Songs of Innocence and Experience (Allen Ginsberg album)

In 1948, Ginsberg experienced what he described as a religious vision of 18th-century English poet William Blake appearing in his East Harlem apartment and reciting poetry to him.[2] He was profoundly moved by this experience and inspired to set Blake's poetry to music.[3] According to art historian Stephen F. Eisenman, "all at once, Ginsberg later said, he apprehended the unity of things material and spiritual, religious and carnal. Looking out the window, he saw 'into the depths of the universe' and understood that 'this was the moment that I was born for.'"[4] Ginsberg's interest in Blake resurfaced in the late 1960s when he began to research Western Gnosticism for philosophical reasons.[5]

Allen Ginsberg (left) in 1978 with poet and life-partner Peter Orlovsky, who contributed to the album

Ginsberg came to believe that Blake's poems were originally composed for the purpose of being sung and that, by studying their rhyme and meter, such a performance could be roughly reproduced.[6] He planned to record musical adaptations of poems from Blake's illustrated Songs of Innocence and of Experience collection, which thematized the importance and sanctity of childhood, featuring critiques of systemic child abuse ("The Chimney Sweeper"), organized religion ("The Garden of Love"), and "the institutionalized culture of benevolence that perpetuated poverty" ("Holy Thursday").[4] The poetry collection, Ginsberg said, "seemed the nearest thing to holy mantra or holy prayer poetry that I could find in my own consciousness".[7]

Ginsberg was also inspired by the rock music of 1960s counterculture, citing acts like the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, the Byrds, Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, the Fugs, the Band, and Donovan. As Ginsberg recalled, "all the lovely youthful bands that have been wakening the conscience of the world, really, were approaching high poetry and cosmic consciousness in their content, so I was interested in seeing if Blake's highest poetry could be vocalised, tuned, and sung in the context of the Beatles' 'I Am the Walrus' or 'Day in the Life of' [sic] or in the context of 'Sad-eyed Lady of the Lowland' [sic] or 'John Wesley Harding' by Dylan." Ginsberg added that he wanted to present Blake in a way that would interest Dylan, who had disliked the poet.[7] Ginsberg's witness of the 1968 Democratic National Convention protests and riot in Chicago provided an impetus to record the album.[8]

After leaving Chicago, Ginsberg went to upstate New York,[8] where he had bought a farm as a retreat with money earned from his poetry readings.[5] There, he experimented setting Blake's poems to music on a pump organ.[8] He told Publishers Weekly in June 1969 that he was learning to notate music while working on the Blake settings.[5] That same month, he began recording the album at Apostolic Studios in New York City's Lower Manhattan.[9] British underground writer and businessman Barry Miles was enlisted to produce the recording, and Ginsberg helped set him up at the legendary Hotel Chelsea, paying for and negotiating a favorable rent from its manager Stanley Bard, who knew and respected the poet. By this time, Ginsberg had composed some of the music he would use as settings for Blake's poems.[10]

A harmonium similar to Ginsberg's

In studio, Ginsberg sang and played harmonium, piano, and finger cymbals for Songs of Innocence and Experience.[8] The harmonium, played before by Ginsberg at numerous poetry readings, was borrowed from his life-partner and fellow poet Peter Orlovsky, who had received the instrument as a souvenir from Benares during the pair's visit to India in the early 1960s.[11] Orlovsky also contributed vocals to the recording[8] and assisted Miles with its production.[12]

Ginsberg was accompanied by a host of jazz musicians during the recording sessions, including trumpeter Don Cherry, bassist Herman Wright, guitarist Jon Sholle, French horn player Julius Watkins, and arranger/vocalist/pianist Bob Dorough.[8] Drummer Elvin Jones was enlisted to play on the album's final track, "The Grey Monk".[13] Ginsberg also invited bassist Charles Mingus to perform on the album, but Mingus declined.[14] According to Miles, the recording also featured saxophonist Archie Shepp,[10] although he is not named in the album credits.[8]

The album's recording produced 19 tracks, nine of which were recorded during the sessions held from June to July 1969.[8] According to several scholarly sources, Songs of Innocence and Experience was completed later that year in December.[15][16][17]

According to English scholar Jonathan Roberts, the resulting music sets Blake's poems to a folk music idiom.[18] The songs on the album average under two minutes in length.[13] Ginsberg's melodies and the accompanying instrumentation are noted for their simplicity,[19][20] with Peter Frank from Fanfare describing the accompaniment as "mantra-like".[11]

Vocally, Ginsberg demonstrates a lithe, high-toned delivery[21] and the dramatic character of what Ink 19 magazine's James Mann calls "a poet's voice". His New York accent is also said by Mann to make the stanzas "breathe".[1] Lester Bangs compares the poet's vocal style on the album to that of a mu'azzin – a mosque appointee who recites the call to prayer – but one who is Anglo-American.[21] In the opinion of Relix magazine's Jeff Tamarkin, Ginsberg's "intonations and somewhat droning delivery" of Blake's words possess a grasp on their "inherent rhythms and melodies", pitted against contemporary "folk-rock/jazz-based forms".[13]

Songs of Innocence and Experience was released as an LP record in 1970 by MGM Records and Verve Forecast Records. The record was credited as being "by William Blake, tuned by Allen Ginsberg", while its production was credited to "Miles Associates".[22] Despite selling poorly,[20] it was one of the most famous musical adaptations of Blake's Songs collection.[23]

