- First we have a classic reading by Vincent Price. This clip is clearly from an old TV show and while the production values are pretty low and can elicit a few giggles, Price's delivery is, well, priceless.
- Next up we have the incomparable Christopher Walken. Walken could probably read the phone book out loud and it would be entertaining and, as expected, his performance in this clip is great. However, there is a musical accompaniment in the clip which, although often low and unobtrusive, sometimes becomes a distraction. There's one point in particular where electric guitars start to wail like a Slayer concert that I had to laugh out loud. I would much rather simply have Walken's reading. But I believe that this audio might actually be from Lou Reed's project (see below).
- You can't have a list of people talking without an appearance by James Earl Jones. This is a straight-up reading without any musical or video accompaniment. It is a good, deliberate reading with great cadence, but emotionally is somewhat flat. Anyway, a good listen.
- This is an interesting item by Lou Reed. It is not The Raven proper but a reworked version with mostly the same rhythm and many of the original passages, although often with different meaning in their new contexts. On Wikipedia I found that in 2003 Lou Reed released a 2-Disc set "consisted of songs written by Reed and spoken-word performances of reworked and rewritten texts of Edgar Allan Poe by the actors, set to electronic music composed by Reed." Presumably this clip, and maybe the Christopher Walken one, are from that album.
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Readings of "The Raven"
I'm a big fan of Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven. Like all great poetry, it is best to read aloud or listen to another reading aloud. I read it aloud myself quite often -- I've almost memorized it -- and I have on DVD the famous Halloween episode of The Simpsons, in which James Earl Jones does a partial reading. I was on the bus thinking about trying to find some other performances when I remembered in which century I lived and so popped out of my iPhone and opened up Youtube. Some of my findings are below:
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