Song of Innocence is a 1968 album by David Axelrod. The album was inspired by Songs of Innocence, a collection of poems by English poet William Blake. An Allmusic review describes the album as a “suite that blended pop, rock, jazz, theater music, and R&B” and has “withstood the test of time”. Axelrod’s integration of funk breakbeats, orchestral arrangements, and psychedelic melodies foreshadowing 1990s dance music.
In 1969, a subsequent companion album, Songs of Experience, was released. Sometime after that in the 1970s, the Song of Innocence album was re-released as Songs of Innocence.
Adaptations
- “Holy Thursday” has been sampled in several works:
- UNKLE’s “Rabbit in Your Headlights”
- Lil Wayne’s “Dr. Carter” (produced by Swizz Beatz)
- Royce Da 5’9” “Shake This” (produced by DJ Premier)
- Fat Joe “Bronx Keeps Creating It” (produced by Joe Fatal)
- Deda “Nasty Scene” (produced by Pete Rock)
- INI’s “Think Twice” (produced by Pete Rock)
- “Holy Thursday” appears in the 2008 video game Grand Theft Auto IV, on the station Fusion FM.
- Both Axelrod and “Holy Thursday” are mentioned in “Return of the Loop Digga” from Quasimoto’s album The Unseen.
- Jurassic 5’s track “A Day at the Races” contains samples of “Urizen”, in particular, the funky bassline break.
