William Hawkins (songwriter and poet)
Encyclopedia
William Alfred Hawkins is a songwriter, poet, musician and journalist, most notable for his contributions in the 1960s to Canadian folk rock music and to Canadian poetry. His best known song is "Gnostic
Serenade", originally recorded by 3's a Crowd
.
. The course became known as the Vancouver 1963 Poetry Conference, which took place over three weeks in July and August, and involved approximately sixty attendees. The course, designed by Warren Tallman
and Robert Creeley
, involved a juried assessment of a student's work, with invited faculty members including Allen Ginsberg
, Charles Olson
and Robert Duncan
. Other attendees included Denise Levertov
, Margaret Avison
and Philip Whalen
.
Hawkins commenced publishing his poems in 1964, and enjoyed early success. Three of his poems were selected by A.J.M. Smith for inclusion in his prestigious 1967 anthology, Modern Canadian Verse. In addition, Hawkins became known for hosting and participating in poetry readings by major Canadian poets of the time, including Irving Layton
, Leonard Cohen
, Louis Dudek
, Raymond Souster
, Gwendolyn MacEwan, Jacques Godbout
and John Robert Colombo
.
, Sandy Crawley and Neville Wells and, in later versions, Bruce Cockburn
, David Wiffen
and Richard Patterson. The group had been formed at the encouragement of local impresario
Harvey Glatt
, who also became their manager. It was Glatt who first encouraged Hawkins to set his poems to music. The band developed a local prominence as resident performers at Le Hibou Coffee House
, in which Glatt had an economic interest and which Hawkins and his then wife later managed. While they never released a record, within months of their formation The Children were playing Maple Leaf Gardens
, in Toronto, as an opening act for The Lovin' Spoonful
. It was this particular performance that caused Hawkins to decide to cease performing publicly.
Hawkins' music has been described as being "timeless" and associated with "a beautiful melancholy". He has been described as "a writer of supremely melodic songs, filled with stark despair and raw self-loathing, mixed with dark humour."
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Hawkins' songs were popularized by David Wiffen
, both as a member of 3's a Crowd
and as a solo artist. His songs were also covered by other artists, such as Tom Rush
, who recorded a version of "Gnostic Serenade" on his Wrong End of the Rainbow
album (1970).
. The album was a precursor to the later tribute album to Hawkins, recorded and released in 2008.
Subsequent to the release of the 1997 Dancing Alone recording, Hawkins released a compendium of his poetry in 2005, as Dancing Alone: Selected Poems. In this publication, Hawkins collected poems contained in his five books published between 1964 and 1974, plus new poems. Shortly thereafter, in 2007, Hawkins published a small collection of new poems, the black prince of bank street.
In 2008, at the instigation of Harvey Glatt, who had first encouraged Hawkins over forty years earlier, Dancing Alone: Songs of William Hawkins
, a two CD tribute album, was released on True North Records
, in which various artists interpreted twenty-two of Hawkins' songs. The artists contributing to the tribute album included Bruce Cockburn
, Sandy Crawley, Mike Evin
, Terry Gillespie, Murray McLauchlan
, Lynn Miles
, Ana Miura, Bill Stevenson
, Ian Tamblyn
, Brent Titcomb
, Suzie Vinnick, Sneezy Waters
and Neville Wells. Many of these artists first worked with Hawkins in the 1960s.
In 2010, Ottawa-based Apt. 9 Press published Sweet & Sour Nothings, Hawkins' sixth collection of poems. This was the first publication of the poems as a separate book; they had previously been included in a 1980 anthology edited by Patrick White, poet and founder of Anthos Press. Also in 2010, Apt. 9 Press published The William Hawkins Folio, which included a descriptive bibliography of Hawkins' work, as well as reproductions of posters on which Hawkins' work had appeared, plus historical news clippings.
Gnosis
Gnosis is the common Greek noun for knowledge . In the context of the English language gnosis generally refers to the word's meaning within the spheres of Christian mysticism, Mystery religions and Gnosticism where it signifies 'spiritual knowledge' in the sense of mystical enlightenment.-Related...
