Best Parlando featuring Frank Hudson Podcasts (2025)

1
The Spider and the Ghost of the Fly 2:03

Play Pause

2d ago2:03

2:03

Here's delightfully wicked little poem written by Vachel Lindsay now made into a short song for Halloween. The Parlando Project combines various words (mostly literary poetry) with original music in differing styles. We've done over 850 of these combinations, and you can hear any of them or read more about our encounter with the words at our blog a…

1
from "A Ghost's Leave Taking" 2:40

4d ago2:40

2:40

To make this I joined a short plaintive piece of new music with some lines excerpted from Sylvia Plath's poem. The full poem is longer and deals in greater detail with the state of awakening from sleep. To fit the music and as part of our series for Halloween and the Days of the Dead, I selected lines from Plath's poem that I heard as speaking of d…

1
Robbing an Orchard 2:23

6d ago2:23

2:23

Here's a poem turned into a little song for the more light-hearted side of Halloween. English Romantic-era poet Leigh Hunt tells us about fairies' mischief in the apple orchard. The Parlando Project takes various words (mostly literary poetry) and combines them with original music in differing styles. We've done over 850 of these combinations, and …

1
Frost Warnings 1:42

11d ago1:42

1:42

This is a poem about Autumn by Minnesota poet Phillip Dacey, who wrote many poems about marriage and family that gracefully combine clear surfaces and images with more complex undercurrents. The Parlando Project has done over 850 of these sorts of combinations, talking mostly literary poetry and performing it with original music in differing styles…

1
Beautiful Justice 3:05

17d ago3:05

3:05

I translated Paul Eluard's French poem about natural law into English for this new song. The Parlando Project combines various words (mostly literary poetry) with original music in differing styles. We've done over 850 of these combinations, and you can hear any of them or read about our encounter with the words at our blog and archives located at …

1
In Another Language 4:12

19d ago4:12

4:12

In our last piece I wrote about finding some old writing by my late wife who died decades ago. I was charmed by this poem, which was likely written while she was in college in the mid-1970s and studying writing with Howard Mohr and Phil Dacey. I performed this a spoken word piece to my own music, and yes, yes it was rewarding to inhabit words she w…

1
Exhumantion 2:08

25d ago2:08

2:08

Here's a short poem I wrote about an old man going through storage boxes and finding things his late wife had packed away in the 1980s. The Parlando Project combines various words (usually literary poetry) with original music in differing styles. We've done over 850 of these combinations, and you can hear any of them at our blog and archives locate…

1
Portrait of the Artist 2:08

1M ago2:08

2:08

Humorist and poet Dorothy Parker presented this sly account that I suspect many other creatives will recognize. Well, I got around to setting it to music. The Parlando Project combines various words (mostly literary poetry) with original music in differing styles. We've done over 850 of these combinations, and you can hear any of them and read abou…

1
Tis whiter than an Indian Pipe 2:24

1M ago2:24

2:24

The Indian Pipe or Ghost Flower serves as the initial image in this strange late Emily Dickinson poem, In this musical performance using acoustic guitar, tanpura, and tabla drums I try to carry forward the elusive feeling of this work. The Parlando Project combines various words (mostly literary poetry) with music in differing styles. We've done ov…

1
I Should Turn to Be - Jimi Hendrix Memorial 2025 5:14

1M ago5:14

5:14

Each year, on the anniversary of Jimi Hendrix's death, I play guitar to remember him. In the last decade this has led to a public piece each September, and this is this year's. The words for today's piece are taken from mermaid and siren poems written by Tennyson, Beckett, De la Mare, Symonds, Eliot, and Yeats. The music and guitar playing is mine.…

1
Bavarian Gentians 2:49

2M ago2:49

2:49

This is one of D. H. Lawrence's most esteemed poems, yet I found it exists in two versions, and the one I perform today is the lesser-known of the pair. This version differs from the other by a more raw and disturbing utilization of the Persephone myth where the sexual violence in that story is less smoothed over. If you feel you might need a conte…

1
The Cherry Blossom Wand 3:13

2M ago3:13

3:13

English poet Anna Wickham wrote "To be sung" under the title of this, so I wrote music for it and did so. My appreciation for the poem about the transience of beautiful things deepened as I worked with it for performance. The Parlando Project combines various words (mostly literary poetry) with original music in differing styles. We've done almost …

1
Sedition 4:33

2M ago4:33

4:33

No fair-minded person would say the thoughts in this piece's lyrics justify its title, but then that's part of the point it makes.* Edmund Vance Cooke wrote this in 1917, and after all these years I thought it might be appropriate to make a song out of it for today. The Parlando Project combines various words (mostly literary poetry) with original …

