Comments on: Gregory Corso: up down and all around

By: Mac

Mac — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 21:59:48 +0000

It would be interesting to compare notes. If you haven’t read that Didion book, I recommend it.

Indeed it was. Almost everything in popular music since is an elaboration or continuation of something that started then.

By: neo-neocon

neo-neocon — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 19:51:16 +0000

Mac: I don’t have good memories of the 60s at all. A few, but mostly not.

The music was great, though.

By: Mac

Mac — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 19:40:49 +0000

Neo, in retrospect that wedding seems a very sad affair. There was more than a touch of mockery in the whole thing, as I guess is pretty obvious from the fact that the poem was read.

You know…now that I think about it, part of the reason for the wedding may have been to secure a draft deferment for the groom. Crazy, sad times. Personally my view of the ’60s is more like Joan Didion’s in The White Album than that pushed in the dominant mythology.

By: Occam's Beard

Occam's Beard — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 05:57:32 +0000

neo, in all candor, I hadn’t heard of Corso before, and his story is remarkable by any standard. I was speaking generically of the Beat poets, but as I indicated, I’ve never connected with poetry.

By: neo-neocon

neo-neocon — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 05:13:38 +0000

Occam’s Beard: did you read Corso’s Wiki page? That’s really the main point of the post. Quite a story.

By: Occam's Beard

Occam's Beard — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 04:06:15 +0000

Call me a philistine, but I’ve always regarded the Beat poets as a sorry collection of self-regarding hairballs. But that may be because I’ve never cared much for poetry, and even less for hairballs.

By: neo-neocon

neo-neocon — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 03:27:45 +0000

Mac: I can’t imagine reading that poem at a wedding.

Then again, remembering 1967, I can imagine it.

By: Mac

Mac — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 02:34:55 +0000

When I saw this, I thought “I bet that’s the poem that X read at the wedding of Y and Z in the spring of 1967.” And it is–I remember a few phrases, enough to identify it. I also remember that even as a naive and yet cynical 19-year-old, I didn’t think this was a very good way to start a marriage. Maybe that’s why I’ve remembered the scene for so long. Not surprisingly, the marriage didn’t last very long.

By: sbruce45

sbruce45 — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 02:18:55 +0000

Thank you for providing that reading of Marriage. Back in the 60s I loved that poem. I read it enough times to be able to recite it by heart. I still have that book of his poetry. But I didn’t run in any circles where other people I knew were familiar with the poem. Nice to know other people do remember it.

By: Cornflour

Cornflour — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 00:21:21 +0000

At the start of 1975, I heard Gregory Corso, and some other Beat poets, read at St. Mark’s Church, in the East Village, New York. William Burroughs was interesting and only slightly repulsive, Corso seemed tired, and Patti Smith stole the show.

When people write about marriage, it usually gets to be a novel; but I can think of a couple marriage songs I like better than Corso’s poem: Greg Brown’s “Marriage Chant” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFcIExPvPWs) and John Prine’s “In Spite of Ourselves” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5axlwCBXC8).

On this song, Prine is accompanied by Iris Dement, who’s married to Greg Brown, who’s accompanied by Iowa guitar legend Bo Ramsey, who’s married to Greg’s daughter Pieta, who’s also a wonderful songwriter, and who’s usually accompanied by Bo Ramsey. When marriage enters the picture, even songs becomes novels.