Friday, March 13 — Song 3: the Fugs, Lou Reed, Jim Carroll

The Fugs play in New York City, 1967.

For our last class on song and poetry, we'll shift gears a little bit into the realm of rock and roll.

First, we go back to poet and publisher (most famously of the notorious Fuck You / A Magazine of the Arts), Ed Sanders with a selection of tracks from the Fugs, the poetry-rock band Sanders, Tuli Kupferberg, and Ken Weaver founded with members of the Holy Modal Rounders (and a variety of other musicians) in 1963, and who continue to perform to this day. Their repertoire included both original compositions — which placed an emphasis on political messages and sexual liberation — and settings of classic (and contemporary) poetry:

"I'm Doin All Right" (with lyrics written by Ted Berrigan)

"Kill for Peace" (can't be embedded, but click through to witness Tuli Kupferberg tormenting New Yorkers)


"Morning, Morning"


"When the Mood of the Music Changes"


"Crystal Liason"


"Johnny Pissoff Meets the Red Angel"



"I Saw the Best Minds of My Generation Rock" (a setting of Allen Ginsberg's "Howl")


"Ah, Sunflower" (a setting of William Blake's poem, which Ginsberg also "covered")


"Dover Beach" (a setting of Matthew Arnold's poem)

Lou Reed from the photoshoot that would provide covers for his albums Transformer and The Blue Mask.

Next up, we'll take a look at a few selections from Lou Reed, the former frontman for the Velvet Underground — house band at Warhol's Factory — and a respected solo artist in his own right. While, perhaps, too many rock stars have literary ambitions, Reed had a legitimate bookish pedigree, having studied with doomed poet Delmore Schwartz at Syracuse as an undergrad, and Schwartz would have a lasting influence on his work, along with writers like William Burroughs and Edgar Allan Poe. I've scanned some lyrics from Between Thought and Expression: Selected Lyrics of Lou Reed (1993) and embedded a YouTube playlist below with each track, which spans both Reed's solo career and his years with the Velvets: [PDF]

Finally, we'll look at a few videos by Jim Carroll, the New York School poet and memoirist (cf. The Basketball Diaries, made into a film in the late 1990s, and its follow-up, Forced Entries), who had a sideline gig leading the punky new wave Jim Carroll band:


"People Who Died" (watch a live version at punk mecca Mabuhay Gardens here; also cf. Ted Berrigan's "People Who Died" [MP3], which inspired Carroll's track)


"Catholic Boy"