The Dual Change - Everything is Space - Sun Ra Poem

Sun Ra often incorporated his philosophy musings into the Arkestra's live performances; sometimes this presentation took the form of 'traditional' song lyrics, other times he spoke at length over the band's vamp, creating spontaneous sermons that we like to call 'declamations.'  Below are the words to Ra's poem, The Dual Change.  I invite you to read them as you stream three very different recitations of the verse recorded several years apart from each other.

First is the 1974 version released as There Is Change In The Air on Sun Ra's LP, The Antique Blacks.  In this performance, the poem is initially recited in its entirety; afterward, portions are spoken between musical passages.

The second performance of the poem, The Dual Change, is culled from the 1989 release, Somewhere Else, and is entitled Everything Is Space.  In this recording,  the poem is recited over a decidedly different arrangement.

 

Finally, a concert performance from New Years 1980/81 during the Detroit Residency.  In this reading, Arkestra members recite the poem without musical accompaniment.  This particular performance of the poem comes between 'Saturn Rings' and 'Fate in a Pleasant Mood.'

The Dual Change

Things change . . .
There is always change in the air . . . . . .
But the change is different now
 From any ever felt before . . . . . .
 The music is listening and waiting
  While sounding sounds of terrible silence . .
     Didn't you hear the silence lately?
Music is silence too . . . . . . .
They cannot stop the silence;
  They cannot compel the silence to cease . . . . .
They do not know yet
How loud the silence can become!
  There is always change in the air . . .
   But there is a different spirit in the wind . .
    A bold and daring soul from somewhere there:
      Somewhere out and yon!
It is even beyond the time . . . . .
Time is:
. . . . . . . Never-no-more . . . . . . . .
Everything is space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . .It is the space of the dual change.
The street is no longer a street . . . . . . . . . . .
 It is the highway of the world.
              There is change in the air!
 Do you not hear the heavy silence there?
It is the double space of dual change . . . . . . .
The spirit wind is in the air:
It hovers above the street no longer there . .
   The street: A highway widened fare . . . . . . .
The emergency decreed it thus . . . . .
 All at once, it was seen:

       The road . . . the people  . . . . .
The wrong direction there . . .
    It is the right road . . . .
They are going the wrong direction there!
Some of the must turn and go the other way:
The arrow points to pointlessness . . pointlessness.
              A two-way street affair . . . . .
        An alter never-[no-]* more-again . . . . . . . . .
  The people and the leaders walk hand in hand . . .
   They were on the right road all the time . . .
   But now there is no time . . . . . . .
     That is why they have to turn
        And walk the opposite-alter-way.
             They must go
          To the place of space
       For the celebration of the dual change.

                      . . . . . . . . . . . .

Sun Ra - The Immeasurable Equation
The Collected Poetry and Prose compiled and edited by James L. Wolf and Hartmut Geerken
Waitawhile (2005)
pp 142, 143

Sun Ra - Holiday for Soul Dance (rec. 1960, rel. 1970)

This collection is somewhat of an oddity in that there are no original compositions from Sun Ra. That said, cornet player Phil Cohran contributes "Dorothy's Dance." As the album initially surfaced in the early '70s, many presumed the recordings reflected Ra's concurrent combo and sound, which couldn't have been further from the truth. Scholars have since placed 1960 or 1961 as a closer estimation of when these sides were documented, using the rare inclusion of Ricky Murry (vocals) as sonic evidence, coupled with the fact that the effort was cut prior to the band's relocation to New York City from Chicago at the beginning of the decade. The primary (and most notable) Arkestra centered on Ra, Marshall Allen (alto sax), John Gilmore (tenor sax), Phil Cohran (cornet), Ronnie Boykins (bass), and Jon Hardy (drums). The bounty of pop standards and memorable melodies showcase Ra's spectacularly intricate and often underappreciated arrangements. The spry take of George Gershwin's "But Not for Me" is rephrased to spotlight the soloists' remarkable improvisational skills behind tight support from the compact and swinging rhythm section. Boykins and Hardy's brooding introduction to "Day by Day" immediately suggests the uneasy and inquisitive score that has been completely overhauled to express Ra's newly adopted sense of the avant-garde as well as his free jazz leanings. Seemingly disparate tunes and time signatures fuse into a free-wheeling affair that contains all the flair of Sun Ra with much of the same romantic charm of more familiar readings, such as Jo Stafford's (vocals) hit version. "Holiday for Strings" can also be recommended because of the highly stylized rendering. Rather than the mile-a-minute staccato "plinking" that often identifies the piece, Ra gives it a cool post-bop workout that discerns it for those otherwise unfamiliar with the song. "Early Autumn" is interesting from the perspective of the dearth of singers that Ra accompanied. Murry's robust voice proves a bit overwhelming, as if he might break into an operatic vocalization at any moment. Arguably the most memorable selection on Holiday for Soul Dance is the gorgeous take of "I Loves You, Porgy," incorporating a languid swing that gently drives the backbeat, ably supporting the scintillating adaptation.

AMG Review by Lindsay Planer

72. [61]  Sun Ra and his Myth Science Arkestra

Fate in a Pleasant Mood /
Holiday for Soul Dance /
Angels and Demons at Play /
We Travel the Spaceways /
Rocket Number Nine Take Off for the Planet Venus
(Interstellar Low Ways) /
The Singles

Sun Ra (bells, perc, p -2); Phil Cohran (cnt -4), perc, voc); Nate Pryor (tb, bells -5); John Gilmore (ts -6; perc, voc); Marshall Allen (as -8, fl -9, bells, voc); Ronnie Boykins (b, voc); John Hardy (d, perc, gong).

RCA Studios, Chicago,
around June 17, 1960

But Not for Me (Gershwin) -2, 4, 6, 8
Day by Day (Cahn-Stordahl-Weston) -2, 4, 5, 6, 8
Holiday for Strings (Rose-Gallo) -2, 5
Dorothy's Dance (Cohran) -2, 4, 6, 8
I Loves You Porgy
(Gershwin-Gershwin-Heyward) -2, 4, 6, 9
Body and Soul (Green-Heyman-Sour-Eyton) -2, 6
Keep Your Sunny Side Up (DeSylva-Brown) -2, 4, 6, 8

(Plus MANY MORE not included on Holiday for Soul Dance)

According to Phil Cohran, this session was an all-day marathon at which 30 to 40 tunes were recorded.  All tracks were identified by Cohran as coming from this session or have a similar ambiance to those he identified.  Cohran places this session at Hall Recording Co. (but see below).  Cohran has said that he copyrighted "Dorothy's Dance" "within a week" after the session; "Dorothy's Dance" was registered on June 24, 1960.  Sun Ra followed Cohran to the Library of Congress with a suite (consisting of "Space Loneliness," "Fate in a Pleasant Mood," "Lights on a Satellite," and "State Street") on July 8, and "The Blue Set" on July 21 (James Wolf).

Alton Abraham says that the studio at Hall Recording Co. was too small for the Arkestra and that he normally used it for mastering only.  This was the smallest Arkestra to make a studio recording during the Chicago period; however, Abraham's suggestion that the session was done at RCA Studios does seem more plausible.  The actual recording order is unknown, except that "Velvet" was the last track of the day.  Personnel courtesy of Phil Cohran; the drummer, Jon Hardy, was not mentioned on any of the Saturn record jackets, though his name appears in the 1967 catalog in connection with We Travel the Spaceways.

Further confirmation of the common origin of many of these tracks is provided by a Saturn test pressing found in a Montréal record store by François Lamarche.  The test pressing was made at Sheldon Recording Studios (aka the Chess studios in Chicago) and titled simply, Music of the Future by Sun Ra Arkestra.  Side A contained "Space Mates," "But Not for Me," and "The Others in There [sic] World."  Side B had "Lights on the [sic] Satellite," "Day by Day," "Ankhnaton," and "Holiday for Strings."  The pressing contains Alton Abraham's old address at 4115 South Drexel -- and gives a Montréal address and phone number for Sun Ra.  It was therefore cut in the summer or early fall of 1961.  However, Saturn did not actually issue any LPs from this session until 1965, and when they began to appear, the tracks had been redistributed.

At least 22 tracks from this date were issued, on two Saturn singles and five different LPs.
Saturn ESR 508, Holiday for Soul Dance, was released in 1970, credited to "Sun Ra and his Intergalactic Arkestra."  The album was reissued on Evidence 22011 [CD] in 1992.

[the above entry in Campbell/Trent's The Earthly Recordings 2nd ed. has been truncated to include only info pertinent to Holiday for Soul Dance - yotte]




74. [63]  Sun Ra and his Intergalactic Arkestra

Holiday for Soul Dance

Sun Ra (p.); Marshall Allen (as, fl); John Gilmore (ts); Ronnie Boykins (b); Jon Hardy (d); Ricky Murray (voc).

Wonder Inn, Chicago,
around July 30, 1960

Early Autumn (Herman-Mercer-Burns)

Ricky Murray does not remember the June studio session and suggests that this track was made at the Wonder Inn (at 75th and Cottage Grove).  A brief item in the Chicago Defender mentions "a special added attraction" at the Wonder Inn for July 30, 1960:  Sun Ra and his "recording band."

This track was initially released in 1970 on Saturn ESR 508, Holiday for Soul Dance, and reissued in 1992 on Evidence 2201 [CD].  Though Murray is listed as the vocalist, the personnel listing on the Saturn jacket is otherwise completely wrong, giving a 14-piece ensemble from around 1969!

from Campbell/Trent  The Earthly Recordings 2nd ed.

Sun Ra and his Astro Infinity Arkestra
Holiday for Soul Dance

(Saturn reissue LP rip)

1. But Not For Me (Gershwin)   4:09
2. Day By Day (Cahn-Sordahl-Weston)   3:39
3. Holiday For Strings (Rose-Gallo)   4:08
4. Dorothy's Dance (Cohran)   3:14

5. Early Autumn (Vocal by R. Murray) (Herman-Mercer-Burns)   4:51
6. I Loves You Porgy (Gershwin-Gershwin-Heyward)   3:34
7. Body And Soul (Green-Heyman-Sour-Eyton)   5:58
8. Keep Your Sunny Side Up (DeSylva-Brown)   2:12

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Holiday for Soul Dance (Evidence CD rip)

1. But Not For Me   4:11
2. Day By Day   3:40
3. Holiday For Strings   4:09
4. Dorothy's Dance   3:19
5. Early Autumn   4:53
6. I Loves You, Porgy   3:35
7. Body And Soul   6:00
8. Keep Your Sunny Side Up   2:12


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I-) found these scans of an original LP online somewhere.  If you look closely, you'll see that the back cover seems to be decorated with black cut-outs glued to the jacket.  I wonder if it may be the original from which the Saturn Reissue LP cover was made.  Thanks for sharing, I-) !

Sun Ra Arkestra in Spain July, 1985 (video)

This video is from a TV broadcast from the end of July 1985 when the Arkestra was playing in Spain at the Jazzaldia Festival in Donostia-San Sebastián.  Great stuff!!!

The Sun Ra Arkestra at the Jazzaldia Festival in Donostia-San Sebastián (Basque Country), July 1985: Sun Ra (p, syn, voc); Ronnie Brown (tp); Tyrone Hill (tb); Marshall Allen (as, fl, ob, perc); John Gilmore (ts, cl, timb, voc); Ronald Wilson (picc, ts); Danny Ray Thompson (bars, perc); Eloe Omoe (as, bcl, cacl, perc); James Jacson (bsn, fl, Ancient Egyptian Infinity Drum); Bruce Edwards (eg); Rollo Radford (double eb); Tommy "Bugs" Hunter (dr); Avreeayl Amen Ra (dr); unidentified (perc); June Tyson (voc) and an unidentified dancer. 

via CrownPropeller's Blog

Please visit Crown Propeller and thank him for this amazing video.

Sun Ra - Sunrise in Different Dimensions Hat Hut LP (1980)

Many Thanks to Vinylust for this rip of his original US pressing of this wonderful LP.

