Somewhere between October of 2008 and about five minutes ago I realized my obsession with Jack Kerouac. I spent $47 the other day on a first edition of a The Town and The City and have been consumed by his tolerance for life and all intriguing concepts that he acquired from those he surrounded himself with. It was a no brainer to get caught up in being interested in the recent soundtrack that Ben Gibbard and Jay Farrar did for the upcoming film based on the concept of Jacks’ book Big Sur.
If you do not know…
That is the film and the music, well it came out at the end of October, but figured I could help spread the word. Whether or not you are a fan of Ben Gibbard (you know, the singer from Death Cab and Postal Service) and Jay Farrar (singer for Son Volt), they have successfully created a masterpiece of creativity. Merging the words of Jack with the sounds of themselves through instrumentation and vocals, with an end result that will keep you listening. Sure it can be mellow at times, but that is a good thing.
How many artists can pull off taking a great book and turning it into a listenable album?
I think Jay-Z could.
Right, but that doesn’t matter.
It isworth the time and worth the money, plus you get a sweet combo deal that will outfit you with the vinyl and book and a Diet Coke.
I suppose I should mention something about Kerouac? So here in true fashion from the leader of the Beat Generation, in his words, on what the Pacific Ocean said to him…I should mention it is long, this I know and I found it online, I did not retype the whole thing. Although I thought about it. Still am…but anyway…
"SEA'
Sounds of the Pacific Ocean at Big Sur
'Sea'
Cherson! Cherson!
You aint just whistlin Dixie, Sea
Cherson! Cherson! We calcimine fathers
here below! Kitchen lights on...
Sea Engines from Russia seabirding here below...
When rocks outsea froth I'll know Hawaii
cracked up & scramble up my doublelegged cliff
to the silt of a million years...
Shoo -- Shaw -- Shirsh...
Go on die salt light You billion yeared
rock knocker Gavroom
Seabird Gabroobird
Sad as wife & hill Loved as mother & fog
Oh! Oh! Oh! Sea! Osh!
Where's yr little Neppytune tonight?
These gentle tree pulp pages
which've nothing to do with yr crash roar,
liar sea, ah, were made for rock
tumble seabird digdown footstep hollow weed
move bedarvaling crash? Ah again?
Wine is salt here? Tidal wave kitchen?
Engines of Russia in yr soft talk...
Les poissons de la mer
parle Breton... Mon nom es Lebris
de Keroack...
Parle, Poissons, Loti,
parle... Parlning Ocean sanding
crash the billion rocks...
Ker plotsch... Shore... shoe...
god brash...
The headland looks like a longnosed Collie sleeping
with his light on his nose, as the ocean,
obeying its accommodations of mind, crashes in
rhythm which could & will intrude, in thy
rhythm of sand thought...
... Big frigging shoulders on that sonofabitch
Parle, O, parle, mer, parle. Sea speak to me, speak
to me, your silver you light Where hole opened up in Alaska
Gray -- shh -- wind in The canyon wind in the rain
Wind in the rolling rash Moving and t wedel
Sea Sea
Diving sea O bird -- la vengeance
De la roche Cossez
Ah
Rare, he rammed the gate rare over by Cherson, Cherson,
we calcify fathers here below
... a watery cross, with weeds
entwined -- This grins restoredly, low sleep -- Wave -- Oh, no,
shush -- Shirk -- Boom plop Neptune now his arms extends
while one millions of souls sit lit in caves of darkness
... What old bark? The dog mountain? Down by the Sea
Engines? God rush -- Shore...
Shaw -- Shoo -- Oh soft sigh we wait hair twined like
arks -- Pissit -- Rest not
... Plottit, bisp tesh, cashes,
re tav, plo, aravow, shirsh, -- Who's whispering over
there -- the silly earthen creek! The fog thunders -- We put
silver light on face -- We took the heroes in -- A billion
years aint nothing...
