(Rocky) The late sixties and seventies were times of war, global political change, presidential assassinations, rights movements in the United States, demonstrations, and social uproar. “Hadda be Playin’ on a Jukebox”, written by Allen Ginsberg in 1975, appears to be a poem directly influenced by the time span within which it was written. Throughout the poem, notable events, many of which struck, and still continue to strike controversy in our society, are used by Ginsberg to set the stage of the poem. Events such as the assassination of John F. Kennedy, the Kent State University massacre, and the Cold War are but a few of the events mentioned or reflected upon in the poem. Ginsberg’s words are seen as filled with anger or frustration, which gives hints towards his political stances, and opinions of the time period in question. In Ginsberg’s “Hadda be Playin’ on a Jukebox”, the author starts introducing a common theme to the beginning of each line; “It had to be playin’ / it had to be flashin’ “, explaining that these events were there for everyone to see, in every crevice of american society (1, 1-2). Ginsberg implies that the Central Intelligence Agency and the Mafia, or organized crime, were working together during that time period. Ginsberg uses lines like “Dope pushers in CIA, working with dope pushers from Cuba, working with a big time syndicate from Tampa Florida”, with blunt and straight-forward intention, depicting certain government agencies as gangs and drug dealers (1, 10). It was Ginsberg’s opinion, and that of others, that the CIA and organized crime were indeed working together at the time, against common enemies such as Communist Cuba or the Soviets, to achieve common goals. Making reference to President John F. Kennedy, Ginsberg writes, “Kennedy stretched and smiled and got double crossed by lowlife goons and agents, unveiling his thoughts on these issues through poetry (1, 8 ). It’s obvious by the depiction of prominent government figures and organizations as hit-men, drug dealers, and murderers, that Allen Ginsberg may have had strong political sentiments, at least during the writing of “Hadda be Playin’ on a Jukebox”. This is said because many others active politically in the same context shared the ideas presented. More examples of this are found, such as referring to the Cold War as “gang wars across oceans” (3 - 20). Ginsberg makes his stance on capitalism blatantly clear however, referring to it as “the vortex of this rage, competition man to man” (3, 13-16). Another line of his poem, written directly after the aforementioned quotation, “The horse’s head in a capitalists’ bed”, further supports this concept (3, 17). In the final lines of the poem, Ginsberg makes reference to the thousands of people killed in regions such as Indochina and Chile, among others, directly or indirectly by the criminals described throughout the poem. Upon further research of the poem and its origins, light is shed on the exact timing of its creation. During an interview of Allen Ginsberg, dated in 1976 by Peter Barry Chowka, Ginsberg expresses the the poem being the high point of the prior evening at a poetry reading (Corcoran Gallery, Washington D.C., February 1976). “For me the high point was a long, ranting, aggressive, wild poem (”Hadda be Playing on the Juke Box”) linking the CIA and the Mafia and the FBI and the NKVD and the KGB and the multinational cash registers., (”New Age Journal”, April 1976). Poet William Burroughs read alongside Ginsberg that February evening at the Corcoran Gallery in Washington. The interview was mostly conducted in a car commute from Washington D.C. to New York City, where Ginsberg was attending another poetry reading at New York University. The poem was also performed by a band in the 1990’s by the name of “Rage Against the Machine”, as a “cover” of Ginsberg’s work. This band has since broken up, but bringing this brilliant piece of literature to the public should be applauded. Whether the poem is considered more leftist propaganda or it hits home deep within because of its content, credit must be given to Ginsberg for making such an emotional, politically driven piece, regardless of the political views depicted. Unfortunately, not everyone can give credit to works of art because of their content, should it go against their own beliefs or ideas. “Hadda be Playin’ on a Jukebox” was clearly not written for those who can’t appreciate writing and art in all of its forms. However, those who agree with the ideas presented in the poem will find it particularly enjoying. -Rockwell Rains Works Cited: This is Allen Ginsberg? The 1976 New Age Interview by Peter Barry Chowka Ginsberg speaks his mind on: Tibetan Buddhism, Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, Rolling Thunder (Bob Dylan & Friends), politics, poetry, and the future of America. By Peter Barry Chowka. All rights reserved. originally published as the cover story in New Age Journal, April 1976 ( http://members.aol.com/pbchowka/ginsberg76a.html ) Editors addition ( Scott ) Copy of Poem/Lyrics: It had to be flashin’ like the daily double It had to be playin’ on TV It had to be loud mouthed on the comedy hour It had to be announced over loud speakers The CIA and the Mafia are in cahoots It had to be said in old ladies’ language It had to be said in American headlines Kennedy stretched and smiled and got double crossed by lowlife goons and agents Rich bankers with criminal connections Dope pushers in CIA working with dope pushers from Cuba working with a big time syndicate from Tampa, Florida And it had to be said with a big mouth It had to be moaned over factory foghorns It had to be chattered on car radio news broadcasts It had to be screamed in the kitchen It had to be yelled in the basement where uncles were fighting It had to be howled on the streets by newsboys to bus conductors It had to be foghorned into New York harbor It had to echo onto hard hats It had to turn up the volume in university ballrooms It had to be written in library books, footnoted It had to be in the headlines of the Times and Le Monde It had to be barked on TV It had to be heard in alleys through ballroom doors It had to be played on wire services It had to be bells ringing Comedians stopped dead in the middle of a joke in Las Vegas It had to be FBI chief J. Edgar Hoover and Frank Costello syndicate mouthpiece meeting in Central Park, New York weekends, reported Time magazine It had to be the Mafia and the CIA together starting war on Cuba, Bay of Pigs and poison assassination headlines It had to be dope cops in the Mafia Who sold all their heroin in America It had to be the FBI and organized crime working together in cahoots against the commies It had to be ringing on multinational cash registers A world-wide laundry for organized criminal money It had to be the CIA and the Mafia and the FBI together They were bigger than Nixon And they were bigger than war It had to be a large room full of murder It had to be a mounted ass- a solid mass of rage A red hot pen A scream in the back of the throat It had to be a kid that can breathe It had to be in Rockefellers’ mouth It had to be central intelligence, the family, allofthis, the agency Mafia It had to be organized crime One big set of gangs working together in cahoots Hitmen Murderers everywhere The secret The drunk The brutal The dirty rich On top of a slag heap of prisons Industrial cancer Plutonium smog Garbage cities Grandmas’ bed soft from fathers’ resentment It had to be the rulers They wanted law and order And they got rich on wanting protection for the status quo They wanted junkies They wanted Attica They wanted Kent State They wanted war in Indochina It had to be the CIA and the Mafia and the FBI Multinational capitalists Strong armed squads Private detective agencies for the rich And their armies and navies and their air force bombing planes It had to be capitalism The vortex of this rage This competition Man to man The horses head in a capitalists’ bed The Cuban turf It rumbles in hitmen And gang wars across oceans Bombing Cambodia settled the score when Soviet pilots manned Egyptian fighter planes Chiles’ red democracy Bumped off with White House pots and pans A warning to Mediterranean governments The secret police have been embraced for decades The NKPD and CIA keep each other’s secrets The OGBU and DIA never hit their own The KGB and the FBI are one mind Brute force and full of money Brute force, world-wide, and full of money Brute force, world-wide, and full of money Brute force, world-wide, and full of money Brute force, world-wide, and full of money It had to be rich and it had to be powerful They had to murder in Indonesia 500000 They had to murder in Indochina 2000000 They had to murder in Czechoslovakia They had to murder in Chile They had to murder in Russia And they had to murder in America