This double LP features a live concert by Sun Ra & the Arkestra in Switzerland. The only fault to the set is that the two drummers (Chris Henderson and Eric Walker) fail to swing and often sound wooden on the vintage standards, which might be due to the lack of a bassist. However, the nonet (which also includes Ra on piano and organ, tenor great John Gilmore, altoist Marshall Allen, baritonist Danny Thompson, the reeds of Kenneth Williams and Noel Scott, and trumpeter Michael Ray), despite its slightly odd instrumentation, is heard throughout in excellent form. In addition to eight diverse and generally adventurous untitled originals by Ra, the ensemble performs ragged and eccentric versions of such 1930s pieces as "'Big John's Special," "Yeah Man," "Queer Notions," "Limehouse Blues," and "King Porter Stomp." For the remainder of his life, Sun Ra would alternate between reinventions of swing tunes and his outer space originals; despite the drummers, this was one of the better examples of his late-period band.

AMG Review by Scott Yanow

318. [251] Sun Ra and his Arkestra
Sunrise in Different Dimensions

Sun Ra (p, org, syn, cond, voc); Michael Ray (tp, flg, voc); Marshall Allen (as, ob, fl, picc, kora, perc); Noël Scott (as, bars, fl, dance, perc); John Gilmore (ts, cl, timb, voc); Danny Ray Thompson (bars, fl, perc); Kenny Williams (ts, bars, fl); Samarai Celestial [Eric Walker] (d); Chris Henderson (d); June Tyson (voc, dance).

Gastof Mohren, Willisau,
Switzerland, February 24, 1980

Hat Hut 2R17, a 2-LP set titled Sunrise in Different Dimensions, was released in 1980.  All titles were reissued in 1986 on the 2-LP set hat Art 2017.  The Ra compositions were left untitled on the original release.  They were presumably given titles by Sun Ra at a later time; some copies of 2R17 include a separate sheet with the complete track titles (Francesco Martinelli).  Complete track titles did not appear on all copies of the reissue LP.

In 1991, all but three Ra compositions ("Provocative Celestials," "Love in Outer Space," and "On Jupiter") were included in hat Art 6099 [CD].  Information from the album jacket; specifics of the location from Stahl's discography.

According to Otto Flückiger and Armin Büttner, nearly everything from both sets of this engagement (except "A Helio-Hello") was recorded on a 150-minute audience tape.  In addition, there is an essentially complete 75-minute tape from the rehearsal earlier that day.

Samarai Celestial says that this was the very first concert of the tour and that the Arkestra's ranks increased as the tour continued.
from Campbell/Trent  The Earthly Recordings 2nd ed.

Sun Ra Arkestra
Sunrise in Different Dimensions (Hat Hut LP)

1.  A1 Light From A Hidden Sun   3:52
2.  A2 Pin-Points Of Spiral Prisms   4:43
3.  A3 Silhouettes Of The Shadow World   7:20
4.  A4 Cocktails For Two   3:23

5.  B1 'Round Midnight   6:49
6.  B2 Lady Bird / Half Nelson   7:58
7.  B3 Big John's Special   3:37
8.  B4 Yeah Man!   3:42

9.  C1 Provocative Celestials   10:55
10. C2 Love In Outerspace   4:55
11. C3 Disguised Gods In Skullduggery   9:15

12. D1 Queer Notions   2:55
13. D2 Limehouse Blues   3:51
14. D3 King Porter Stomp   3:31
15. D4 Take The A Train   5:11
16. D5 Lightnin'   2:45
17. D6 On Jupiter   3:46
18. D7 A Helio-Hello! And Goodbye Too!   3:11

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For those who prefer a CD rip, I posted an LP/CD hybrid HERE. 

Sun Ra - On Jupiter (1979)

On Jupiter is a great album recorded in 1979, about a year after Lanquidity. After easing in with the fairly brief title cut, a fairly mellow affair featuring June Tyson on vocals, listeners are treated to the all-out disco-funk of "U.F.O." Anchored by a monster bassline courtesy of Steve Clarke, this tune has fun ensemble vocals and great solos on guitar and tenor sax. This is as funky as Sun Ra ever got and really must be heard to be believed. Side two consists of "Seductive Fantasy," a lovely piece composed on top of a three-note bass ostinato that features lots of great piano from Ra and some interesting guitar sounds from either Skeeter McFarland or Taylor Richardson. John Gilmore gets plenty of room on this track as well and Luqman Ali's drumming is superb. This album is well worth picking up, but being one of those Saturn rarities makes it pretty difficult to do so.