1
The spider holds a Silver Ball 2:05

2M ago2:05

2:05

I sometimes like to take Emily Dickinson's 19th century poetry and recast it inside music that takes on the 1960s psychedelic approach. If severed from the drug associations, this style opens up paths to use sounds in unconventional ways which I think mirrors Dickinson's startlingly novel use of language and observation. This poem is a short tale o…

1
I guest on the R. Mutt Podcast 18:18

2M ago18:18

18:18

Another Summer departure from our usual fare. In this satire I appear as guest on a podcast about Folk and Americana music to discuss some new protest songs decrying the current American administration's tampering with famous Universities. There's a special reveal in last minute of this piece. What is our usual thing? The Parlando Project normally …

1
Wild Peaches 4:08

3M ago4:08

4:08

I made this song using an extraordinarily musical sonnet by Elinor Wylie. I think her sonnet, and now this song, speaks about the desire to escape fate by fleeing to an Edenic place — but wait, deathly undercurrents are aleady there. The Parlando Project combines various words, mostly literary poetry, with original music in differing styles. We've …

1
The Unquiet Grave (Child Ballad 78) 3:12

3M ago3:12

3:12

As I approach the 24th anniversary of my late wife's death, I decided to perform this Child Ballad about the closeness and separation of lovers. The Parlando Project generally combines other people's literary poetry with original music, but this time the piece's music as well as the words are by that prolific and mysterious author and composer Anon…

1
China Mouth (live 1981) 3:55

3M ago3:55

3:55

As part of this month's atypical series recounting long past live performances from my youth, this is an original song from a lo-fi tape of the LYL Band performing at the University of Minnesota's Wiley Hall in 1981. "China Mouth" is a Surrealistic discontented Summer song, somewhat of a contrast to the LYL Band's usual early Eighties repertoire th…

1
Bugs in the System (Keys to the Drop Safe) 7:28

3M ago7:28

7:28

From a lo-fi tape of the LYL Band's 1981 concert at the University of Minnesota, the LYL Band's live performance of Dave Moore's song adaptation of Kevin FitzPatrick's poem about who faces the guns for minimum wage. The Parlando Project combines various words (usually literary poetry) with original music in differing styles. We've done over 800 of …

1
The Ballad of J. W. Hinckley 5:57

4M ago5:57

5:57

A topical song the LYL Band sang in 1980 about privilege and the attempted assassination of President Reagan. This is part of an atypical series I'm running this summer about some performances I've been a part of over the years. What the Parlando Project normally does is combine various other people's words (usually literary poetry) with original m…

1
Four Performances-Part One: A 19-year-old reads Leonard Cohen 5:48

4M ago5:48

5:48

My first live performance, a public spoken word reading from Leonard Cohen's novel Beautiful Losers I did back in The Sixties. I had just turned 19 years old. No music this time, but usually the Parlando Project combines various words (mostly literary poetry) with original music in differing styles. You can hear any of the more than 800 of such com…

1
I had a guinea golden 3:58

4M ago3:58

3:58

This Emily Dickinson poem about our fixation on losses seems to me informed by early 19th c. popular ballads, so I sang it as one. The Parlando Project combines various words (mostly literary poetry) with original music in differing styles. We've done over 800 of these combinations, and you can hear any of them and read about our experience of work…

1
The Sound of Sense 3:30

4M ago3:30

3:30

A sonnet from a series I've been writing about Alzheimer's disease, recorded as the LYL Band has traditionally done this kind of spoken word performance: live in the studio with the band's two poets improvising on their instruments as the poem is performed. This kicks off your summer series where the Parlando Project will be doing things somewhat d…

1
Meru 3:26

5M ago3:26

3:26

I've turned this late William Butler Yeats poem about worldly and spiritual battles into a song, because, at least to this one reader, this poem from another era of ravenous authoritarianism seems to speak to today's world and heart. The Parlando Project combines various words (mostly literary poetry) with original music in differing styles. We've …

1
Holy Thursday (from Songs of Experience) 2:19

5M ago2:19

2:19

Here's William Blake's other poem about children, poverty, and Ascension Day performed as a song. The Parlando Project combines various words (mostly literary poetry) with original music in differing styles. We've done over 800 of these combinations, and you can hear them all and read about our encounter with the words at our blog and archives loca…

