The Weirding Module – Songs of Innocence

William Blake’s visionary, pre-romantic collection of poetry Songs of Innocence and its counterpart Songs of Experience have inspired countless musical versions across every genre, a deeply strange part of the western canon these collections occupy a space that draws in unusual kinds of people and unique forms of expression. Long out of copyright the versions continue to proliferate via the free audio book service librivox and the many unique poetry youtube channels popping up in recent times.

Featuring the pop experiments of Jah Wobble, Tangerine Dream and David Axelrod; folk versions from Greg Brown and Emmanuel Koch; the romanticism / neo romanticism of John Tavener, Benjamin Britton and Ralph Vaughan Williams; the Avante garde settings of Allen Ginsburg and William Bolcom; as well as innumerable readings set to music from youtube channels like those of Rita Rio, Francis Gilbert and The Wordman and the every reliable librivox recordings.