Eddie Freeman

[Bill]

In 11 Outlined Epitaphs, liner notes to Times They Are a-Changin',
Dylan enumerates some of his influences, an eclectic list which
includes Francois Villon, Brendan Behan, Bertolt Brecht, A.L Lloyd ...

drownin' in the lungs of Edith Piaf
an' in the mystery of Marlene Dietrich
the dead poems of Eddie Freeman
love songs of Allen Ginsberg
an' jail songs of Ray Bremser
the narrow tunes of Modigliani
an' the singin' plains of Harry Jackson
the cries of Charles Aznavour
through the quiet fire of Miles Davis
above the bells of William Blake
an' beat visions of Johnny Cash
an' the saintliness of Pete Seeger

It occurs to me that the common link here is music, given that in the
case of a non-musician, such as Modigliani the painter and sculptor,
Dylan makes him a kind of honorary musician, his works honorary pieces
of music as it were. There is a recording of Brendan Behan singing The
Old Triangle, Brecht of course wrote songs with Kurt Weill, and I
expect Villon drew on old song traditions though I'd welcome any info
on that. The poets mentioned all emphasise the oral tradition in
poetry, and the singers the poetic tradition in song I suppose. Dylan
went to see Aznavour at Carnegie Hall in 62 and it blew his mind,
according to a 1987 Rolling Stone interview. Ray Bremser was a beat
poet so kind of automatically qualifies as some kind of "musician" I
suppose, unless he actually did sing, too.
But my main question is: who is, or was, Eddie Freeman?
Anybody know? Tricia? Peter? Ken?
Bill

[Peter Stone Brown]

Post by Bill
In 11 Outlined Epitaphs, liner notes to Times They Are a-Changin',
Dylan enumerates some of his influences, an eclectic list which
includes Francois Villon, Brendan Behan, Bertolt Brecht, A.L Lloyd ...
drownin' in the lungs of Edith Piaf
But my main question is: who is, or was, Eddie Freeman?
Anybody know? Tricia? Peter? Ken?
Bill

Here you go:
from:
http://www2.aya.yale.edu/classes/yc1962/obituaries/freeman.html

Edward B. Freeman, Jr.

Born: July 6, 1939
Died: November 27, 1962

Ed Freeman, our Class Poet, met an untimely death at the age of 23 on
November 27, 1962, in the crash of a Varig Airlines jetliner on a craggy
peak in the City of God Region in the Peruvian Andes Mountains. Ed was
flying to Lima, Peru after spending the summer in Brazil researching
television scripts.

Ed attended Hill School and St. Paul's School before coming to Yale. At St.
Paul's, Ed was the Captain of the wrestling and tennis teams and President
of his class. He was an outstanding scholar during his undergraduate years
at Yale. He was elected to the Board of the Literary Magazine, a Ranking
Scholar and graduated magna cum laude. Ed studied at the Sorbonne in Paris
during his junior abroad. He had expressed the intention of becoming a
professional writer after doing graduate work in world literature at the
University of Copenhagen where he was intending to enroll. Ed never married.
He as a member of Silliman College and a native of Baltimore, Maryland.

Classmate Toby Berger recalls Ed arriving at Yale laden with notebooks full
of poems he had penned. He organized a poetry reading in Sterling and
authored an avante guarde play which was performed in Silliman. Ed
frequently disappeared to Greenwich Village where he befriended a young Bob
Dylan. Lines of Ed's poetry influenced some of Dylan's songs. An example was
the 4th line in the 4th stanza of the singer's famous "A Hard Rain's-A-Gonna
Fall," saying "I met a white man who walked a black dog." Indeed, Dylan
explicitly mentioned Ed Freeman in a long poem on the back cover of one of
his early albums. Meeting backstage with Toby at a concert in Cambridge in
the late 1960's, Dylan remembered Ed fondly.

"Ed lived so intensely and fully as if somehow he almost knew his end would
be premature," Toby concluded.

[Bill]

Thanks Peter: that is really interesting. I never really wondered who
all these people were, before! There seems to be a common link: music.
Some are singers or musicians, the ones that aren't, Dylan brings a
musical image or metaphor to - eg the "narrow tunes of Modigliani", or
for that matter "the bells of William Blake". Blake and Villon are the
only pre-20th Century figures. The only exception to this "music"
theme appears to be Eddie Freeman, inasmuch as he was a poet and Dylan
refers to "poems" not songs. Or did Freeman sing, as well?
Do you happen to know a musical connection for Villon, actually?
Brendan Behan sang "The Old Triangle" (recording extant). Blake, by
the way, sang his early Songs of Innocence and Experience, to
wonderful impromptu melodies according to one of biographers and
friends. I doubt Dylan knew this when he wrote 11 Outlined Epitaphs.
But "bells" is an evocative word for Blake.
Thanks again.
Bill

Post by Peter Stone Brown

Post by Bill
In 11 Outlined Epitaphs, liner notes to Times They Are a-Changin',
Dylan enumerates some of his influences, an eclectic list which
includes Francois Villon, Brendan Behan, Bertolt Brecht, A.L Lloyd ...
drownin' in the lungs of Edith Piaf
But my main question is: who is, or was, Eddie Freeman?
Anybody know? Tricia? Peter? Ken?
Bill

http://www2.aya.yale.edu/classes/yc1962/obituaries/freeman.html
Edward B. Freeman, Jr.
Born: July 6, 1939
Died: November 27, 1962
Ed Freeman, our Class Poet, met an untimely death at the age of 23 on
November 27, 1962, in the crash of a Varig Airlines jetliner on a craggy
peak in the City of God Region in the Peruvian Andes Mountains. Ed was
flying to Lima, Peru after spending the summer in Brazil researching
television scripts.
Ed attended Hill School and St. Paul's School before coming to Yale. At St.
Paul's, Ed was the Captain of the wrestling and tennis teams and President
of his class. He was an outstanding scholar during his undergraduate years
at Yale. He was elected to the Board of the Literary Magazine, a Ranking
Scholar and graduated magna cum laude. Ed studied at the Sorbonne in Paris
during his junior abroad. He had expressed the intention of becoming a
professional writer after doing graduate work in world literature at the
University of Copenhagen where he was intending to enroll. Ed never married.
He as a member of Silliman College and a native of Baltimore, Maryland.
Classmate Toby Berger recalls Ed arriving at Yale laden with notebooks full
of poems he had penned. He organized a poetry reading in Sterling and
authored an avante guarde play which was performed in Silliman. Ed
frequently disappeared to Greenwich Village where he befriended a young Bob
Dylan. Lines of Ed's poetry influenced some of Dylan's songs. An example was
the 4th line in the 4th stanza of the singer's famous "A Hard Rain's-A-Gonna
Fall," saying "I met a white man who walked a black dog." Indeed, Dylan
explicitly mentioned Ed Freeman in a long poem on the back cover of one of
his early albums. Meeting backstage with Toby at a concert in Cambridge in
the late 1960's, Dylan remembered Ed fondly.
"Ed lived so intensely and fully as if somehow he almost knew his end would
be premature," Toby concluded.