In November 1971, Allen Ginsberg and Bob Dylan entered the Record Plant recording studio in New York City to record adaptations of Ginsberg’s own poetry, arrangements of poems by William Blake, and a few Ginsberg-Dylan original songs. The resulting recordings are rough and ragged. However, the most successful work is “Vomit Express,” which constitutes aContinue reading “Allen Ginsberg & Bob Dylan Ride the “Vomit Express””
Tag Archives: William Blake
Tokyo Storm Warning
An earlier piece on Recliner Notes investigates Bob Dylan’s song “Subterranean Homesick Blues” and the different traditions from which Dylan examined and pulled, including rhyming songs, nonsense songs, Chuck Berry’s “Too Much Monkey Business,” and skatting within songs. At the core of the Dylan song and these other song forms is the rhyming and unrelentingContinue reading “Tokyo Storm Warning”
Tombstone Blues
Bob Dylan was asked about his 1965 hilariously surreal rock ‘n roll masterpiece “Tombstone Blues” for the 1985 box set Biograph by interviewer Cameron Crowe. Dylan recalled the inspiration for the composition of the song 20 years later: “I felt like I’d broken through with this song, that nothing like it had been done before…justContinue reading “Tombstone Blues”
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