Naropa Classroom Conversations

August 25, 2016admin

Lyke Wake

[Lyke Wake (in North Yorkshire)]

Minor matters today. More one-on-one post-class discussion. Allen makes arrangements. AG: [to Student] – What have you got? some poems? Student: Some homework, from last week – Lyke Wake Dirge.

AG: Oh great – good – Shall I take it home? Student: There’s a journal and a transcription. AG: Oh yes, shall we make a date? Student: Sure….. Mondays and Fridays are (the) best (days)… AG: Mondays and Fridays? Student: Mondays are good.. AG: Well, tomorrow I’ve got a reading. (But) At weekends, I’m free, certainly… Student: Weekends are fine. AG: When? … Read More

The Streets of Laredo

July 20, 2016admin

More Ballads.

AG: Then it gets to the American ethos, and, in this book (The Penguin Book of Ballads), I hadn’t seen it before, but there’s a.. one complete version of the great American ballad, which everybody knows, known as “The Streets of Laredo”, which is a classic ballad, as good as any of these other ones. Does anybody know the whole thing?

Student: Didn’t Marty Robbins write it?

AG: Well, I don’t know who did.

Student: I thought Marty Robbins wrote it.

AG: No, I don’t think so. Who’s Marty Robbins anyway?

Student: The guy who popularized … Read More