Serenade", originally recorded by 3's a Crowd
3's a Crowd (band)
3's a Crowd was a folk rock band from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, that existed from 1964 to 1969. The group is particularly notable for its association with Cass Elliott, who co-produced the group's sole album release...
.
History
- When I started writing songs, it was to put music to Bill Hawkins' lyrics.
-
- Bruce CockburnBruce CockburnBruce Douglas Cockburn OC is a Canadian folk/rock guitarist and singer-songwriter. His most recent album was released in March 2011. He has written songs in styles ranging from folk to jazz-influenced rock to rock and roll.-Biography:...
(2005), Preface to William Hawkins, Dancing Alone: Selected Poems
- Bruce Cockburn
- I just dropped out sometime in 1971, when I woke up in the Donwood Clinic, a rehab centre in Toronto, with no idea how I got there, weighing 128 lbs and looking like a ghost in my six-foot frame.
-
- William Hawkins (2008), describing his withdrawal from popular music and publication.
As A Poet
Hawkins' original interests were as a poet, which he addressed in the summer of 1963, through attending an intensive writing course for aspiring poets offered by the English department of the University of British ColumbiaUniversity of British Columbia
The University of British Columbia is a public research university. UBC’s two main campuses are situated in Vancouver and in Kelowna in the Okanagan Valley...
. The course became known as the Vancouver 1963 Poetry Conference, which took place over three weeks in July and August, and involved approximately sixty attendees. The course, designed by Warren Tallman
Warren Tallman
Warren Tallman was an American-born poetry professor who inspired the Canadian Tish movement and influenced the mid-20th century poetry scene in Canada.- History :...
and Robert Creeley
Robert Creeley
Robert Creeley was an American poet and author of more than sixty books. He is usually associated with the Black Mountain poets, though his verse aesthetic diverged from that school's. He was close with Charles Olson, Robert Duncan, Allen Ginsberg, John Wieners and Ed Dorn. He served as the Samuel P...
, involved a juried assessment of a student's work, with invited faculty members including Allen Ginsberg
Allen Ginsberg
Irwin Allen Ginsberg was an American poet and one of the leading figures of the Beat Generation in the 1950s. He vigorously opposed militarism, materialism and sexual repression...
, Charles Olson
Charles Olson
Charles Olson , was a second generation American modernist poet who was a link between earlier figures such as Ezra Pound and William Carlos Williams and the New American poets, which includes the New York School, the Black Mountain School, the Beat poets, and the San Francisco Renaissance...
and Robert Duncan
Robert Duncan (poet)
Robert Duncan was an American poet and a student of H.D. and the Western esoteric tradition who spent most of his career in and around San Francisco. Though associated with any number of literary traditions and schools, Duncan is often identified with the poets of the New American Poetry and Black...
. Other attendees included Denise Levertov
Denise Levertov
-Early life and influences:Levertov was born and grew up in Ilford, Essex.Couzyn, Jeni Contemporary Women Poets. Bloodaxe, p74 Her mother, Beatrice Spooner-Jones Levertoff, came from a small mining village in North Wales...
, Margaret Avison
Margaret Avison
Margaret Avison, OC was a Canadian poet who twice won Canada's Governor General's Award and has also won its Griffin Poetry Prize. "Her work has often been praised for the beauty of its language and images."-Life:...
and Philip Whalen
Philip Whalen
Philip Glenn Whalen was an American poet, Zen Buddhist, and a key figure in the San Francisco Renaissance and close to the Beat generation.-Biography:...
.
Hawkins commenced publishing his poems in 1964, and enjoyed early success. Three of his poems were selected by A.J.M. Smith for inclusion in his prestigious 1967 anthology, Modern Canadian Verse. In addition, Hawkins became known for hosting and participating in poetry readings by major Canadian poets of the time, including Irving Layton
Irving Layton
Irving Peter Layton, OC was a Romanian-born Canadian poet. He was known for his "tell it like it is" style which won him a wide following but also made enemies. As T...
, Leonard Cohen
Leonard Cohen
Leonard Norman Cohen, is a Canadian singer-songwriter, musician, poet and novelist. Cohen published his first book of poetry in Montreal in 1956 and his first novel in 1963. His work often explores religion, isolation, sexuality and interpersonal relationships...
