The Moon's The North Wind's Cooky

Until I picked this album out of a pile (based mostly on the artwork) I had never heard of Vachel Lindsay. Do yourself a favor and look him up, if for no other reason than being able to win the Jeopardy category "Poets Who Committed Suicide By Drinking Lysol." Wikipedia notes that he "is considered the father of modern singing poetry, as he referred to it, in which verses are meant to be sung or chanted," and that's what we have on this posthumous 1958 album. As Vachel died in 1931, you can expect somewhat less-than-perfect audio quality from the original recordings. Fortunately the words are included, though the album can certainly be appreciated by just letting the sound of the words wash over you. (As for the words themselves - The Congo, particularly, is still a controversial piece. I suggest some additional reading to get the full context. Consider the period in which it was recorded.)

Vachel Lindsay Reading The Congo, Chinese Nightingale, and Other Poems (Caedmon TC 1041)


Poems:

The Congo
The Flower-Fed Buffaloes
The Mysterious Cat
General William Booth Enters Into Heaven
The Moon's The North Wind's Cooky
The Chinese Nightingale


From the rear cover: