''Kerouac's Last Dream'' is an album by American folk musician

Ramblin' Jack Elliott Ramblin' Jack Elliott (born Elliott Charles Adnopoz; August 1, 1931) is an American folk singer, songwriter and story teller. Life and career Elliott was born in 1931 in Brooklyn, New York City, the son of Florence (Rieger) and Abraham Adno ...

, released in 1981. In his liner notes, Elliott writes "I have been asked, sometimes, why I don't learn new songs. These are old ones and I have sung them for a long time. They are good and I think they shall always be good." ''Kerouac's Last Dream'' was reissued on CD in 1997 on the Appleseed label with additional material from the same 1980 sessions for a German LP release.

Reception

Music critic William Ruhlman, writing for

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

, stated: "Ramblin' Jack Elliott is not primarily a recording artist, he's a folksinger, and these are the songs he sings." Michael Perryl of '' No Depression'' wrote: "The bare-bones best of Kerouac’s Last Dream? All those stories. We may have little in common with buffalo skinners, massacred miners, cowboys, and World War I foot soldiers, or even the folkies and beats of “912 Greens”, but when Ramblin’ Jack sings their stories, I am refreshed to find some universal resonance with travelers who have started our stories for us, rather than hearing one more time that we’re all jes’ good ol’ boys and girls livin’ fer Friday night. Kerouac's Last Dream is a simple, solid collection...unadorned and necessary, y’might even say."

Track listing

Original track listing

#"Buffalo Skinners" (Traditional) #"Pretty Boy Floyd" (

Woody Guthrie Woodrow Wilson Guthrie (; July 14, 1912 – October 3, 1967) was an American singer, songwriter, and composer widely considered to be one of the most significant figures in American folk music. His work focused on themes of American Left, A ...

) #"Cup of Coffee" (Jack Elliott) #"Roving Gambler" (Traditional) #" Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain" ( Fred Rose) #" The Cuckoo" (Traditional) #"Talkin' Fishin'" (Guthrie) #"

1913 Massacre "1913 Massacre" is a Protest song, topical ballad written by American folk singer Woody Guthrie, and recorded and released in 1945 for Moses Asch, Moses Asch's Folkways Records, Folkways Record label, label. The song originally appeared on ''Stru ...

" (Guthrie) # "Carpenter" #"912 Greens" (Elliott)

Reissue track listing

#"Pretty Boy Floyd" (

) – 4:00 #"Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain" ( Fred Rose) – 3:11 #"Freight Train Blues" (Traditional) – 3:43 #"Talkin' Fishin'" (Guthrie) – 3:36 #"Roving Gambler" (Traditional) – 3:50 #" The Cuckoo" (Traditional) – 3:40 #"

Don't Think Twice, It's All Right "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right" is a song written by Bob Dylan in 1962 and released the following year on his album '' The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan'' and as the B-side of the single " Blowin' in the Wind". The song has been covered by several ot ...

" (

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan; born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Described as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his nearly 70-year ...

) – 3:40 #" Soldier's Last Letter" (

Ernest Tubb Ernest Dale Tubb (February 9, 1914 – September 6, 1984), nicknamed the Texas Troubadour, was an American singer and songwriter and one of the pioneers of country music. His biggest career hit song, "Walking the Floor Over You" (1941), marked ...

, Redd Stewart) – 3:04 #"1913 Massacre" (Guthrie) – 5:04 #"Buffalo Skinners" (Traditional) – 5:15 #"Night Herding Song" (Traditional 2:51 #"Mean Mama Blues" (Mitchell & Mulligan) – 2:25 #"I Threw It All Away" (Dylan) – 3:42 #"

Detour __NOTOC__ A detour or (British English: diversion) is a (normally temporary) route taking traffic around an area of prohibited or reduced access, such as a construction site. Standard operating procedure for many roads departments is to route an ...

" ( Paul Westmoreland) – 2:13 #"Ridin' Down the Canyon" (

Gene Autry Orvon Grover "Gene" Autry (September 29, 1907 – October 2, 1998), nicknamed the Singing Cowboy, was an American actor, musician, singer, composer, rodeo performer, and baseball team owner, who largely gained fame by singing in a Crooner ...

Smiley Burnette Lester Alvin Burnett (March 18, 1911 – February 16, 1967), better known as Smiley Burnette, was an American country music performer and a comedic actor in Western films and on radio and TV, playing sidekick to Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, and ...

) – 5:33 #"Cup of Coffee" (Jack Elliott) – 4:10 #"912 Greens" (Elliott) – 10:10

Personnel

– vocals, guitar ;Technical *Günter Pauler - engineer *Jerken Diederich - cover design *Harmut Rosen - cover photography

References

External links

Ramblin' Jack Elliott Discography
{{Authority control 1981 albums Ramblin' Jack Elliott albums