, Louis Dudek
Louis Dudek
Louis Dudek, OC was a Canadian poet, academic, and publisher known for his role in defining Modernism in poetry, and for his literary criticism. He was the author of over two dozen books...
, Raymond Souster
Raymond Souster
Raymond Holmes Souster, OC is a Canadian poet whose writing career spans almost 70 years. He has published more than 50 volumes of his own verse, and edited or co-edited a dozen volumes of others' poetry...
, Gwendolyn MacEwan, Jacques Godbout
Jacques Godbout
Jacques Godbout, CQ is a Canadian novelist, essayist, children's writer, journalist, filmmaker and poet. By his own admission a bit of a dabbler , Godbout has become one of the most important writers of his generation, with a major influence on post-1960 Quebec intellectual life.-Biography:Born in...
and John Robert Colombo
John Robert Colombo
John Robert Colombo, CM is nationally known as the Master Gatherer. He is among Canada's most prolific authors of serious books...
.
As A Songwriter and Musician
In 1965, Hawkins commenced his music career as a member of The Children, a seminal Canadian band, based out of Ottawa. In addition to Hawkins, band members included Sneezy WatersSneezy Waters
Sneezy Waters is a Canadian singer-songwriter and guitar player who is best known for his portrayal of Hank Williams Sr. in the play and film The play portrays an 'imaginary concert' that the legendary US country singer might have given New Year's Eve 1952 in Canton, Ohio, had he not died en route...
, Sandy Crawley and Neville Wells and, in later versions, Bruce Cockburn
Bruce Cockburn
Bruce Douglas Cockburn OC is a Canadian folk/rock guitarist and singer-songwriter. His most recent album was released in March 2011. He has written songs in styles ranging from folk to jazz-influenced rock to rock and roll.-Biography:...
, David Wiffen
David Wiffen
David Wiffen is a Canadian folk music singer-songwriter. Two of his songs, "Driving Wheel" and "More Often Than Not", have become cover standards.- Career :...
and Richard Patterson. The group had been formed at the encouragement of local impresario
Impresario
An impresario is a person who organizes and often finances concerts, plays or operas; analogous to a film producer in filmmaking, television production and an angel investor in business...
Harvey Glatt
Harvey Glatt
Harvey Glatt is a notable and award-winning Canadian music promoter, manager, broadcaster, record and instrument retailer, and record label owner.- History :...
, who also became their manager. It was Glatt who first encouraged Hawkins to set his poems to music. The band developed a local prominence as resident performers at Le Hibou Coffee House
Le Hibou Coffee House
Le Hibou Coffee House was an internationally known coffee house established in Ottawa, Canada, operating from 1960 to 1975.- History :Denis Faulkner, an Ottawa francophone, was the founding owner manager from 1960 to 1968. It was during this period that Le Hibou became established as a now famous...
, in which Glatt had an economic interest and which Hawkins and his then wife later managed. While they never released a record, within months of their formation The Children were playing Maple Leaf Gardens
Maple Leaf Gardens
Maple Leaf Gardens is an indoor arena that was converted into a Loblawssupermarket and Ryerson University athletic centre in Toronto, on the northwest corner of Carlton Street and Church Street in Toronto's Garden District.One of the temples of hockey, it was home to the Toronto Maple Leafs of the...
, in Toronto, as an opening act for The Lovin' Spoonful
The Lovin' Spoonful
The Lovin' Spoonful is an American pop rock band of the 1960s, named to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000. When asked about his band, leader John Sebastian said it sounded like a combination of "Mississippi John Hurt and Chuck Berry," prompting his friend, Fritz Richmond, to suggest the name...
. It was this particular performance that caused Hawkins to decide to cease performing publicly.
Hawkins' music has been described as being "timeless" and associated with "a beautiful melancholy". He has been described as "a writer of supremely melodic songs, filled with stark despair and raw self-loathing, mixed with dark humour."
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Hawkins' songs were popularized by David Wiffen
David Wiffen
David Wiffen is a Canadian folk music singer-songwriter. Two of his songs, "Driving Wheel" and "More Often Than Not", have become cover standards.- Career :...
