''Call Me Burroughs'' is a spoken word album by Beat Generation author

William S. Burroughs William Seward Burroughs II (; February 5, 1914 – August 2, 1997) was an American writer and visual artist, widely considered a primary figure of the Beat Generation and a major postmodern author who influenced popular cultur ...

, which was released on LP by The English Bookshop, Paris, in June 1965, and then issued in the United States by ESP-Disk, New York, in 1966. Rhino Word Beat reissued the album on Compact Disc in 1995, the company's first ever reissue. All of the readings were from Burroughs' novels ''

Naked Lunch ''Naked Lunch'' (sometimes ''The Naked Lunch'') is a 1959 novel by American writer William S. Burroughs. The book is structured as a series of loosely connected vignettes, intended by Burroughs to be read in any order. The reader follows the na ...

'', '' The Soft Machine'', and ''

Nova Express ''Nova Express'' is a 1964 novel by American author William S. Burroughs. It was written using the 'fold-in' method, a version of the cut-up method, developed by Burroughs with Brion Gysin, of enfolding snippets of different texts into the nove ...

''.

Production

According to

Barry Miles Barry Miles (born 21 February 1943) is an English author known for his participation in and writing on the subjects of the 1960s London underground and counterculture. He is the author of numerous books and his work has also regularly appeare ...

, Burroughs believed "it was Gaît Frogé's idea to record ''Call Me Burroughs''". Frogé was the owner of the English Bookshop in Paris, located at 42 Rue de Seine, and the album was recorded there, in what

Jean-Jacques Lebel Jean-Jacques Lebel (born in Paris on June 30, 1936) is a French artist. His father was also a poet, translator, poetry publisher, political activist, art collector, and art historian. Besides his heterogeneous artworks and poetry, Lebel is also k ...

described as its "vaulted medieval basement." Frogé paid producer Ian Sommerville a flat fee, and asked

Fluxus Fluxus was an international, interdisciplinary community of artists, composers, designers and poets during the 1960s and 1970s who engaged in experimental art performances which emphasized the artistic process over the finished product. Fluxus ...

poet

Emmett Williams Emmett Williams (4 April 1925 – 14 February 2007) was an American poet and visual artist. He was married to British visual artist Ann Noël. Williams was born in Greenville, South Carolina, grew up in Virginia, and lived in Europe from 1 ...

and Lebel to write liner notes, which were published in both English and French. Burroughs stated that he believed the recording had "almost certainly" been made "using Brion Gysin's broadcast-standard

Uher Uher may refer to: * Uher (village), a village in Poland * Uher (brand), a German brand of electronic equipment People *Karel Uher (born 1983), Czech curler * Rudolf Uher, Canadian psychiatrist *Štefan Uher Štefan Uher (4 July 1930 – 29 M ...

" tape recorder. The album was pressed in 1965, with a date of April of that year on the French liner notes. Frogé published 1,000 copies of the album, and Miles points out that "For many years, ''Call Me Burroughs'' was the only recording of William Burroughs available." In 1966, Bernard Stollman's ESP-Disk label released the album in the United States, extending its reach. According to Miles, Stollman simply added the ESP logo and address to the original sleeve.

Influence

The album would go on to have a wide influence, particularly in England. Barry Miles, in his liner notes for the 1995 Rhino rerelease, says, "

The Beatles The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developmen ...

may have been the soundtrack to 1965 for the beautiful people of swinging London, but to the cognoscenti there was something even cooler to listen to." Miles continues:

"It's in all the best homes, my dear," said Brion Gysin, and he was right. At the height of the '60s, ''Call Me Burroughs'' was an essential record. The Beatles all had copies (
Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...
included Bill on the sleeve of '' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band''. Art dealer Robert Fraser bought ten copies to give to friends such as
Brian Jones Lewis Brian Hopkin Jones (28 February 1942 – 3 July 1969) was an English multi-instrumentalist and singer best known as the founder, rhythm/lead guitarist, and original leader of the Rolling Stones. Initially a guitarist, he went on to prov ...
and
Mick Jagger Sir Michael Philip Jagger (born 26 July 1943) is an English singer and songwriter who has achieved international fame as the lead vocalist and one of the founder members of the rock band the Rolling Stones. His ongoing songwriting partnershi ...
.
Marianne Faithfull Marianne Evelyn Gabriel Faithfull (born 29 December 1946) is an English singer and actress. She achieved popularity in the 1960s with the release of her hit single " As Tears Go By" and became one of the lead female artists during the British I ...
and
Keith Richards Keith Richards (born 18 December 1943), often referred to during the 1960s and 1970s as "Keith Richard", is an English musician and songwriter who has achieved international fame as the co-founder, guitarist, secondary vocalist, and co-princi ...
' dealer had copies, as did numerous painters and writers.

McCartney, in particular was a fan:

William Burroughs's spoken-word album ''Call Me Burroughs'' was a great favourite for late-evening listening when people were stoned; Paul heard Burroughs's cold, flat Mid-Western voice reading from ''The Naked Lunch'' before he saw the book.

McCartney was so impressed by the album that he hired the producer, Ian Sommerville, to set up a studio and act as tape operator for him in an apartment Ringo Starr owned, but was not using, at 34 Montagu Place. Sommerville ended up living in the apartment, and subsequent tape experiments were conducted there by Burroughs. McCartney was said to have found all of this very interesting and relevant to his own recordings. In his book '' The Old, Weird America'',

Greil Marcus Greil Marcus (born June 19, 1945) is an American author, music journalist and cultural critic. He is notable for producing scholarly and literary essays that place rock music in a broader framework of culture and politics. Biography Marcus wa ...

calls the album "a talisman of cool in Greenwich Village in the mid-1960s."

Track listing

All composition by William S. Burroughs #"Bradley the Buyer" – 6:24 #"Meeting of International Conference of Technological Psychiatry" – 4:56 #"The Fish Poison Con" – 6:59 #"Thing Police Keep All Board Room Reports" – 1:25 #"Mr. Bradley Mr. Martin Hear Us Through the Hole in Thin Air" – 4:16 #"Where You Belong" – 6:38 #"Inflexible Authority" – 10:45 #"Uranian Willy" – 1:59 Tracks 1 and 2 from ''Naked Lunch''; 3, 4, 5, 7, and 8 from ''Nova Express''; track 6 from ''The Soft Machine''.

Personnel

*William Burroughs – voice *Harriet Crowther – cover photo *Rachel Gutek – design *Tient Louw – cover design *Ian Sommerville –

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad range of more speciali ...

*Jean-Jacques Lebel – liner notes *Emmett Williams – liner notes *Tony Balch – photography * Brion Gysin – photography ;Re-release *Barry Alfonso –

liner notes Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or the equivalent packaging for cassettes. Origin Liner notes are desc ...

*James Austin – reissue supervision *Bob Fisher/Digital Domain – remastering *

James Grauerholz James Grauerholz (born December 14, 1953) is a writer and editor. He is the bibliographer and literary executor of the estate of William S. Burroughs. Life and career Grauerholz was born in Coffeyville, Kansas and attended the University of K ...

– reissue supervision, photography *

– liner notes *Gary Peterson – reissue assistance *Coco Shinomiya – reissue art direction *Joseph Zinnato – photography

References

Bibliography

*Miles, Barry. ''Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now''. London: Macmillan, 1998. . *_____. "Liner notes." ''Call Me Burroughs''. New York: Rhino Records.

External links

ESP Disk
catalog listing
Rhino
catalog listing * * {{Authority control 1965 debut albums William S. Burroughs albums ESP-Disk albums Rhino Records albums