The great punk poet Jim Carroll has died.

What a sad loss. He will be remembered, respected, and missed. NYT obituary. Patti Smith, another personal idol of mine, says of Carroll, "I met him in 1970, and already he was pretty much universally recognized as the best poet of his generation. The work was sophisticated and elegant. He had beauty."

Photo: Patti and Jim (via ifcharlieparkerwasagunslinger, no image credit given)

Boing Boing editor/partner and tech culture journalist Xeni Jardin hosts and produces Boing Boing's in-flight TV channel on Virgin America airlines (#10 on the dial), and writes about living with breast cancer. Diagnosed in 2011. @xeni on Twitter. email: xeni@boingboing.net.

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eniksleestack

Terrible news. I met him once about 10 years ago at a book reading at CSU Fullerton. Really nice, down to earth guy with a great mind and great sense of humor. He will be missed.
StRevAlex

I really liked his collaborations with Blue Oyster Cult and Boz Scaggs, among many others. They’re worth checking out, def.
iris

Now he’s a person that died, died.

(Too early?)
maoinhibitor

If I could break through I could be certain
But this obsession is like some fiery curtain
All the numbers reduced to zero
And those who died young, they are my heroes
They are my heroes, they took the walk
Where the heart made sense and the mind can’t talk
oxymoron69

The Basketball Diaries the movie and book changed my life.
togetherless

His song People Who Died always makes me smile in the sad, ironic way I think he probably intended.
nehpetsE

Yesterday, one of my GF’s kittens died of fading kitten syndrome, and i started singing the “died died” song, except enumerating all the deaths of cats i’ve been close to over the years.

I didn’t learn that Jim died until a few hours ago and now i feel strangely culpable.
berutt

“You get nothin’ back for all you’ve saved
Just eternity in a spacious grave”

Jim will be deeply missed.
Anonymous

Loved ‘Catholic Boy’ — was especially important in my formative years. First concert I ever saw was his band opening for the Boomtown Rats in 1981(?).
Peace to him.
wizardofplum

Did not know the boy but I will always eulogise a poet and so….

But I was young and did not know,
That life is but the ebb and flow,
Of love’s sharp shaft and reason’s doubt.
That at life’s end, adds up to nowt.

Now the Yorkies in this thread will understand the use of ‘nowt’.Others may guess but us lads know exactly the sentiment.I loathe rhyming couplets but in deference to the laddie I offer my poor offering.
Anonymous

Marty Watt is living in Mohegan Lake, New York, apparently quite settled down.

http://www.myspace.com/333631813

Cheers.
Mark Frauenfelder

How awful. His books and music meant a lot to me when I read them so many years ago. I will miss him.
Fred H

At one of his readings, my friend Brian got a phone call from a friend of ours. The whole room glared at Brian’s lack of tact as he talked aloud and interrupted the reading, but when Brian said, “What?!? You’re in jail? We can’t bail you out until after we leave the show,” Jim Carroll was the only one laughing.
black_rabbit_queen

I saw him back in the day at the Fab Mab in SF, it was an amazing show.

Here’s a great tribute:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4pThQ4nXUQ
Mark Frauenfelder

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsm9e4KDFFI
Teller

Catholic Boy is just one of the best albums ever made. A work of art. Still listen to it. Still sounds fresh.
Anonymous

I’m gonna miss Jim Carroll, but our lives were richer for knowing who he was in the first place.

P.S. the people who died snark is well a coping mechanisim. If you made a ST reference, then things might’ve gotten ugly.
benher

@3 I don’t think so – I’m sure he’d appreciate it.
edgore

@black_rabbit_queen

I was at that show too – spoken word at the mab – and it broke my heart to listen to it.

It’s breaking again…he is one of the people that has had a deep, deep effect on my life.
Anonymous

For those of you curious about “People Who Died” in ET. It was playing on the radio when the kids were having pizza before Elliot found ET. It was also used in the remake of the “Dawn of the Dead” movie. I was friends his band before Jim asked them to be his band. He was a nice man who lived a hard life. I was sorry to hear that he died.
igpajo

Just curious, but what are they talking about in this excerpt from the NYT article:

“Like Lou Reed, he had a mesmerizing power, evident on songs like â€œPeople Who Diedâ€ from â€œCatholic Boy,â€ a poetic litany of his dead friends that became a hit on college radio and part of the soundtrack for â€œE.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial.â€”

Don’t remember “People who Died” being in that movie and can’t find it listed in any track listing for the OST of ET. Am I missing something?

RIP Jim!
Anonymous

Does Drew Barrymore know that song People Who Died?
it was in the E.T Scene where The boys were playing a game called Dungens & Drangons and they told Henry Thomas to order the pizza also it was played where the kids were getting ready to get on the bus the kids were teasing and they called Elliot a name they called Elliot a cintus suprimus.
igpajo

The ET Soundtrack bit is also mentioned in this article, but from the wording of most of that article, it’s just a rip and mash up of the NYT article.
JoeDando

Aw, dude.

“I write your name
With thick blue ink
On stones I throw just to watch ‘em sink”

-I Write Your Name

The world has lost an incredible poet. Here’s to remembering one whose name was not writ upon water, but upon the stones that dwell there.
Anonymous

His writing made such an impact on me. I had the pleasure to see him play in Vancouver, BC–and I treasure that performance. Catholic Boy is one of the 5 vinyl albums I kept, for the music of course, and Annie Liebovitz’s phenomenal cover photo. Adieu, Jim!!
Maddy

Day and Night should have been a huge pop hit, it was my favorite song from Catholic Boy. Had a great guitar riff to open. Here’s a beat-up version of it from Fridays (the show that launched Larry David)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aq30WdtEsww
Halloween Jack

He lasted surprisingly long, given the life that he lived. The movie of The Basketball Diaries was a little too afterschool-specialish for me, but the book was fantastic.
Anonymous

Anyone remember Jim in Tuff Turf with James Spader cast as a misfit James Dean character? That played at a movie theatre a friend worked at and we would sneak in and watch it all the time. We thought Spader was the next James Dean. Jim has speaking lines and plays People Who Died and Its too Late.
Lex10

But what of the other great punk poet Marty Watt?
John Francis

Wendays and Friday nights at St. Marks Place
Then to the YWCA for our god, Burroughs.
easy times and running.
miss tem miss him
John Francis
Season I.H.