O the cities here below! The men with a thousand
arms! the stanchions of their upward gaze! the
coral of their poetry! the sea dragons tenderized, meat
for fleshy fish... Navark, navark, the fishes
of the Sea speak Breton... wash as soft as people's
dreams -- We got peoples in & out the shore, they call
it shore, sea call it pish rip plosh -- The
5 billion years since earth we saw substantial
chan -- Chinese are the waves -- the woods
are dreaming
No human words bespeak the token sorrow older
than old this wave becrashing smarts the
sand with plosh of twirled sandy
thought -- Ah change the world? Ah set
the fee? Are rope the angels in all the sea?
Ah ropey otter barnacle'd be...
Ah cave, Ah crosh! A feathery sea
Too much short -- Where
Miss Nop tonight? Wroten Kerarc'h
in the labidalian aristotelian park
with slime a middle
... And Ranti forner
who pulled pearls by rope to throne
the King by the roll in the
forest of everseas? Not everseas, be seas
... Creep Crash
The woman with her body
in the sea -- The frog who never moves & thunders, sharsh
... The snake with his body under the sand -- The dog
with the light on his nose, supine, with shoulders so
enormous they reach back to rain crack -- The leaves hasten
to the sea -- We let them hasten to be wetted & give
em that old salt change, a nuder think will make you see
they originate from the We Sea anyway... No dooming booms
on Sunday afternoons -- We run thru the core of cliffs,
blam up caves, disengage no jelly or jellied pendant
thinkers...
Our armies of anchored seaweed in the
coves gives of the smell of jellied salt...
Reach, reach, some leaves havent hastened near
enuf -- Roll, roll, purl the sand shark floor
a greeny pali andarva
... Ah back -- Ah forth...
Ah shish -- Boom, away, doom, a day -- Vein we
firm... The sea is We... Parle, parle, boom the
earth -- Aree -- Shaw, Sho, Shoosh, flut,
ravad, tapavada pow, coof, loof, roof,...
No, no, no, no, no, no...
Oh ya, ya, ya, yo, yair... Shhh...
Which one? the one? Which
one? The one ploshed... The ploshed one? the same,
ah boom -- Who's that ant that giant golden saltchange
ant magnifying my mountain of feet? "Tis Finder, finding
the change in thought to join the boomer hangers in the
cave a light -- And built a house above it? Never fear,
naver foir, les bretons qui parlent la langue de la Mar
sont espanol comme le cul du Kurd qui dit le maha
prajna paramita du Sud? Ah oui! Ke Vlum!
Glum sea, silent me...
They aint about to try it them ants who wear
out tunnels in a week the tunnel a million years
won -- no -- Down around the headland slobs for weed,
the chicken of the sea go yak! they sleep...
Aroar, aroar, arah, aroo... Otter me otter me daughter me sea
... me last blue lagoon inside of me, the sea -- Divine is the
substance all over the Sea... Of space we speak &
hasten -- Let no mouth swallow the sea -- Gavril...
Gavro... the Cherson Chinese & Old Fingernail sea -- Is
ringin yr ear? Dier, dee? Is Virgin you trying to
fathom me
Tiresome old sea, aint you sick & tired of all of this merde?
this incessant boom boom & sand walk -- you people
hoary rockies here to Fuegie & never get sad? Or despair
like a German phoney? Just gloom booboom & green
on foggy nights... the fog is part of us...
I know, but tired as I can be listening to all
this silly majesty... Basho
Lao! Pop!
Who is this fish sitting unsunk? Run up
a Hawaii typhoon smash him against his rock... We'll jelly you,
jellied man, show you essential jello of the sea... King
of the Sea.
No Monarc'h ever Irish be?
Ju see the Irish sea? Green winds on tamarack vines
Joyce -- James -- Shhish... Sea -- Sssssss -- see
... Varash
... mnavash la vache
ecriture -- the sea dont say muc'h actually...
Gosh, she,
huzzy, tow, led men on, Ulysses and all them
fair headed moin... Terplash, & what difference
make! One little white spark of light!
