This book reveals the ideas behind the Beat vision which influenced the Beat sound of the songwriters who followed on from them. Having explored the thinking of Alan Watts, who coined the term ‘Beat Zen’, and who influenced the counterculture which emerged out of the Beat movement, it celebrates Jack Kerouac as a writer in pursuit of a ‘beatific’ vision. On this basis, the book goes on to explain the relevance of Kerouac and his friends Allen Ginsberg and Gary Snyder to songwriters who emerged in the 1960s. Not only are new, detailed readings of the lyrics of the Beatles and of Dylan given, but the range and depth of the Beat legacy within popular song is indicated by way of an overview of some important innovators: Jim Morrison, Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen, Donovan, the Incredible String Band, Van Morrison and Nick Drake.
Tabella dei contenuti
Introduction
1. ‘This is IT’: Alan Watts and the visionary tradition
2. ‘Go moan for man’: Jack Kerouac and the beatific vision
3. ‘Vision music’: Bob Dylan, Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg
4. ‘Within you … without you’: the Beatles and Allen Ginsberg
5. ‘Eco-Zen’, or ‘a heaven in a wild flower’: from Gary Snyder to Nick Drake
Postscript
Circa l’autore
Laurence Coupe is Senior Lecturer in English at Manchester Metropolitan University
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