Additional Information

A continuation of Tape 140, with Ginsberg performing more songs and poems. Begins with a close-up of Ginsberg’s face singing the William Blake song that was cut off at the end of the previous tape, which lasts until around 3 and a half minutes in. After this, he does ‘more Blake,’ with ‘On Another’s Sorrow’ set to music, again playing the accordion. He is unaccompanied at first, with the guitarists joining in towards the end of the song (which lasts until about 18 and a half minutes in). He introduces the next song (Blake’s ‘Night’ set to music), talking about improvisation and making mistakes. There are general adjustments and tuning of instruments between pieces with Ginsberg muttering to himself or the guitarists. At a little under 23 minutes the song finishes and Ginsberg introduces the first reading, a chain-poem co-written by a Tibetan Lama on May 8th 1972, in Boulder, Colorado. The poem dwells on themes of nationalism and nationhood, talking at length about geographical politics within Scotland and the rest of the UK. Ginsberg then goes on to introduce another poem he wrote on a plane to a political convention in Miami, where he was tear gassed. The poem, called ‘Continuation of a Long Poem of These States,’ supposedly takes its form from a Buddhist mantra, repeating the sound ‘ah.’ The film is conducted in a fairly continuous shot, with zooms to emphasise the facial expressions and gestures of Ginsberg and the other performers. Zooms in to frame faces are sometimes blurred with a sudden loss of focus. Ends on a close-up of Ginsberg's face as he discusses mantras, "So it's a physiological purification of the speech centre, ah, as well as appreciation" (tracking lines begin here) "of limitless spaciousness". A tracking wave on the next part of his sentence cuts the footage.