. Ferdinand The Impostor
15. If I Lose
16. Bacon Fat
17. Long Distance Operator
18. Spoken Word (Inst)
19. Blue Moon (Inst)
20. Gloria - Banana Boat Song 2
21. Apple Suckling Tree
22. Apple Suckling Tree
23. Apple Suckling Tree
24. Apple Suckling Tree
25. Apple Suckling Tree
26. Katie's Been Gone
27. It's Just Another Tomato In The Glass
28. (Organ Riffs)
29. Don't Ya Tell Henry
30. Ferdinand The Imposter
31. Ain't That A Kindness
1967 Basement Reels 11
Odds And Ends
1. Silhouettes
2. Clothes Line Saga (False Start)
3. Clothes Line Saga
4. Santa Fe
5. Ginsberg Reads Poetry Over Music (Allen Ginsberg)
6. Too Much Of Nothing
7. Bessie Smith
8. Ain't No More Crane
1967-04...10
Basement Tapes 1
1. All You Have To Do Is Dream #1
2. I Can't Make It Alone
3. Down On Me
4. Bonnie Ship The Diamond
5. One Man's Loss
6. Baby Ain't That Fine
7. Rock Salt And Nails
8. A Fool Such As I
9. Stones That You Throw
10. Hills Of Mexico
11. It's Alright
12. Song For Canada (One Single River)
13. Try Me Little Girl
14. One For The Road
15. I Don't Hurt Anymore
16. People Get Ready
17. Lock Your Door - Baby, Won't You Be My Baby
18. Don't You Try Me Now
19. All You Have To Do Is Dream #2
20. You Say You Love Me
21. Young But Daily Growin'
1967-04...10
Basement Tapes 2
1. Odds And Ends #1
2. Nothing Was Delivered #2
3. Odds And Ends #2
4. Get Your Rocks Off
5. Clothes Line Saga
6. Apple Suckling Tree #1
7. Apple Suckling Tree #2
8. Goin' To Acapulco
9. Gonna Get You Now
10. Tears Of Rage #1
11. Tears Of Rage #2
12. Tears Of Rage #3
13. Quinn The Eskimo #1
14. Quinn The Eskimo #2
15. Open The Door Homer #1
16. Open The Door Homer #2
17. Open The Door Homer #3
18. Nothing Was Delivered #2
19. I'm Not There
20. Don't Ya Tell Henry
21. Too Much Of Nothing #2
1967-04...10
Basement Tapes 3
1. Million Dollar Bash #1
2. Yea Heavy And A Bottle Of Bread #1
3. Million Dollar Bash #2
4. Yea Heavy And A Bottle Of Bread #2
5. Please Mrs. Henry
6. Crash On The Levee #1
7. Crash On The Levee #2
8. Lo And Behold #1
9. Lo And Behold #2
10. Ferdinard The Impostor
11. Tiny Montgomery
12. This Wheel's On Fire
13. You Ain't Goin' Nowhere
14. I Shall Be Released
15. Too Much Of Nothing #2
16. Even A Tomato
17. Santa Fe
18. Silent Weekend
19. Too Much Of Nothing #1
20. Sign On The Cross
1967-04...10
Basement Tapes 4
1. You Ain't Goin' Nowhere
2. Bourbon Street
3. All American Boy
4. Wildwood Flower
5. See That My Grave Is Kept Clean
6. She'll Be Comin' Round The Mountain
7. Flight Of The Bumblebee
8. Confidential To Me
9. I'm A Fool For You
10. Next Time On The Highway
11. The Big Flood
12. Every Time I Come To Town
13. See You Later Allen Ginsberg
14. The Spanish Song #1 & #2
15. I Am A Teenage Prayer
16. I'm In The Mood
17. Belchezaar #1 & #2
18. Bring It On Home
19. The King Of France
20. If I Lose, Let Me Lose
1967-04...10
Basement Tapes 5
1. Four Strong Winds
2. The French Girl #1 & #2
3. Joshua Gone Barbados
4. I Forgot To Remember To Forget
5. You Win Again
6. Still In Town
7. Waltzing With Sin
8. Big River
9. Folsom Prison Blues
10. Bells Of Rhymney
11. Nine Hundred Miles
12. No Shoes On My Feet
13. Spanish Is The Loving Tongue
14. On A Rainy Afternoon
15. I Can't Come In With A Broken Heart
16. Under Control
17. Ol' Roison The Beau
18. I'm Guilty Of Loving You
19. Johnny Todd
20. Cool Water
21. Banks Of The Royal Canal
22. Po' Lazarus
1968-11
Dylan's Home Session (with George Harrison)
1. I'd Have You Any Time
2. Nowhere To Go
1969-02-17...18
"Nashville Skyline" Outtakes (with Johnny Cash)
1. One Too Many Mornings #1
2. One Too Many Mornings #2
3. Good Ol' Mountain Dew
4. I Still Miss Someone
5. Careless Love
6. Matchbox
7. That's Alright Mama
8. Big River
9. Girl From The North Country
10. I Walk The Line
11. You Are My Sunshine
12. Ring Of Fire
13. Guess Things Happen That Way...
14. Just A Closer Walk With Thee
15. T For Texas (Blue Yodel #1)
16. Blue Yodel #5
1969-05-03
"Self Portrait" Outtakes
1
2. Folsom Prison Blues
1970-05-01
George Harrison Sessions
1. Working On A Guru
2. If Not For You
3. Song To Woody
4. Mama, You Been On My Mind
5. Justine (Don't Think Twice, It's All Right)
6. Yesterday
7. Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues
8. Da Doo Ron Ron
9. One Too Many Mornings #1 (Inst)
10. One Too Many Mornings #2
11. Ghost Riders In The Sky
12. Cupid
13. All I Have To Do Is Dream
14. Gates Of Eden
15. I Threw It All Away
16. I Don't Believe You
17. Match Box
18. Your True Love
19. Telephone Wire (Las Vegas Blues)
20. Fishin' Blues + Honey, Just Allow Me One More Chance
21. Rainy Day WOmen #12 & 35
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