AMG Review by Sean Westergaard

300. [243]  Sun Ra and his Arkestra

Sun Ra (keyb, voc); Eddie Gale (tp, voc); Michael Ray (tp, voc); Marshall Allen (as, perc, voc); John Gilmore (ts, perc, voc); poss. Julian Pressley (bars); Danny Ray Thompson (bars, voc); James Jacson (Inf-d, voc); Skeeter McFarland (eg); Taylor Richardson (eg); Steve Clarke (eb); Atakatune (cga, perc); Reg McDonald (d); June Tyson (voc).

Variety Recording Studio, NYC,
mid-to late May 1979

UFO (Ra-Clarke-Richardson) [ens voc]

El Saturn 101679, On Jupiter, was issued in 1979.  Some copies are known by the title Seductive Fantasy.  Samarai Celestial pointed out that this recording session predated "Seductive Fantasy" and "On Jupiter."  Personnel from Geerken's discography with corrections by Samarai and rlc.  Sun Ra told a member of the audience that he had "prepared a practice piece" for the May 5 concert in New Orleans (this can be heard on the tape).  The only previously unperformed piece on that tape was "UFO," and the vocal on that version was somewhat different from the vocal on this studio recording and subsequent concert performances.

 

312. [243a]  Sun Ra and his Arkestra

Sun Ra (p, org, keyb, voc); Eddie Gale (tp); Michael Ray (tp); Marshall Allen (as, fl, ob); John Gilmore (ts); poss. Julian Pressley (bars); Danny Ray Thompson (bars, fl); James Jacson (bsn, fl, Inf-d); Skeeter McFarland (eg); Taylor Richardson (eg); Richard Williams (b); Atakatune (cga, perc); Samarai Celestial [Eric Walker] (d); June Tyson (voc).

Variety Recording Studio, NYC,
October 16, 1979

On Jupiter (Ra) [ens voc]
Seductive Fantasy (Ra)

Samarai Celestial pointed out that "UFO" was recorded before he joined the band in July 1979, whereas these two items came from a later session.  Personnel from Geerken's discography with corrections by Samarai and rlc.

from Campbell/Trent  The Earthly Recordings 2nd ed.

On Jupiter

1. On Jupiter   3:59
2. UFO   8:36

3. Seductive Fantasy   12:45

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I-) found these additional scans.  Many Thanks!!

Sun Ra - Sleeping Beauty (1979)

This is the great late-night Sun Ra chillout album you never knew about. The band had been working in a more groove-oriented setting off and on for over a year, as evidenced by the albums Lanquidity and On Jupiter, with both featuring prominent electric bass and electric guitar. Sleeping Beauty picks up right where On Jupiter left off, with the gentle, swaying "Springtime Again" echoing the same mellow vibe of "Seductive Fantasy" from On Jupiter. A skittering intro coalesces as different instruments pick up bits of the melody, which is then fully expressed by the horn section and ensemble vocals. It's a simple two-chord vamp, with beautiful solos that seem to embody the reawakening and rebirth of springtime. "The Door of the Cosmos" starts with a gospel-like chant and handclaps, with comments from Ra's electric piano and electric guitar. A strong bassline enters, very reminiscent of "A Love Supreme, Pt. 1: Acknowledgement," but the accompanying chant celebrates the mysteries of the unknown rather than the universal truth of A Love Supreme. This track builds in intensity, but never loses its groove or becomes nearly as raucous as the Arkestra is sometimes known for. "Sleeping Beauty" is the album centerpiece, taking up all of side two. Ra's beautiful electric piano gets things rolling, and the band falls into a peaceful groove before the vocals enter, led by the wonderful June Tyson. These songs are all built on the simplest of structures, and the playing from everyone is understated and sublime. Sleeping Beauty is truly a high point in an unwieldy discography, and something of an anomaly at the same time. There's a good reason copies of this album go for several hundred dollars on the collector's market, but it really deserves a proper release so more people can hear it. Outstanding.

