“I’m pretty much
self-taught in the literary jewel-eye of interest department. My dad retired
early and went back to college to study under Robert Creeley at the University
of Buffalo. My small circle of musical high school friends and I created folk
groups with guitars and banjos and harmonies. We also loved poetry. Rimbaud,
Baudelaire, and the Beats including Ferlinghetti. I read a lot of Russian
literature on my own. Kerouac’s On the Road was a big deal to any kid
like me who harbored dreams of travel and adventure. Books gave you the sense
there was a big world out there beyond your backyard waiting for you to visit
and take part. Books opened giant palatial-sized windows for me. Where most of
my high school friends enjoyed armchair lit. adventures, they would eventually
finish their education, get jobs, make families, settle down in the straight,
striving secure square life with dreams of serenity. I took every word of these
books personally and acted on it. I got away. But alone, on the road would soon
come the high lonely risk of getting drafted in a bogus war. Later would come
Eliot, Kafka, Ibsen, Hamsun, Joyce and Burroughs. And I loved Whitman.”—Singer-songwriter
Eric Andersen quoted in John Kruth, “Eric Andersen: Beat Sensibility in a Folksinger Crowd,” PleaseKillMe blog, Apr. 20, 2021
A documentary about
Andersen, “The Songpoet,” will play on PBS’ “All Arts” station this week.
I have not previously listened to his music, but based on the interview in the
link above, maybe I should pay more attention. In any event, I will try to
catch this show.
(The image accompanying
this post, of Andersen on Apr. 20, 2006, came from Infodek at English
Wikipedia.)
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