1
Holy Thursday (from Songs of Innocence) 2:49

5M ago2:49

2:49

We may think of English poet Willam Blake as the writer of majestic mystical visions, but here he is simply observing the civic use of children of poverty on a religious holiday in this first of a pair of poems with this title. I've turned this poem from his Songs of Innocence into what it says on the tin: a song. The Parlando Project combines vari…

1
Dirge Without Music 4:41

5M ago4:41

4:41

This is Edna St. Vincent Millay's bald statement of mortality and grief performed with music. Her title says it's without music, because she wished to express that beauty does not mitigate loss, and perhaps my far-from-bel canto voice here follows her intent. The Parlando Project combines various words (mostly literary poetry) with original music i…

1
Langston Hughes' "Teacher" 2:32

6M ago2:32

2:32

Here's a knotty poem about virtue, life, and star-dust by Langston Hughes that I've turned into a song. The Parlando Project takes words (mostly literary poetry) and combines them with original music in differing styles. We've done over 800 of these combinations and you can hear any of them at our blog and archives at frankhudson.org…

1
Langston Hughes' Cabaret 1:49

6M ago1:49

1:49

The great Afro-American poet Langston Hughes was a pioneer in Jazz Poetry, so it is appropriate that managed to finish this piece for International Jazz Day and the last day of National Poetry Month: a performance of a short poem of his about Jazz, "Cabaret." The Parlando Project combines various words (mostly literary poetry) with original music i…

1
Ars Poetica 4:15

6M ago4:15

4:15

Celebrating National Poetry Month and International Jazz Day with this new sonnet about poets and poetry performed along with original music I composed for a Jazz quartet. This is what the Parlando Project does regularly: we combine various words (usually literary poetry) with music we create in various styles. We've done over 800 of these combinat…

1
Absent Place - an April Day 2:47

6M ago2:47

2:47

Emily Dickinson wrote these words in The Sixties, the 1860s. I just got done with this song performance of her poem as if it was the 1960s and this was a West Coast Folk-Rock band. I think Dickinson here is writing about those things left behind, missing, even in the delights of Spring. The Parlando Project combines various words (mostly literary p…

1
Dread Robin 3:26

6M ago3:26

3:26

I set Emily Dickinson's "I dreaded that first Robin, so" to this music for National Poetry Month. Dickinson's poem casts a skeptical eye on Spring, at once alienated from it and yet closely, wittily, observing. My music mutates throughout to carry forward the coming of Springtime. The Parlando Project combines various words (mostly literary poetry)…

1
Lilacs (version) 6:23

7M ago6:23

6:23

An odd notion I had while planning for this year's National Poetry Month: could I perform an Amy Lowell poem with a rock band in the spirit of the Patti Smith Group? Well, the result still sounds like me, but sections of this Amy Lowell poem do presage methods of later poetic expression. The Parlando Project performs various words (mostly literary …

1
The Lent Lilly 2:33

7M ago2:33

2:33

A. E. Housman's poem of fleeting wildflowers set to music as part of our celebration of this month's U. S. National Poetry Month. The Parlando Project combines various words (mostly literary poetry) with original music in differing styles. We've done over 800 of these combinations and you can hear all of them and read about our encounters with the …

1
The Second Coming 3:48

7M ago3:48

3:48

William Butler Yeats wrote this oft-quoted poem of the rise of evil in the world. I found it more challenging that many other Yeats poems to put to music and to sing, but tonight I've judged this full-rock-band version complete. The Parlando Project combines various words (mostly literary poetry) with original music in differing styles. We've done …

1
Counting Out Rhyme 3:00

7M ago3:00

3:00

Here's another Edna St. Vincent Millay poem turned into a short spell-song for Spring and Poem in Your Pocket Day. The Parlando Project combines various words (mostly literary poetry) with original music in differing styles. We've done over 800 of these combinations, and you can hear any of them and read about our encounters with the words at our b…

1
Sitting on Top of the World 3:36

7M ago3:36

3:36

This is a song made from a section of Carl Sandburg's 1928 poem "Good Morning America" which I sang this month in order that it shed some light on the nation's current state. The Parlando Project combines various words (mostly literary poetry) with original music in differing styles. We've done over 800 of these combinations and you can hear any of…

1
Pablo Neruda's Love Poem 16 from 20 Love Poems 3:30

7M ago3:30

3:30

I started doing an English translation of a poem from Chilean poet Pablo Neruda's youthful series of love poems, and in that process I thought of something else on my mind, and so began to connect the poem with two husbands taken from the US and their families based on dubious charges this Spring. This poem from Neruda's series speaks of lovers sep…