AMG Review by Sean Westergaard

304. [240]  Sun Ra and his Arkestra

Sleeping Beauty/
Celestial Road

Sun Ra (p, ep, org, syn, voc); Michael Ray (tp, voc); Curt Pulliam (tp); Walter Miller (tp); Craig Harris (tb); Tony Bethel (tb); Vincent Chancey (Fr hn); Marshall Allen (as, fl); John Gilmore (ts, perc); James Jacson (fl, bsn, Inf-d); Eloe Omoe (bcl, fl, perc); Danny Ray Thompson (bars, fl, perc); Kenny Williams (ts, bars, fl); Noël Scott (as, bars, perc); Hutch Jones (as, ts); Sylvester Baton (rds); Skeeter McFarland (eg); Taylor Richardson (eg); Steve Clarke (eb); Richard Williams (b); Harry Wilson (vib); Damon Choice (vib, voc); Eddie Thomas (d); Luqman Ali (d); Reg McDonald (d); Atakatune (perc); June Tyson (voc); Rhoda Blount (voc).

Variety Recording Studio, NYC,
June 1979

Springtime Again (Ra) [SR, Jt, DC, MR voc]
Door of the Cosmos (Ra) [SR, JT, DC, MR voc]
Sleeping Beauty (Ra) [SR, JT, DC, MR voc]
Celestial Road (Ra) [ens voc]
Say (Ra)
I'll Wait for You (Ra) [ens voc]

Saturn 79, Sleeping Beauty, was released in 1979.  It is also sometimes known as Door of the Cosmos.  The matrix numbers are 11-1-79A and B.  The personnel previously listed for this LP was inaccurate; the personnel list for Strange Celestial Road is more reliable.

Samarai Celestial said that this album was made before he joined the band and that Eddie Thomas was the drummer (Thomas is the only musician here who was not mentioned in the notes to Strange Celestial Road).  Damon Choice says that the vocals were done by Sun Ra, June Tyson, and himself, with a likely contribution from Michael Ray, who helped with the mixing.

Rounder 3035, Strange Celestial Road, was issued in 1982; issues on Y 19 in Great Britain and on Virgin 201919 appeared in the same year.  All titles reissued on Rounder 3035 [CD] in 1988.  All information from the album jacket, except that it gives no specifics on the instruments played in the reed section and mentions no date.  Because "Strange Celestial Road" was performed at Moers on June 4, 1979, and the personnel is similar (Hutch Jones and Curt Pulliam were both from Philadelphia and joined the band for some months in 1979), our best guess is summer 199.  Samarai Celestial says that then album was made shortly before he joined the band (i.e., before late July).

An edited version of "Celestial Road" (the first 5-6 min.) appeared on an LP sampler called Birth of the Y (Y 33 1/3) released in 1982 (thanks to Steve Fligelstone for this information).

Formerly, Sleeping Beauty and Strange Celestial Road were listed as separate sessions, but Damon Choice says both were made at the same session, and the vocals overdubbed later.

from Campbell/Trent The Earthly Recordings 2nd ed.

Sun Ra and his Intergalactic Myth Science Solar Arkestra
Sleeping Beauty

1. Springtime Again   9:17
2. Door of the Cosmos   9:00
3. Sleeping Beauty   11:51

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This one is not my rip or my artwork but I've grown tired of waiting for my CD to show up in the mail and I thought this would be a nice follow-up to Strange Celestial Road so I wanted to post it sooner than later.  Many thanks to the original up-loader and to whomever uploaded

the pics.

