Leon Quinn’s Blog

I like Blake’s poetry and got into him through the Doors who were also influenced by his “the Marriage of Heaven and Hell” which speaks “If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, infinite….”. I chose to add music to the “Introduction” to Blake’s “Songs of Innocence” poetry collection.

Here are the words, followed by my music (early effort!):

Piping down the valleys wild,
Piping songs of pleasant glee,
On a cloud I saw a child,
And he laughing said to me:

“Pipe a song about a Lamb!”
So I piped with a merry chear.
“Piper, pipe that song again;”
So I piped: he wept to hear.

“Drop thy pipe, thy happy pipe;
Sing thy songs of happy chear:”
So I sung the same again,
While he wept with joy to hear.

“Piper, sit thee down and write
In a book, that all may read.”
So he vanish’d from my sight,
And I pluck’d a hollow reed,

And I made a rural pen,
And I stain’d the water clear,
And I wrote my happy songs,
Every child may joy to hear.

 Songs of Innocence [4:21m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (7)

“Howl” (extract)

I saw the best minds of my generation
destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked,
Dragging themselves through the Negro streets
at dawn looking for an angry fix,
Angel-headed hipsters burning for the
ancient heavenly connection to the starry dynamo
in the machinery of night,
Who poverty and tatters and hollow-eyed and high
sat up smoking in the supernatural Darkness of
coldwater flats floating across the tops of cities
contemplating jazz…..

“Curses And Invocations”

Weird, bait-headed mongrels,
I keep expecting one of you to rise.
Large, buxom, obese queens,
Garden hogs and cunt veterans,
Quaint, cabbage saints,
Shit hoarders and individualists,
Drag-strip officials,
Tight lipped losers
And lustful fuck salesmen.
My militant dandies,
All strange order of monsters
Hot on the trail of the wood vine,
We welcome you to our procession.