I just read in this article from The Middletown Press that Aztec Two-Step, who I saw at the Lobster Festival in Rockland, ME, a few years ago opening for Don McLean, took their name from a Lawrence Ferlinghetti poem, and a song from their self-titled debut album, "The Persecution and Restoration of Dean Moriarty," was the first song written about On The Road. The album is out-of-stock at Amazon, but you can listen to a sample of the song there.
Let's investigate these two claims. Regarding their name, Wikipedia says that it is from a line in Ferlinghetti's A Coney Island of the Mind. I don't have that handy and can't find it full-text on-line, but I'll give them that one. It's all over the Internet and I did find an excerpt here.
Regarding their song being the first one written about On The Road, I find that hard to believe. The band didn't form until 1971. It took 14 years for someone to do a song based on Jack's novel? I doubt it. Here's a lengthy list of songs that mention Jack or Neal Cassady, and Aztec Two-Step's is way down the list.
Nevertheless, they named their band after a line in a Ferlinghetti poem and did a song about Dean Moriarty.
In my book, that is pretty beat.
I liked them at The Lobster Festival. Now I like them even more.
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