{"id":4211,"date":"2022-01-10T22:17:49","date_gmt":"2022-01-10T22:17:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost:8000\/?page_id=4211"},"modified":"2025-03-05T18:21:17","modified_gmt":"2025-03-06T02:21:17","slug":"poet-jim-carroll-waxes-lyrical-on-return-to-rock","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/research\/jim-carrolls-interviews\/poet-jim-carroll-waxes-lyrical-on-return-to-rock\/","title":{"rendered":"Poet Jim Carroll Waxes Lyrical On Return To Rock"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Colin Devenish
Edited by Michael Goldberg
SonicNet Music News of the World<\/a> 24 November 1998<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

After 14 years out of rock scene, author\/singer returns with latest album of songs, Pools of Mercury.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Contributing Editor Colin Devenish reports:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

After more than a decade out of the rock scene, poet and author Jim Carroll is back with his latest album of songs, Pools of Mercury.<\/em> When asked why he’s making music again, the lanky New York City fixture said singing rock ‘n’ roll is one of the greatest highs around.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He should know. Carroll is the author of the acclaimed, reportedly autobiographical book, “The Basketball Diaries,” which recounts the escapades of a young kid experimenting with heroin and carousing on the streets of New York.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Most poets should face a rock ‘n’ roll audience for one night to keep them honest.” <\/strong><\/p>— Jim Carroll, poet and rocker<\/strong><\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

“There’s no better feeling sometimes than when you’re able to sing,” Carroll, 48, said in a recent conversation. “I once said a poet has the right to sing as loudly and vocally as he wants to. Most poets should face a rock ‘n’ roll audience for one night to keep them honest.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carroll pieced together Pools of Mercury<\/em> — his first rock album since 1984’s I Write Your Name<\/em> — with producer Anton Sanko (Suzanne Vega) guitarist Lenny Kaye (Patti Smith) and a host of session players. The result includes such catchy rock songs as Falling Down Laughing<\/strong> <\/object> ([mp3] excerpt), originally written for the film adaptation of “The Basketball Diaries.” In addition, somber spoken-word pieces, such as “Zeno’s Law of High-Heeled Shoes,” are accompanied by atmospheric background music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First published as a poet at the age of 16, Carroll received critics’ accolades in 1978 for “The Basketball Diaries.” But it took the punk-rock movement to inspire Carroll to sing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He formed the Jim Carroll Band, and in 1980, they released their debut album, Catholic Boy,<\/em> on the custom-label established by British rock legends the Rolling Stones. Carroll even scored an alternative-rock hit with “People Who Died,” a fiery, uptempo rock single from the album.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I can’t sing that well, but when punk-rock came along, it changed all that,” Carroll said. To make up for what he termed his “technical deficiencies,” he used an understanding of phrasing he gleaned from poetry. As a counterpoint to crashing power chords, he’d drop the volume of his voice, thereby changing the dynamics of a song. These were “things that singers who are technically much better might not do,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kaye — longtime guitarist for Smith, another punk-era-poet-turned-rocker — pegged “Falling Down Laughing” as the song that made Carroll decide to record his first rock record in 14 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

” ‘Falling Down Laughing’ is such a straight-ahead rock song, [and] it provides a bridge from [his earlier career as a musician to the present],” Kaye said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Producer Sanko, who also plays several instruments on the album, said Carroll’s main focus was, as one might expect, on the lyrics. “Words are a lot more important to him than the average singer,” Sanko said. “He’s not the kind of guy that’s going to sing ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ at a baseball game.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n