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Listen to Iggy Pop read ‘Do Not Go Gentle’ by Dylan Thomas

Mon 31 October 2022 7:00, UK

Iggy Pop isn’t known for his poignancy. The musician rose to prominence as the primaeval frontman of Iggy and The Stooges, the 1960s garage rock outfit without whom countless punk artists would have been utterly lost at sea. Iggy has peeled away layer upon layer of ego over the years. In his solo work in the 1970s, he remained a disciple of William S. Burrough’s brand of seedy realism. However, in recent years, the wild child of rock music has revealed a new tenderness. This recording of Dylan Thomas’s poem ‘Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night’ is the perfect example.

Written by Welsh poet Dylan Thomas in 1947, ‘Do Not Go Gentle’ was initially published in Botteghe Oscure, an Italian literary journal, in 1951. It was later included in his 1952 collection In Country Sleep, And Other Poems. The following autumn, Thomas managed to drink himself into a coma while touring America on a reading and lecture tour. The tour’s organiser, literary critic John Brinnin, later asked his assistant, Liz Reitell, a former lover of Thomas’, to lock the poet in his study so that he might complete his stage play Under Milk Wood.

Thomas’ recovery didn’t last long. In the first days of November 1953, Thomas’ chronic chest illness was exacerbated by New York’s polluted air. To cope, he began drinking heavily and quickly fell ill. The doctors attempted to treat him, but his condition was already deteriorating. Thomas’ wife, Caitlin Macnamara, flew over from England and travelled to the hospital where he lay dying. On arrival, she exploded into a drunken rage and threatened to kill Brinnin. After Dylan’s death on November 9th, James Laughlin was asked to identify his body at the morgue. Just a few weeks later, The New Directions founder would publish The Collected Poems of Dylan Thomas. Dylan Thomas’ poetry would go on to inform everything from the cover of Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band to Bob Dylan’s decision to change his name from Robert Zimmerman.

Pop’s reading of ‘Do No Go Gentle’ was one of three tracks featured on Free – produced by guitarist and composer Noveller, who created an improvised soundscape around the reading. Speaking to The Sun, Pop revealed that he’d struggled to record the poem after being reminded of his father, a high-school teacher and baseball coachL “I had a lot of love and respect for my father and I never felt I was as good a man as him. I thought, ‘Gee, do I have the right to talk to MY dad like that?’ Well, not really.”

Make sure you check out the recording if you haven’t already.