The Death of John Berryman (Okkervil River Version)

On the morning of January 7, 1972, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and U of M faculty member John Berryman left his home in Minneapolis’s Prospect Park neighborhood, walked across campus, and made his way to the far end of the Washington Avenue Bridge. There, according to one witness, he waved to no one in particular, and jumped to his death. He was 57. Berryman was, at the time, one of the country’s two or three most prominent poets. He was also a very troubled soul. Over the years, his sad end has captured the imagination of more than a few sensitive artist types, including the indie rockers, Okkervil River. It’s not hard to imagine that Berryman would have appreciated Okkervil’s decision to recast his suicide as a satire of the Beach Boys’ “Sloop John B.”