Allen Ginsberg at 100: Classic reflections from Michael D. Higgins, Bono, Lou Reed and more

Michael D. Higgins

"I originally met [Allen Ginsberg] back in 1967 in Indiana. That time he was sitting on the ground, with people and a beautiful whiff of smoke all around him. Later on, he came to Galway [for the Cúirt International Festival of Literature], his fee being a tweed suit. People don’t know this, but he was buried in that same tweed suit."

(2025)

Lou Reed

"Y'know, part of [being] a poet might be: 'Are you read?' People read Allen, he's very relatable, you can relate things from now, today, our world, things we live through. Not a small accomplishment. I loved his last book of poetry, talking about his health. He always wanted to shake it up, no matter what.

"It was a big deal for me to meet Burroughs, Ginsberg and Selby. I mean, I was a fan first. And then appearing in shows with them...

(2000)

Patti Smith

"There is one piece we did in memory of Allen Ginsberg. Both Oliver Ray, one of my guitar players, and I were present when Allen died. We saw him die. He was a friend and an important cultural figure, so we did one tribute piece to him. Oliver set some of his words to music and I performed them."

(1997)

Paul McCartney

"...I had been hanging out with Allen Ginsberg in the last couple of years before Allen died, and one of the things that I remember he said to me was, 'You know that 'Eleanor Rigby' is a helluva poem, Paul.' And I thought 'Wow, that’s cool, coming from him who’s a great poet.'"

(2002)

Bono

"The Liberty Hall thing [in 1993] was a great event. I remember I bought [Ginbserg] a suit at Louis Copeland’s. So he had this suit.

"And in fact, Ginsberg when he died, he auctioned everything he owned – every single thing he owned. Some people were shocked. Well, his friends were. It was Gavin who introduced him to me – he was a very good friend of Gavin Friday’s. And he was always meticulous about everything he did. And he sold all of his stuff off for that Buddhist institute, Napa.

"Anyway, I looked at the stuff and I thought I’d buy one of his pens or something. And then I saw a copy of Oscar Wilde’s The Ideal Husband, which I thought was so funny – for him, if you think about it. So I said to myself, ‘I have to buy that!’ Because I collect first editions. And I got it.

"I didn’t get some of the other things I bid for – I guess the pens were very popular, and I didn’t buy the suit. I bought the Uncle Sam hat and I gave it to Gavin for his 40th birthday – you know, the famous Uncle Sam hat he wore in photographs? And I got the book for me. When it came back, I opened it, and written inside was, ‘To Allen Ginsberg – Love, Bono’. Ha, ha! I’d forgotten I’d given it to him.

"But Ginsberg was a real maestro as well as a professor, and he was very good to me... Obviously America was a big influence on The Joshua Tree, as was Howl. And because my style of singing is operatic, I use a lot of vowel sounds. Very restrictive for a writer. So sometimes it’s nice to break away from that and just use a sort of scattergun."

(2009)

Caleb Carr

The American novelist and military historian on growing up around the Beats, who were close friends with his father, Lucien Carr:

"Allen was always at my brother's house for Christmas and he was always a really supportive person. The great thing about Allen was he didn't care what it was you were doing. I mean, nothing could have been more different from what he did than what I do. But he didn't care that it was different. It was the fact that I was doing it and that I believed in it. He was always very supportive of anything that anybody did, if they were honest, you know, if they really cared about it then it didn't matter what they were doing. If you were writing TV sitcoms, if it was what you really believed in, he would support it...

"Very few writers I think can educate emotionally and spiritually. Most think they can but I think very few can. I think Ginsberg, for instance, was an example of someone who could. But I think that people like that come along very rarely"

(1997)

Bob Dylan

On Howl:

"That's very powerful. That's another book that changed me: Howl, On The Road, Dharma Bums..."

(1984)