Hair woven hands Penelope seaboat
smeller -- Courtiers in Telemachus "sguise
dropedary dropedary creep -- Or...
Franc gold rippled that undersea creek
where fish fish for fisher men -- Salteen
breen the wet Souwesters of old Portugee Prayers
Tsall tangled, changed, salt & drop the sand
& weed & water brains entangled -- Rats
of old Venetian yellers Ariel Calibanned
to Roma Port... Pow -- spell...
Speak you parler, in this my mother's
parlor, wash your undershoes when you
come in, say thanks to foggy moon
Go brash, Topahta
offat, -- we'll gray ye rose -- Morning
primord creeper sees the bird of paravision
dying tweet the yellow mouthroof! How sweet
the earth, yells sand! Xcept when tumble
boom! O we wait too
for Heaven -- all in One...
All is there in fair & sight
I'm going to wash now
old Pavia down, & pack my salt
to Either Town... Cliffs of Antique
aint got no rose, the morning's seen
the ledder pose... Boom de boom dey
the sea is me...
We are the sea... It ain't all snow
We wash Fujiyama down soon, & sand
crookbird back... We hie bash
rock -- ak... Long short...
Low and easy... Wind & many freezing
bottoms and luckrock... Rappaport...
Endymion thou tangled dreamer love my thigh
... Rose, Of Shelley, Rose, O Urns!
Ogled urns in fish eye
Cinco sea the Chico sea the Magellan headland sea
... What hype sidereal did he put down bending beatnik sea goatee
over old goat manuscripts to find the other side of Flat?
See round, see the end of me? Rounden huge bedoom?
Awp hole cave & shwrul... sand & salt & hair eyes
... Strong enuf to make coffee grow in your hair...
Whose plantation Neptune got? That of Atlas still down there,
Hesperid's his feet, Sur his sleet, Irish Sea fingertip
& Cornwall aye his soul bedoom
Shurning -- Shurning -- plop
be dosh -- This sigh old learning's high beside me -- Rough
old hands have played out pedigree, we've sunk more boats
than dreamer'll ever ever see
... Burning -- Burning -- The world
is burning & needs waaater
... I'll have a daughter,
oughter, wait & see... Churning, Churning, Me...
Panties -- Panties... these ancient fancies are
so girling... You've not seen mermaids in my actual sea
... You've not seen sexless babies with breasts of Majesty...
My wife -- My wife... Her name is Oh so really
high life
The low life Kingdom where we part out tea, is sea
side Me... Josh -- coof... patra...
Aye ee mo powsh... Ssst -- Cum here read me...
Dirty postcard... Urchin sea... Karash your name...?
Wanta swim, sink or swim? Ears ringing again?
Sea vibrate rhythm crash sets off cave
hanger blowers whistling dog ear back -- to sea
Arree... Gerudge Napoleon nada
Nada
Pluto eats the sea... Room...
Hands folded by the sea... 'On est tous caches, mange
le silence, " disent les poissons de la mer -- Ah Mar -- Gott
Thalatta -- Merde -- Marde de mer -- Mu mer -- Mak a vash...
The ocean is the mother... Je ne suis pas mauvaise quand j'suis
tranquille -- dans les tempetes j'cries! Comme une folle!
j'mange, j'arrache toutes! Clock -- Clack Milk...
Mai! mai! mai! ma! says the wind blowing sand...
Pluto eats the sea... Ami go -- da -- che pop
Go -- Come Cark... Care -- Kee ter da vo
Kataketa pow! kek kek kek! Kwakiutl! Kik!
Some of theserather taratasters trapped hyra tecere thaped
the anadondak ram ma lat round by Krul to Pat the lat
rat the anaakakalked romon tottek
Kara VOOOM
frup... Feet cold? wade... Mind sore?
sim -- sin -- Horny? -- lay the sea! Corny? try me...
