''Kerouac's Last Dream'' is an album by

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

folk musician Ramblin' Jack Elliott, 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, 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) #"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 topical ballad written by Woody Guthrie, and recorded and released in 1945 for Moses Asch's Folkways label. The song originally appeared on ''Struggle'', an album of labor songs. It was re-released in 1998 on '' Hard Travel ...

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

Reissue track listing

#"Pretty Boy Floyd" ( Woody Guthrie) – 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, recorded on November 14 that year, and released on the 1963 album ''The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan'' and as the b-side of the ''Blowin' in the Wind'' single. The song was cov ...

" ( Bob Dylan) – 3:40 #"

Soldiers Last Letter Soldier's Last Letter is a country music song written by Redd Stewart and Ernest Tubb and recorded by Ernest Tubb. It was released in the United States in 1944. Background and content In 1941, following the attack on Pearl Harbor, Redd was draf ...

" (

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), m ...

, 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" (

Paul Westmoreland Paul "Okie Paul" Westmoreland (September 19, 1916 – June 21, 2005) was a musician, songwriter, and disc jockey in Sacramento, California. Born in Tyler Texas, he moved to California during the Okie migration.Pew, "Route 66": "From the status of ...

) – 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 singer, songwriter, actor, musician, rodeo performer, and baseball owner who gained fame largely by singing in a crooning s ...

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

* Ramblin' Jack Elliott – 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