Reviewing in April 1970 for The Village Voice, music critic Robert Christgau gave the record an "A" and hailed it as "a collaboration of genius". He credited Ginsberg for singing in the manner of Blake's writing – "crude, human, touching, and superb" – and enhancing the source material with his musicians, a feat Christgau found seemingly impossible.[24] In Rolling Stone, Bangs applauded Ginsberg's vocals and found the record effortless and unpretentious, "like a labor of love, a salute from a young visionary to an ancient sage, executed with delicacy and charm".[21] John G. Simon from The Harvard Crimson said the music demonstrates a range of styles and is not the most accessible but still unforgettable, offering listeners a way to remember the words to Blake's poetry as they would know the lyrics to popular music songs.[25] In The New Yorker, Ellen Willis said of the album, "It's a beautiful record, which makes me happy every time I hear it – but then most of what Ginsberg does has that effect on me. He should be persuaded to record a collection of mantras next."[10]

Retrospective professional reviews

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic (2017 CD)	[8]
Christgau's Record Guide (1970 LP)	A–[19]

Ginsberg later considered buying the rights to the album back from MGM – through a deal he and Miles had arranged with Fantasy Records – so that he could record the remainder of Blake's Songs collection and release the recordings as a double album. Fantasy offered them a five-album deal with an advance and paid studio time to master the recordings, more than hundred of which Miles had already edited for a series of spoken-word and mantra records. According to Miles, the mastering was to be finished by June 1971, when Ginsberg was planning to leave for Australia. However, Ginsberg complicated the matter by having more tapes mailed to him from the various colleges where his poetry recitals had been recorded.[10] In August, Ginsberg sent the master tapes to Fantasy, along with a letter saying he wants to rerecord and remix some of the songs and that he has recorded 16 albums of poems. The letter also noted his desire to postpone contract negotiations until he finishes traveling with poet Gary Snyder to the Sierras and to India. The albums were never released.[6]

At the time, Ginsberg also considered making an album of Blake settings with David Axelrod, a Los Angeles-based producer and composer best known for his successful tenure at Capitol Records. Axelrod had released his own instrumental interpretations of Blake's Songs collection on two albums – Song of Innocence (1968) and Songs of Experience (1969) – which fused sounds from pop, jazz, rock, and theater music. Ginsberg and Axelrod discussed ideas for a project on several occasions, including an album of both Blake and Ginsberg poems, but it never materialized either due to other pursuits and priorities.[26]

The original Songs of Innocence and Experience eventually went out of print[27] and remained so until the release of The Complete Songs of Innocence and Experience by Omnivore Recordings on June 23, 2017. A double-CD reissue, the Omnivore set featured a second disc of previously unreleased recordings of Blake settings and other spiritually-themed performances, recorded by Ginsberg in San Francisco between July and August 1971. Reviewing the reissue for AllMusic, Thom Jurek said, "As much of a treasure as this document is, it's disc two that holds the greatest revelations. ... As a whole, they are an inspiring, provocative, and life-affirming chapter in his legacy."[8] In 2019, Gavin Edwards included the original album in a piece for Rolling Stone covering 10 "weird" albums the magazine praised in the 1970s but "you've never heard", writing that Ginsberg's adaptation "was more literary than musical, but listening to him, one couldn't help but get caught up in the rush of words and images."[20]

All compositions are credited to Allen Ginsberg and William Blake; production is credited to Barry Miles and Peter Orlovsky.[12]

Copy AA of William Blake's hand-painted print of "The Little Black Boy" – printed and painted in 1826, and currently held by the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge. This image also features on the album cover.

LP: Side one

1. (a) "Introduction" / (b) "The Shepherd" – 2:11
2. "The Echoing Green" – 1:27
3. "The Lamb" – 1:15
4. "The Little Black Boy" – 3:05
5. "The Blossom" – 1:27
6. "The Chimney Sweepers" – 2:24
7. "The Little Boy Lost" – 1:09
8. (a) "The Little Boy Found" / (b) "Laughing Song" – 1:31
9. "Holy Thursday" – 1:18
10. "Night" – 4:01

LP: Side two

1. "Introduction" – 2:09
2. "Nurses Song" – 2:10
3. "The Sick Rose" – 1:41
4. "Ah! Sun-Flower" – 1:18
5. "The Garden of Love" – 1:08
6. "London" – 2:01
7. "The Human Abstract" – 2:35
8. "To Tirzah" – 1:47
9. "The Grey Monk" – 4:13

Credits for the 2017 CD, taken from AllMusic:[8]

• William Blake in popular culture

• Bamberger, W. C. (June 2013). "Allen Ginsberg's Music". Perfect Sound Forever.
• Eaves, Morris (1971). "Allen Ginsberg, Songs of Innocence and Experience, recording". Blake/An Illustrated Quarterly. 4 (3).
• Mustazza, Chris (May 19, 2014). "Aural Dialectics: On Allen Ginsberg's Musical Rendition of Blake's Songs of Innocence and of Experience". Empty Mirror.
• Ostriker, Alicia (1982). "Blake, Ginsberg, Madness, and the Prophet as Shaman". In Bertholf, Robert J.; Levitt, Annette S. (eds.). William Blake and the Moderns. SUNY Press. ISBN 0791496643 – via Google Books.
• Walker, Luke (September 12, 2018). "Review: Allen Ginsberg, The Complete Songs of Innocence and Experience". Blake/An Illustrated Quarterly (Autumn 2018) – via Hell's Printing Press.

• Songs of Innocence and Experience at Discogs (list of releases)
• Songs of Innocence and Experience at PennSound (free and downloadable recording)