AMS Philadelphia 2009 Abstracts - American Musicological Society

110 saturday morning AMS Philadelphia 2009
“STAR ME KITTEN”: WILLIAM S. BURROUGHS’
MUSICAL RECORDINGS, MARLENE DIETRICH, AND
THE AESTHETICS OF HIS DARK AMERICANA
Melissa Ursula Dawn Goldsmith
Nicholls State University
A prominent figure of the New York City beats along with Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg,
William S. Burroughs (1914–97) was best known for his novel Naked Lunch (1959),
one of the most influential works of the twentieth century. Despite the numerous analytical
studies of Burroughs, literary and music scholars tend to ignore his recordings with music.
William S. Burroughs at the Front: Critical reception, 1959–1989 (published in 1991) features
notable writers John Ciardi, Edith Sitwell, and James Grauerholz, none of whom discuss the
recordings. The critical introduction to Naked Lunch: The restored text (2001) focuses only on
history, reception, and writing techniques. This presentation will fill the gap by exploring the
musical dimension of Burroughs’ recordings. Although Burroughs rarely mentioned music in
his writing, even though he recorded throughout his career with music, his recordings offer a
glimpse into his influences, aesthetics, and creative processes.
In 1992 Burroughs recorded R.E.M.’s “Star Me Kitten” as a studio outtake for the CD
Automatic for the People. He prefaced this performance by explaining that it “evolved from”
Marlene Dietrich and her version of “Lili Marleen,” Norbert Schultze’s tragic song about a soldier
haunted by his lost love. Burroughs’ recording could be perceived as a tribute to Dietrich,
who died five months before the album’s release, or as a tribute to her performing “Lili Marleen”
near enemy lines after the song was banned in Germany. Having traveled to Europe just
after the Weimar Era and having enlisted in the army in 1942 (bearing in mind the bombing
of Pearl Harbor), Burroughs would have been familiar with the performance.
In 1996 his performance of “Star Me Kitten” was included on the x Files compilation Songs
in the Key of x. Its inclusion seems appropriate not because it was in any x Files television
episode or film footage, but because of the spirit of the beat writer’s eerie performance, as well
as his well known writings for the space age, his distrust of the government, and his belief in
a magical universe. In his recording, Burroughs makes R.E.M.’s song his own through “doing
his thing”: combining beat, expressionist, and ethereal aesthetics.
In contrast to the serious atmosphere of early recordings like Call Me Burroughs (1965) and
Break Through in grey room (recorded in the 1960s and 1970s), Burroughs’ late recordings
like dead City radio (1990), and his performances on Automatic for the People and Stoned
immaculate: The Music of the doors (2000) represent a kitschy reinvention of the elderly beat
writer. The earlier recordings are informed by stark black and white photo covers, somber performances
of Burroughs’ writings, demonstrations of his cut-up technique, experiments with
electroacoustic music, and collaborations with musicians (e.g. Ornette Coleman and Brian
Jones). The later recordings feature color photos, humorously deadpan performances of his
and others’ writings, and singing. Nonetheless, the late recordings, of which “Star Me Kitten”
is truly representative, amount to biographical clues and artifacts of his musicality.