, both as a member of 3's a Crowd
3's a Crowd (band)
3's a Crowd was a folk rock band from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, that existed from 1964 to 1969. The group is particularly notable for its association with Cass Elliott, who co-produced the group's sole album release...
and as a solo artist. His songs were also covered by other artists, such as Tom Rush
Tom Rush
Tom Rush is an American folk and blues singer, songwriter, musician and recording artist.- Life and career :Rush was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. His father was a teacher at St. Paul's School, in Concord, New Hampshire. Tom began performing in 1961 while studying at Harvard University after...
, who recorded a version of "Gnostic Serenade" on his Wrong End of the Rainbow
Wrong End of the Rainbow
Wrong End of the Rainbow is the 1970 album from pioneer Folk rock musician Tom Rush. The music on this album, his second in 1970, tends to lean more torward the Country rock style.-Track listing:...
album (1970).
Withdrawal From Songwriting and Published Poetry
Hawkins encountered increasing problems with substance abuse, particularly alcohol. After a period of time in the Donwood Institute in the early 1970s, for treatment for alcohol abuse, Hawkins largely withdrew from songwriting and published poetry. He opted instead to spend over thirty five years as a taxi driver in Ottawa.Return to Music and Poetry; Tribute Album
Hawkins gradually returned to music and poetry. In 1997, with the assistance of Richard Patterson as producer and Victor Nesrallah as musical accompanyist, Hawkins independently released Dancing Alone. The album was a collection of Hawkins singing his own songs, plus versions of his songs as recorded by 3s a Crowd and The EsquiresThe Esquires (Canadian band)
The Esquires were a Canadian band, based in Ottawa, active from 1962 to 1967. The band is notable as the recipient of the first Juno Award in Canada, as well as being one of Canada's earlier pop music recording acts. The first Canadian music video ever made is said to be that of an Esquires song...
. The album was a precursor to the later tribute album to Hawkins, recorded and released in 2008.
Subsequent to the release of the 1997 Dancing Alone recording, Hawkins released a compendium of his poetry in 2005, as Dancing Alone: Selected Poems. In this publication, Hawkins collected poems contained in his five books published between 1964 and 1974, plus new poems. Shortly thereafter, in 2007, Hawkins published a small collection of new poems, the black prince of bank street.
In 2008, at the instigation of Harvey Glatt, who had first encouraged Hawkins over forty years earlier, Dancing Alone: Songs of William Hawkins
Dancing Alone: Songs of William Hawkins
Dancing Alone: Songs of William Hawkins is a 2008 tribute album, released by True North Records. On the record, a number of Canadian artists pay tribute to the songs of William Hawkins, an influential Canadian songwriter and poet.- Critical Reaction :...
, a two CD tribute album, was released on True North Records
True North Records
True North Records is a Canadian independent record label. It was founded in Mississauga, Ontario in 1969 by Bernie Finkelstein. On December 17, 2007, True North was acquired by an investment group led by Linus Entertainment...
, in which various artists interpreted twenty-two of Hawkins' songs. The artists contributing to the tribute album included Bruce Cockburn
Bruce Cockburn
Bruce Douglas Cockburn OC is a Canadian folk/rock guitarist and singer-songwriter. His most recent album was released in March 2011. He has written songs in styles ranging from folk to jazz-influenced rock to rock and roll.-Biography:...
, Sandy Crawley, Mike Evin
Mike Evin
Mike Evin is a Canadian singer-songwriter originally from, and based out of, Montreal, Quebec. He has relocated several times to several different cities, including Toronto, and Halifax. Evin's primary instrument is the piano and keyboard instruments, though he also played guitar on his first album...
, Terry Gillespie, Murray McLauchlan
Murray McLauchlan
Murray McLauchlan, CM is a Canadian singer, songwriter, guitarist, pianist, and harmonica player.-Biography:Born in Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland, he emigrated to Canada with his family when he was five years old...
, Lynn Miles
Lynn Miles
Lynn Miles is a Canadian singer-songwriter and winner of the 2003 Juno Award.-Early life and education:Miles was born outside Montreal in the town of Sweetsburg, Quebec. Her father was a harmonica player and jazz fan while her mother listened to both opera and country music. Miles learned to...
