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Lawrence Ferlinghetti

Tribute to Lawrence Ferlinghetti - City Lights that Are Never Dimmed, Tbilisi International Festival of Literature, 2021

Recording session with Lawrence Ferlinghetti reading poems from Pictures of the Gone World with American composer and musician David Amram - courtesy of Bob Holman.

A video by Gvantsa Nadibaidze and Nuka Gambashidze, and also featuring Patta Shamuglia.

Watch here (19:54): Link to Facebook

ვიდეო მომზადდა საქართველოში აშშ-ის საელჩოს მხარდაჭერით.

This video was created with the support of the US Embassy Tbilisi, Georgia, with Neeli Cherkovski and Bob Holman.

Reading at Page Hall, Albany, NY, 1997

Recording courtesy of Chris Funkhouser

Complete recording (1:06:37): MP3

  1. Introduction (8:08): MP3
  2. A Buddha in the woodpile (4:15): MP3
  3. Away above a harborful (2:13): MP3
  4. The world is a beautiful place (3:50): MP3
  5. Richard Yates' tombstone inscription (2:05): MP3
  6. In Goya's great scenes we seem to see (1:57): MP3
  7. Sometime during eternity (3:11): MP3
  8. Coney Island of the mind 9 (0:54): MP3
  9. Don't let that horse (0:52): MP3
  10. The pennycandy store beyond the el (1:09): MP3
  11. Dove sta amore (0:44): MP3
  12. Come lie with me and be my love (0:54): MP3
  13. Wild dreams of a new beginning (3:05): MP3
  14. Lost parents (2:47): MP3
  15. Two scavengers in a truck, two beautiful people in a mercedes (2:13): MP3
  16. San Jose symphony reception (1:50): MP3
  17. Over all the obscene boundaries (5:18): MP3
  18. Late impressionist dream (2:07): MP3
  19. Poems from a far rockaway of the heart (4:22): MP3

Word of Mouth Series, Chicago, April 4, 1986

  • Produced by and courtesy of George Drury and Lois Baum for WFMT, Loyola University
  • Complete Reading (39:50): MP3
  1. Retired ballerinas, Central Park west(1:35): MP3
  2. Ferlinghetti discusses Camille Pissarro (1:41): MP3
  3. Returning to Paris with Pissarro (1:31): MP3
  4. He with the beating wings (2:20): MP3
  5. At the Gare Bruxelles-Midi(2:44): MP3
  6. Two Amsterdams (2:43): MP3
  7. The living theater (2:21): MP3
  8. A photo of Emily (4:48): MP3
  9. John Lennon in the Porto Santo Stefano (1:48): MP3
  10. Mouth of truth (4:20): MP3
  11. Canti Romani
    • Canti Romani, 1 (1:38): MP3
    • Canti Romani, 2 (2:12): MP3
    • Canti Romani, 3 (0:52): MP3
    • Canti Romani, 4 (1:19): MP3
    • Canti Romani, 5-8 (2:26): MP3
    • Canti Romani, 9 (0:57): MP3
    • Canti Romani, 10 (0:48): MP3
    • Canti Romani, 11 (0:32): MP3
    • Canti Romani, 12 (2:03): MP3

Reading Selections from his Poetry, AI of Chicago, April 4, 1986

Complete Recording (39:50): MP3

Watershed Tape - Into the Deeper Pools

Side 1: Bethesda, MD, Febuary 1984, Side 2: Baltimore, MD, April 1983

    Side One

  1. Introduction, a dedication (1:15): MP3
  2. Tall Tale of the Tall Cowboy (3:54): MP3
  3. The world is a beautiful place... (2:03): MP3
  4. In a Time of Revolution for Instance (3:37): MP3
  5. Lost Parents (2:00): MP3
  6. Two Scavengers In a Truck, Two Beautifual People in a Mercedes (1:50): MP3
  7. San Jose Symphony Reception (1:19): MP3
  8. See it was like this when... (0:42): MP3
  9. Underwear (3:32): MP3
  10. Into the Deeper Pools... (3:05): MP3
  11. A Meeting of Eyes in Mexico (1:09): MP3
  12. Come Lie with Me and Be My Love (0:37): MP3
  13. Returning to Paris with Pissarro (1:45): MP3
  14. Florence, A Lifetime Later (1:02): MP3
  15. Side Two

  16. Baseball Canto (2:37): MP3
  17. Pound at Spoleto (3:25): MP3
  18. Dog (2:24): MP3
  19. The Billboard Painters (2:10): MP3
  20. In Goya's greatest scenes we seem to see... (1:31): MP3
  21. How Clear Your Voice from Belgrade (1:52): MP3
  22. Ristorante Victoria, Milano (1:47): MP3
  23. Paris, Looking Back (2:52): MP3
  24. The Ethics and Semiotics of Poetry: An Unfinished Essay (9:01): MP3
  • Both Sides (55:39): MP3
  • Contents list from Cassette: PDF

No Escape Except Peace, published 1981 by S-Press as tape #72

    Side A:
    Taken from Kenneth Rexroth / Lawrence Ferlinghetti With The Cellar Jazz Quintet Poetry Readings In The Cellar (Fantasy Record 7002) and Lawrence Ferlinghetti Tentative Description Of A Dinner To Promote The Impeachment Of President Eisenhower And Other Poems (Fantasy Record 7004)

  1. Autobiography (10:40): MP3
  2. Dog (3:08): MP3
  3. Junkman's Obligato (8:10): MP3
  4. Love Comes Harder To The Aged (1:30): MP3
  5. Overpopulation (5:28): MP3
  6. Tentative Description Of A Dinner Given To Promote The Impeachment Of President Eisenhower (7:45): MP3
  7. Complete Recording: (36:41) MP3

    Side B:
    Recorded on October 9th/10th 1981, at Düsseldorf (GER)

  8. Populist Manifesto (transl. to German by W. Mohrhenn)
  9. The Gunfather. Tall Tale Of The Tall Cowboy
  10. Expressionist History Of German Expressionism
  11. White On White
  12. The World Is A Beautiful Place (Read by Walter Höllerer, transl. to German by A. Schmitz
  13. Complete Recording: (28:37) MP3

Recording from Tyrannus Nix?, 1970

Moscow in the Wilderness, Segovia in the Snow (8:04): MP3

Readings, 1969

  • Digitized by Joel Kuszai / The Factory School
  • Assassination Raga (11:32): MP3
  • Big Sur Sun Sutra (4:16): MP3
  • Moscow in the Wilderness, Segovia in the Snow (7:78): MP3
  • Tyrannus Nix (27:33): MP3

Richard Moore USA: Poetry Documentary with Allen Ginsberg, 1966

Berkeley Poetry Conference Reading, July 1965

Complete Recording (4:28): MP3

Kenneth Rexroth and Lawrence Ferlinghetti with The Cellar Jazz Quintet — Poetry Readings In The Cellar, Fantasy Records, 1957


  1. Autobiography (11:29): MP3
  2. Statue of St. Francis (2:10): MP3

S Press Recordings (lower quality)

  1. Autobiography (10:40): MP3
  2. Statue of St. Francis (02:02): MP3
  3. Junkman's Obligato (08:10): MP3

From the Herschel Baron Collection, dates unknown

Other Recordings, Date(s) Unknown

  • Baseball Canto (2:32): MP3
  • From the Berkson Tapes: San Francisco Poets, Evergreen Review: Ferlinghetti, Miles, Duncan, and Spicer (25:22): MP3

© 2018 Lawrence Ferlinghetti. These sound recordings available for non-commercial and educational use only. Distributed with permission by PennSound.