Ussens here hang no more here we go, ka va ra ta
plowsh, shhh, and more, again, ke vlook
ke bloom & here comes big Mister Trosh
... more waves coming, every syllable windy
Back wash palaver
paralarle -- paralleling parle pe Saviour
A troublesome spirit hanging here cant make it
in the void... The sea'll only drown me -- These words
are affectations of sick mortality...
We try to make our way in self reliance, aid
not ever comes too quick from wherever & whatever
heaven dear may have suggested to promise us...
But these waves scare me...
I am going to die in full despair...
Wake up where? On second breath in life
the atmosphere is dearer maybe closer to Heaven
... O Paradise... Is the sea really so bad?
Have you sent men here for this cold clown
& monstrous eater at the world? whose sound
I mock?
God I've got to believe in you or live in death!
Will you save us -- all? Soon or now?
Send illumination to our drowning brains
... We're pitiful, Lord, we need yr help!
Save us, Dear... (Save yourself, God man,
ha ha! ) If you were God man
you'd command these waves to very well Tennyson stop
& even Tennyson is dear
now dead Leave it to the light
Concern yourself with supper, & an eye
somebody's eye -- a wife,
a girl, a friend, an animal
... a blood let drop...
he for his sea, he for his fire,
thee for thy desire
"The sea drove me away & yelled "Go to your desire! "
... As I hurried up the valley It added one last yell: --
"And laugh! "'
Even the sea cant stop me from writing something to read in my old age
... This is the chart of brief forms, this sea the briefest -- Shish
yourself...
After scaring me like that, Mar, I'll excoriate yr slum -- yr
iodine weeds & slime hoops, even yr dried hollow seaweed
stinks -- you stink all over... Boom -- Try that, creep...
The little Monterey fishingboat glides downward home 15 miles to go,
be home to fried fish & beer b'five... It guides the sea its bird
routes...
... Silver loss forever outward
... From blue sky of human bridges
to the massive mawkcloud sea center heap -- to the gray...
Some boys call it gunboat blue, or gray, but I call it
the Civil War of Rocks
... Rocks "come air, rocks "come water,
& rock rocks... Kara tavira, mnash grand bash
... poosh 1'abas -- croosh L'a haut -- Plash au pied...
Peeeee -- Rolle test boulles... Manche d'la rache...
The handsome King prevails over boom sing bird head...
"Crache tes idees, " spit yr ideas, says the sea, to me, quite
appro priate ly... Pss! pss! pss!
Ps! girl inside! Red shoes scum, eyes of old
sorcerers, toenails hanging down in the barrel of old firkin cheese
the Dutchman forgot t'eat that tempest
nineteen O sixteen
When torpedoed by gunboat Pedro in the Valley
of a Million Fees?
When Magellan crosseyed ate the Amazonian feet...
And, Ah, when Colombo cross't! When Drake sir francised the waves
with feeding of the blue jay dark -- pounded his aleward
tank before the boom, housed up all thoughts of Erik
the Red the Greenland caperer & builder of rockdungs in New
Port -- New -- yet... Oldport Indian Fishhead...
Oldport Tattoo Kwakiutl Headpost taboo potash Coyotl potlatch?
Old Primitive Columbia....
Named for Colom bus? Name for Aruggio Vesmarica...
Ar! -- Or! -- Da! What about Verrazano?
he sailed!... He Verrazano zailed & we
statened his Island in on deep
in on dashun Rotted the Wallower?
Sinners liars goodmen all sink waterswim drink Neptune's
nectar the zal sotat... Zal sotate name for crota?
Crota ta crotte, you aint 'bout to find (Jesus Christian! )
any dry turds here below... Why fo no?
Go crash yonder rock of bleak with yr filet mignon teeth
& see -- For you, the hearth, the heart, the lock of hair...
For me, for us, the Sea, the murdering of time by eating
lusty cracks of lip feed wave at aeons of sandy artistry
till nothing's left but old age newmorning primordial pain
of sitters by the unborn
bird of roses yet undone...