, Ana Miura, Bill Stevenson
Earth Opera
Earth Opera was an American psychedelic rock group, active during 1967-1969 and featuring Peter Rowan and David Grisman.-History:Both Rowan and Grisman were virtuoso folk and bluegrass performers in Boston clubs, who became caught up in the changes in the music scene in the mid 1960s...
, Ian Tamblyn
Ian Tamblyn
Ian Tamblyn in is a Canadian folk music singer-songwriter and record producer, adventurer, and playwright.-Music career:...
, Brent Titcomb
Brent Titcomb
Brent Arthur Titcomb is a Canadian actor and musician. He played the voice of Sleazy, Mok's sidekick, in 1983's Rock & Rule, and additional voices for the The Care Bears Movie in 1985. His son is singer Liam Titcomb...
, Suzie Vinnick, Sneezy Waters
Sneezy Waters
Sneezy Waters is a Canadian singer-songwriter and guitar player who is best known for his portrayal of Hank Williams Sr. in the play and film The play portrays an 'imaginary concert' that the legendary US country singer might have given New Year's Eve 1952 in Canton, Ohio, had he not died en route...
and Neville Wells. Many of these artists first worked with Hawkins in the 1960s.
In 2010, Ottawa-based Apt. 9 Press published Sweet & Sour Nothings, Hawkins' sixth collection of poems. This was the first publication of the poems as a separate book; they had previously been included in a 1980 anthology edited by Patrick White, poet and founder of Anthos Press. Also in 2010, Apt. 9 Press published The William Hawkins Folio, which included a descriptive bibliography of Hawkins' work, as well as reproductions of posters on which Hawkins' work had appeared, plus historical news clippings.
Sole or Joint Author
- 1964 Shoot Low, Sheriff, They're Riding Shetland Ponies (with Roy MacSkimmingRoy MacSkimmingRoy MacSkimming is a Canadian novelist, non-fiction writer and cultural policy consultant.Born in Ottawa, Ontario and educated at the University of Toronto, MacSkimming broke into book publishing in 1964 at Clarke, Irwin and later co-founded New Press, one of Canada’s leading small presses of the...
; Independent, Ottawa)
- 1965 Two Longer Poems (with Harry HowithHarry Howith- History :Born in Ontario, Harry Howith received a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Journalism from Carleton University in Ottawa. He later became an English instructor at Centennial College, Toronto.-Bibliography:*Burglar Tools. Ottawa: Bytown, 1963....
; Patrician Press, Toronto)
- 1966 Ottawa Poems (weed/flower Press, KitchenerKitchener, OntarioThe City of Kitchener is a city in Southern Ontario, Canada. It was the Town of Berlin from 1854 until 1912 and the City of Berlin from 1912 until 1916. The city had a population of 204,668 in the Canada 2006 Census...
)
- 1966 Hawkins (Nil Press, Ottawa)
- 1974 The Madman's War (S.A.W. Press, Ottawa)
- 2007 the black prince of bank street (above/ground press, Ottawa; chapbookChapbookA chapbook is a pocket-sized booklet. The term chap-book was formalized by bibliophiles of the 19th century, as a variety of ephemera , popular or folk literature. It includes many kinds of printed material such as pamphlets, political and religious tracts, nursery rhymes, poetry, folk tales,...
)
- 2010 Sweet & Sour Nothings (Apt. 9 Press, Ottawa)
Collections
- 1971 The Gift of Space: Selected Poems 1960-1970 (New Press, Toronto)
- 2005 Dancing Alone: Selected Poems (Cauldron Books [Fredericton] and Broken Jaw Press [Ottawa])
Anthology Inclusions
- 1966 New Wave Canada: The New Explosion in Canadian Poetry (ed. Ray Souster; Contact Press, Toronto)
- 1967 Modern Canadian Verse (ed. A.J.M. Smith; Oxford University PressOxford University PressOxford University Press is the largest university press in the world. It is a department of the University of Oxford and is governed by a group of 15 academics appointed by the Vice-Chancellor known as the Delegates of the Press. They are headed by the Secretary to the Delegates, who serves as...
, Toronto)