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Scanner feat. Allen Ginsberg - Elegy for Neal Cassady

from Allen Ginsberg​’​s The Fall of America: A 50th Anniversary Musical Tribute by Various Artists

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  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Complete 20 tracks and liner notes booklet with poems.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Allen Ginsberg’s The Fall of America: A 50th Anniversary Musical Tribute via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 7 days
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  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    The track listing for the vinyl is as follows:

    Side A
    1) Scanner - Elegy for Neal Cassady
    2) Shintaro Sakamoto - Manhattan Thirties Flash
    3) Thurston Moore & Lee Ranaldo - Hum Bom
    4) Ed Sanders (The Fugs) - Memory Gardens
    5) Mickey Hart - First Party at Ken Kesey's With Hell's Angels (Drones Du Jour)
    6) Howie B with Gavin Friday - Death On All Fronts (America is Falling)
    7) Disco Pusher - A Prophecy

    Side B
    1) Angélique Kidjo - Uluru Song
    2) Bill Frisell - Over Laramie
    3) Andrew Bird - Easter Sunday
    4) Devendra Banhart - Milarepa Taste
    5) Yo La Tengo - Bayonne Entering N.Y.C.
    6) Lang Lee - Pain on All Fronts

    Includes unlimited streaming of Allen Ginsberg’s The Fall of America: A 50th Anniversary Musical Tribute via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ... more
    ships out within 7 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      $19.98 USD or more 

     

about

"I chose this poem at first simply for the name itself, and once I heard the reading was drawn in by the use of repetition and moving sense of intimacy in Ginsberg’s delivery. The affection was clear and I chose to create music that enveloped this in a warm blanket of sound, something reductionist that put the voice upfront. There’s a profoundly moving tone to this poem so tried my utmost to maintain this throughout."
- Scanner August 11, 2020

All proceeds from the sale of this track will be donated to HeadCount.org promoting voter registration and participation in democracy through the power of music. It is part of our tribute project celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Allen Ginsberg’s “The Fall of America: Poems of these States 1965-197” New tracks based on these poems will be added every two weeks.

lyrics

from Elegy for Neal Cassidy

"Can ya hear me talkin?
calling your spirit
god echo consciousness, murmuring
sadly to myself.

Happy as light released by the Day

Spirit become spirit,
or robot reduced to Ashes.

Tender Spirit, thank you for touching me with tender hands
When you were young, in a beautiful body,
Such a pure touch it was Hope beyond Maya-meat,

O Spirit.
Sir spirit, forgive me my sins,
Sir spirit give me your blessing again,
Sir Spirit forgive my phantom body’s demands,
Sir Spirit thanks for your kindness past,
Sir Spirit in Heaven, What difference was yr mortal form,
What further this great show of Space?
Sir Spirit, an’ I drift alone:
Oh deep sigh.

Hadja no more to do? Was your work all done?
Had ya seen your first son?
Why’dja leave us all here?
Has the battle been won?

the world is released,
desire fulfilled, your history over,
story told, Karma resolved,
prayers completed
vision manifest, new consciousness fulfilled,
spirit returned in a circle,
world left standing empty, buses roaring through streets—
garbage scattered on pavements galore—
Grandeur solidified, phantom-familiar fate
returned to Auto-dawn,
your destiny fallen on RR track

My body breathes easy,
I lie alone,
living
After friendship fades from flesh forms—
heavy happiness hangs in heart,
I could talk to you forever,
The pleasure inexhaustible,
discourse of spirit to spirit"

10 Feb 1968 5-5:30 AM

Courtesy Harper Collins Publishers / City Lights Publishers
credits

credits

from Allen Ginsberg​’​s The Fall of America: A 50th Anniversary Musical Tribute, track released October 2, 2020
Music, production and arrangement: Scanner
Reading by Allen Ginsberg, ca 1971 Courtesy of the Department of Special Collections, Stanford University Libraries, Ginsberg Collection, & Barry Miles

Mastering - Taylor Deupree / 12K

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about

Allen Ginsberg New York, New York

Renowned poet, world traveler, spiritual seeker, founding member of a major literary movement, champion of human and civil rights, photographer and songwriter, political gadfly, teacher and co-founder of a poetics school. Allen Ginsberg (1926-1997) defied simple classification.

Ginsberg parlayed his fame and network of connections into a modestly successful career in music.
... more

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