Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Posted August 18, 2019 Share Posted August 18, 2019 (edited) Over the years I've gone over Kerouac's 'On the Road' many times. It puts me in the zone for working with my archive from that era which has a large collection of beat generation photography, films and ephemera and mimeo revolution / small press poetry. In 'On the Road' Kerouac makes reference to 'Hallelujah, I'm a Bum...bum again.' I never could figure out what he was talking about. Today the mystery was solved. 'Hallelujah, I'm a Bum' is a song. https://archive.org/details/hallelujahimabumyodelingdickbrooksd.d.teolijr.a.c.8.17.19 Photo by D.D. Teoli Jr. Skid Row, Los Angeles 1971 Edited August 18, 2019 by Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member David Mullen ASC Posted August 18, 2019 Premium Member Share Posted August 18, 2019 Great discovery -- how did you track that down? Google search of the phrase? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Posted August 19, 2019 Author Share Posted August 19, 2019 (edited) No, didn't think of that. I heard the song by chance on a stream radio broadcast. Normally I do Google things like 'boomer's highball' or 'balling the jack.' But the bum phrase didn't mean much to me to look up. Kerouac said the person sang it, but I figured it was the same as if some said they heard me sing 'I wanna win the lotto.' Referring to a way of speaking, but not a real song. You have to try and figure things out even with Google as one source said a boomer is a drifter and another said a boomer is a new trainee. But looks like the source saying they are a trainee is gone, can't find it. If you have never heard On the Road audiobook, get the Matt Dillion version. Excellent! I got it from the library inter-library loan. That must have been something in the railroad (steam) era. I'd love to have been able to photo it. Edited August 19, 2019 by Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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