1
Northern April 3:38

7M ago3:38

3:38

Our National Poetry Month celebration continues with a musical presentation of this sensuous Edna St Vincent Millay poem. Since I awoke this April morning to tree branches covered with wet April snow in my northern clime, I felt part of "the shared world" with this poet as I completed this song setting today. The Parlando Project combines various w…

1
She Dreams of Sewing Machines 2:10

7M ago2:10

2:10

I might think of this as the first piece of my National Poetry Month observance this year, or as a piece the follows on from my Alice Dunbar Nelson "I Sit and Sew" performance earlier in March. "She Dreams of Sewing Machines" is part of my set of Memory Car sonnets dealing with a daughter's experience of her mother's dementia. The Parlando Project …

1
An Irish Airman foresees his Death 2:00

7M ago2:00

2:00

John "Paddy" Hemingway died this St. Patrick's day. Dublin born, and in Dublin he died, but he was in the news because he was the last surviving RAF pilot from the Battle of Britain during WWII. I immediately thought of this Yeats poem, about a fatalistic Irish pilot during WWI who flew into battle having no love for the British Empire. His Wikiped…

1
in Just spring 2:57

8M ago2:57

2:57

Poet e. e. cummings hopscotched across a page with this classic Spring poem. I've now made it into a little song for the first day of this year's Spring. The Parlando Project takes various words (mostly literary poetry) and combines them with original music in differing styles. We've done over 800 of those combinations over the years, and you can h…

1
R. A. Lafferty 6:31

8M ago6:31

6:31

Instead of literary poetry, here's a little SciFi. This is a Dave Moore song about R. A. Lafferty, the electrician turned daft Speculative Fiction writer, whose stories often sounded like they were spoken by an intoxicated man at a bar who needs just one more drink to wrap up his tale. This is older piece, recorded as the Parlando Project was start…

1
Barn, Burning 4:21

8M ago4:21

4:21

Two Irish-American poets, now dead, used to lead a poetry reading every St. Patrick's Day in St. Paul. Earlier this week I presented a performance of a poem by one of them, Kevin FitzPatrick. Tonight, I release this song I adapted from a poem by the second poet, Ethna McKiernan. I saw "Barn Burning" as a beautiful, wild, mystical poem. I hope my ve…

1
Kevin FitzPatrick's Farewell 4:12

8M ago4:12

4:12

Here's a performance of a poem from FitzPatrick's final collection done in remembrance of the St. Patrick's Day poetry readings he used to lead every year. That poetry collection, Still Living in Town, told of his life working on his life-partner's farm in Wisconsin. One of the characters in that book's series of poems about rural life was the farm…

1
I Sit and Sew 3:40

8M ago3:40

3:40

"I Sit and Sew" is likely Alice Dunbar-Nelson's best-known poem, a strongly worded statement of a woman wishing to assuage the suffering of war. I've now made it into a short song, as that's what the Parlando Project does. I'll write a bit more about the particulars of the poem at the Project's blog and archives later today, but I thought her poem …

1
Credo (The Will To Love) 2:01

8M ago2:01

2:01

Long work this week to find a set of words I could use and sing, ones that would meet our world and times with some measure of hope and purpose. These are the ones I chose, written over a hundred years ago by early American Modernist poet and publisher Alfred Kreymborg. The Parlando Project combines various words (mostly literary poetry) with origi…

1
Six Maxims 2:07

8M ago2:07

2:07

This February during Black History Month I've been writing about the discovery, history, and my subsequent impressions of a scrapbook featuring the life and career of a mid-20th Century Afro-American musician and singer Lawrence "Hank" Hazlett who played with a swing Jazz quartet The Cats and the Fiddle from Chicago and then with his own Hank Hazle…

1
You! Inez! 2:15

8M ago2:15

2:15

Here's Alice Dunbar Nelson's passionate love poem from the last decade to be called The Twenties performed as a song. I just saw this poem this morning, but I was so taken with it that I spent my afternoon composing some music to perform it with. The Parlando Project combines various words (mostly literary poetry) with original music in differing s…

1
Langston's Blues (Dreams) 2:13

9M ago2:13

2:13

Our Black History Month celebration this month is more focused on new articles on the Parlando Project blog, but I thought it'd be good to provide some new musical pieces too. Here's Langston Hughes' poem "Dreams" which I've cast as a blues for acoustic guitar, bass, and piano for this performance. The Parlando Project takes various words (mostly l…

Parlando Featuring Frank Hudson Podcasts