14 Facts About Larry Beckett

Larry Beckett was born on April 4,1947 and is an American poet, playwright, songwriter, musician, translator, and literary critic.

Larry Beckett has collaborated with British group The Long Lost Band, and local Portland indie band Eyelids.

Larry Beckett has had several books of poetry published including Songs and Sonnets, his selected songs in Song to the Siren, and a few book-length poems entitled Paul Bunyan, Wyatt Earp, and Amelia Earhart.

Larry Beckett was born in Glendale, California, and lived in Los Angeles, Downey, and Anaheim, where his father was an English and speech teacher and his mother worked in the career counseling industry.

Larry Beckett attended Loara High School where he developed a passion for writing and poetry.

Also while in high school Larry Beckett befriended classmates Tim Buckley and Jim Fielder, a relationship that would launch Beckett into music songwriting.

In December 2021, Larry Beckett was interviewed on a BBC Radio 4 episode of Soul Music, explaining the origins of his poem, "Song to the Siren", and how his collaboration with Buckley evolved as he developed the musical setting for the song.

Larry Beckett's selected song lyrics were published in Song to the Siren, 2024, by Halbaffe Press.

Larry Beckett's translations include The Way of Rain, a reconstruction of the lost order of the Tao Te Ching; Poems After Li Po; Poems After Li Shang-yin; The Wisewoman's Song, from the Poetic Edda; Poems, by Orpheus; The Logos, by Heraclitus; East-West Divan, by Johann Goethe; Heroic Sonnets, by Jose-Maria de Heredia; Spirits, by Guillaume Apollinaire; Chansons, by Jacques Brel.

Buckley and Larry Beckett started writing together in the mid-1960s as members of Southern California rock band The Bohemians, with Buckley on rhythm guitar, Brian Hartzel on lead guitar, Larry Beckett on drums, and Jim Fielder on bass.

Larry Beckett contributed to Buckley's first two albums, Tim Buckley and Goodbye and Hello, both as co-songwriter and as a collaborator on arrangements.

In 2014, Larry Beckett began working with a group of musicians from Lancaster, England, The Long Lost Band.

Larry Beckett toured with them in the UK in 2015, and contributed poetry and song lyrics to a full-length studio album, One More Mile.

Larry Beckett has remained a poet and songwriter while working as a computer programmer and analyst, based in Portland, Oregon.