With weeds your roses,
sand crabs your hummers? With buzzers in the sea!
With runners in the deep! This Sceptred Osh, this wide leg
spanning rock U. S. to rock Ja Pan, this onstable
roller roaming all, this ploosher at yr gory
dry dung door, this mouth of silverwhite arring to hold thee,
this purger of conscience arra for thee...
No mouse in here but's got a little glee -- and
aft, or oft, the osprey in his glee's agley...
Oh purty purty ocean me...
Sop! bring the Scepter down! Again you've accepted me!
Breathe our iodine, filthy yr drink,
faint at feet wet, drop yr profile move it in the sea,
float weeded watery Adonais longs for thee -- & Shelley three,
that's three -- burn in salt with slow most change...
We've had no crack at eternity in a billion years of trying...
one grain of sand possesses 3 thousand worlds of glee...
not to mention me... Ah sea
Ah si -- Ah so... shoot -- shiver -- mix...
ha roll -- tara -- ta ta... curlurck -- Kayash -- Kee...
Pearls pearls in the yellow West
... Yellow sky to China...
Pacific we named here water as always meeting
water -- Pacific Pacific Pacific tapfic -- geroom...
gedowsh... gaka... gaya... Tatha -- gata -- mana...
What sails used old bhikkus? Dhikkus? Dhikkus!
What raft mailed Mose to the hoven dovepost?
What saved Blackswirl from the Kidd plank?
What Go-Bug here? Seet! Seeeeeeeeeee
eeeeeee -- kara... Pounders out yar...
Big Sur they call this sand
these rocks this creek? Raton Canyon by name pours
Coyote leaves & old Pomo bones & old dust of Tomahawks
into your angler'd maw... My salt maw shall salvage
Taylors -- sewing in the room below...
Sewing weed shrat for hikers in the milky silt...
Sewing crosswards for certainty... Sartan
are we of Price Victory in this salt War with thee
& thine thee jellied yink! Look O the sea here called
Pacific Sea! Taki!
My golden empty soul'll
outlast yr salty sill
... the Windows of my jelly eye
& fish head muck look out on thee, slit, with cigar-a-mouth,
some contempt... Yet I hie me to see you
... you hie thee to eat me -- Fair in sight
and worn, aright... Arra! Aroo!
Ger der va... Silly silent cities in the sea
have children playing cardboard mush with eignyard old Englander
beeplates slickered oer with scum of histories below...
No tempest as still & awful
as the tempest within... Sorcerer hip! Buddhalands
& Buddhaseas! What sails Maudgalyayana used
he only knows to tell but got kilt by yellers
screaming down the cliff 'Let's go home!
Now! "
... leave marge smashed djamas
Maudgalyayana was murdered by the seaBut the sea dont tell...
The sea dont murder... The seadrang scholars
oughter know that or
go back to School Hear over there the ocean motor?
Feel the splawrsh of it? Six silly centepedes here, Machree...
Ah Ratatatatatat... the machinegun sea, rhythmie
balls of you pouring in with smooth eglantinee
jn yr pedigreed milkpup tenor...
Tinder marsh aright arrooo... arrac'h -- arrache...
Kamac'h -- monarc'h... Kerarc'h Jevac'h...
Tamana -- gavow... Va -- Voovla -- Via...
Mia -- mine sea
poo
Farewell, Sur...
Didja ever tell him about water meeting water...?
O go back to otter... Term -- Term -- Klerm
Kerm -- Kurn -- Cow... Kow... Cash -- Cac'h -- Cluck...
Clock -- Gomeat sea need de deep I see you
Enoc'h soon anarf
in Old Brittany
21 August 1960 Pacific Ocean at Big Sur
California
The complete poems written by the sea are to be found at the end of
this book, in the appendix entitled "SEA'. Sounds of the Pacific Ocean at
Big Sur. JK.
SocialVibe