Beautiful Sounding Spoken Word
March 7, 2017 12:14 AM

Late at night, I love beautiful sounding spoken word. Please help me find some more. The content is far less important than that it sounds good, and beautiful verbiage is more important than meaning. English is optional. Background sound is fine, as long as it doesn’t overwhelm the text, and good production is a plus. My canonical examples would be: the velvet voice of Joe Frank; the closing, spoken word segments of the Late Night Tales mix series (Stephen Rea, David Tennant, Cillian Murphy); Alan Watts - though he loses points for seriousness of content. Thanks!
posted by Going To Maine to Media & Arts (10 answers total) 15 users marked this as a favorite
Under Milk Wood
posted by Bloxworth Snout at 1:29 AM on March 7, 2017


Maybe you need some Ken Nordine in your life.
posted by ouke at 2:23 AM on March 7, 2017


Coming here to say Ken Nordine :)
posted by jessamyn at 5:04 AM on March 7, 2017


The shipping forecast, BBC Radio 4, if it's available where you are.

The Shipping Forecast is a BBC Radio broadcast of weather reports and forecasts for the seas around the coasts of the British Isles. It is produced by the Met Office and broadcast by BBC Radio 4 on behalf of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency.
posted by glasseyes at 5:23 AM on March 7, 2017




Leo Kottke has some spoken word pieces with guitar accompaniment, like Jack Gets Up (live or album version).
posted by moonmilk at 8:15 AM on March 7, 2017


Here's a collaboration by Laurie Anderson and Brian Eno that is spoken word and images. Be forewarned: contains flashing images if that is a concern. Like Pictures
posted by effluvia at 9:04 AM on March 7, 2017


I sometimes listen to recordings of Sylvia Plath.
posted by late afternoon dreaming hotel at 9:08 AM on March 7, 2017


Old Joe Frank listener here. I think you would appreciate Jeff Bridges Sleeping Tapes
posted by werkzeuger at 9:02 PM on March 7, 2017


Anton Lesser or Simon Vance reading Paradise Lost.

The SpokenVerse YouTube channel (all of his readings are great, but my favorite is The Lotos Eaters).

Colin Farrell and Cillian Murphy reading Yeats' "When You Are Old".

I also love listening to Philip Larkin and Tony Harrison read their work.
posted by désoeuvrée at 12:49 AM on March 8, 2017


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