DIE ON ME: Gregory Corso’s ‘For Homer’ Unearths a Lost Beat Masterpiece

Uncategorized September 10, 2025
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DIE ON ME: Gregory Corso’s ‘For Homer’ Unearths a Lost Beat Masterpiece

Gregory Corso’s final recordings, ‘DIE ON ME,’ are being re-released by Shimmy-Disc. Originally released on CD in 2002, the collection is now available for the first time on vinyl. It was remastered and edited by Kramer, who also founded Shimmy-Disc.


The album features intimate and raw spoken word recordings captured just days before Corso’s death in 2001. It includes his final sessions, recorded by the late Hal Willner, as well as archival recordings from 1959.

‘DIE ON ME’ captures Corso in conversation with close friends and fellow legends, including Allen Ginsberg and Marianne Faithfull. He tells stories, revisits memories, and reads some of his best-known poems. The recordings offer a glimpse into the mind of the poet as he reflects on mortality and his own life.

Shimmy-Disc has just released ‘For Homer,’ a recording of Corso reading his poem of the same name. The track, captured on January 5, 2001, is framed by Kramer’s signature ethereal strings and ambient textures. An accompanying black-and-white slideshow video provides visual context to the powerful recording.

As Allen Ginsberg once said of his closest friend: “People say that I’m the greatest American poet of the 20th Century. I tell them they’re wrong. GREGORY CORSO is a far greater poet.”


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One Comment
  1. The Triumph of the Thrill says:

    Nice to see a recording of Corso to be released and it’s always a treat to listen to Beat legends read their words. Much credit to the site to feature this historical recording here.

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