On this day in 1957, U.S. Customs agents seized 520 copies of Allen Ginsberg’s poem, Howl being imported in the United States by a London printer on the grounds of obscenity on the basis of the line:
who let themselves be fucked in the ass by saintly motorcyclists, and screamed with joy
The confiscation resulted in an obscenity trail against Lawrence Ferlinghetti, the poem’s new domestic publisher. Clayton Horn (a Sunday school teacher) was the judge for the case and had achieved notoriety earlier that year for sentencing five shoplifters to a screening of The Ten Commandments. The defense brought literary expert after literary expert (9 in total) to the stand to testify to the poems literary and social importance and on October 3 Judge Horn ruled the poem was of “redeeming social importance” and Ferlinghetti was cleared.
Today I thought I would post the audio of Mr. Ginsberg reading Howl as well as my three favorite Howl references in song. I hope y’all enjoy.
Dan Bern – Wasteland
They Might Be Giants – I Should Be Allowed To Think
Meg Lee Chin – Nutopia
Meg Lee Vs. Hanzel Und Grety – Nutopia (remix)
Autopsy IV
Part time blogger. Full time hater.
There’s also that great mashup of Ginsberg reading “America” over the top of Tom Waits’ “Closing Time.” Quite lovely, really. I’ve always wished I knew the artist who did the mashup.
I would love a link if you have one.
Ooh, I love it when you go all literary and intellectual on us, AIV.
Ok. Belated response. Sorry about the free-hosting b.s. Download link eventually shows up right above comments box. http://tinyurl.com/yohrqx
I found it in 01-ish but I have no idea where. And I have no clue who the mashup artist is.
Enjoy. I absolutely love it.
Abraham
I met Allan. He played his accordian and talked about gayness and nuclear holocausts.