Lawrence Ferlinghetti – “Pity the Nation” (2007)
(After Khalil Gibran)
Pity the nation whose people are sheep
And whose shepherds mislead them
Pity the nation whose leaders are liars
Whose sages are silenced
And whose bigots haunt the airwaves
Pity the nation that raises not its voice
Except to praise conquerors
And acclaim the bully as hero
And aims to rule the world
By force and by torture
Pity the nation that knows
No other language but its own
And no other culture but its own
Pity the nation whose breath is money
And sleeps the sleep of the too well fed
Pity the nation oh pity the people
who allow their rights to erode
and their freedoms to be washed away
My country, tears of thee
Sweet land of liberty!
Lawrence Ferlinghetti
Neal Cassady and the Grateful Dead – “Neal Cassady Raps” (1973)
This 1973 flexi-disc was released as part of the first edition of The Dead Book: A Social History of the Grateful Dead. It was recorded in September 1967 at the grand opening of the Straight Theater. The Grateful Dead are improvising behind him as Neal just lets out a stream-of-consciousness rap…
Beats in NYC (1959)
Silent 16mm film of Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, Lucien Carr and friends in the East Village, summer of 1959…
Jack Kerouac – Excerpt from “On the Road” (TV – 1959)
Jack Kerouac reads from On the Road on The Steve Allen Show from Nov. 16, 1959…
The Beat Patrol 