when harry (smith) met matthew (barney).
It comes about from legends, Bibles, plagues, and it revolves around vegetables and death. There’s nobody that’s going to kill traditional music. All those songs about roses growing out of people’s brains and lovers who are really geese and swans that turn into angels—they’re not going to die…traditional music is too unreal to die. – Bob Dylan
Harry Smith’s Anthology of American Folk Music is not a dictionary, encyclopedia, or even an anthology; it’s the first installment of Matthew Barney’s Cremaster Cycle.
The alchemy of milk: Harry Smith.
Or, better said, the Cremaster Cycle comprises volumes five through ten of the Anthology of American Folk Music.
Image: Allen Ginsberg.