Sun Ra - The Damneded Air (rec. December 1962) (poem)

“We Need New Air”

“There is no place for the past in the realm of the future,” Ray Stubbs darkly intones over a quivering and querulous trumpet and piano in his 1962 performance of Sun Ra’s apocalyptic poem “The Damned Air.” As a vocal performer, Stubbs is emblematic of a rich tradition of male African American narration whose style is marked by an affected gravity and seriousness of purpose. (Think James Earl Jones as Darth Vader or Brock Peters concluding remarks on Miles Davis’s A Tribute to Jack Johnson.) This is significant for it is a vocal presentation entirely at odds with Sun Ra’s own voice, humorous, mocking, and faintly effeminate. When Sun Ra speaks, the sentences rise and fall, jerking backwards and forwards in the hyperbolic, playful yet sinister manner of a psychotic Riddler. When Stubbs takes the microphone, the lines pour out of his throat with the deep strength of ancient rivers, a Paul Robeson or Langston Hughes’ inspired journey to the center of all human existence and the root of immutable truth.

Thus, “The Damned Air” tells us that the Earth has been left only a “damnable inheritance,” and that the root of the problem springs from the very soil that provides each of us with life and assures each of us sorrow, pain, and death. In the classic Western formulation, such sufferings were redeemed and made holy by the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, but that was before Man’s second fall, in the slave ships of the Atlantic, the belching smokestacks of factories, the ashes of Auschwitz and Hiroshima. It was from such events that a new school of philosophy emerged in the second half of the twentieth century, rejecting the eschatological promises of religion and science, and embracing the absurdity and meaninglessness of life. But Sun Ra is neither an existentialist nor is he a postmodernist. He believes in a world where there is meaning beyond Sisyphus pushing his rock and deeper than the linguistic entanglements of Derrida and Barthes. A world where truth and redemption can still be found, not in science, but rather in science fiction, in the embrace of the impossible, the metamorphosis of the human soul through the balm of music and the return to ancient and Afro-centric beliefs that speak not to the ugly, diseased origins of man, but rather to his limitless destiny. Thus, there is no place for the past in the realm of the future because there will be no future until the past is extinguished forever, erased by the holy light of new planets, galaxies, universes, and multiverses. Or as Sun Ra writes in this poem, “another kind of forever.”

There can be no doubt that it is beliefs like this that have caused generations of skeptics to roll their eyes at the mention of Sun Ra, the sight of his band’s silly costumes or the endless aphorisms found in its performances. But at the center of this philosophy lies a truth that is now undeniable: that human history has not been an inevitable march towards a brighter future, that the world as constructed by Christianity, capitalism, and imperialism of all kinds is indeed doomed to self-immolation, and that man’s only hope is to radically reject the present and to dream of new and previously unimagined futures. The Arkestra’s music thus serves precisely the purpose its name commands—as a last hope for humanity to escape the rising flood waters and to claim the very thing that Frantz Fanon demanded in The Wretched of the Earth, written around the same time Sun Ra composed this poem: “For Europe, for ourselves and for humanity, comrades, we must make a new start, develop a new way of thinking, and endeavor to create a new man.”

-Crawford
Other Planes of There

the damneded air

around the earth
circles the infinity of the damneded air
the damneded inheritance of the earth
are the same vibrations it ever was
we need new air
we need the air that vibrates with the
sound of another kind of mind
we need the beam of the future to strike
the earth
like the lightning and the power of a
thunderbolt
in order that the dying embers of the past
should suddenly be extinct
there is no place for the past in the realm
of the future
except temporarily as an exhibit of that
which is taboo
because the past is the past
and the future is the future
the eternity of the limited past
was for those who were taught the limited
darkness
the unlimited reach of the future is
another kind of forever
there is an inner darkness and there is an
outer darkness
those who become subjects of the inner
darkness dwell therein
those who become subjects of the outer
darkness shall dwell there out
out is the way of the outer
and in, the way of the inner
and in of the inner in
is different from the end of the outer in
because the outer in is the outer on
yes
out is the outer and in is the inner
the way out is the way to living, breathing
life
let's blast the damneded air and claim the
right to be a part of the outer heavens and
outer space
that we might live and breathe and be
eternally alive
forever
let's blast the damnded air
the imprisoning circle that bans the earth
with the echoes of the dead truth of the
damneded word
lets the light shine  upon the darkness
that enchains the meaning of the
knowledge that has been used as the law
to destroy

this planet is doomed
the science fiction poetry of Sun Ra
Kicks Books (2011)
The damneded air   pp 64, 65

Many thanks to Crawford of Other Planes of There for his wonderful, insightful contribution to this post.

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