wilhelm and peter reich

Wilhelm Reich was a scientist and psychologist (some thought him a crackpot) who popularized the notion of Orgone Energy, among other things. Peter Reich is his son. Patti's song "Birdland" is about Wilhelm Reich coming back for his son in a UFO, and is based, at least in rough outline, and particularly in the earlier sections, on a passage from Peter Reich's book A Book of Dreams.

William S. Burroughs is another person connected to Patti who was very interested in William Reich's concepts, including Orgone Energy and the Emotional Plague.

Kate Bush's song "Cloudbusting" is also about Reich, and once again is told from the point of view of Reich's son. (Reich believed that Orgone energy could be used to produce rain and he built a weird contraption consisting of elaborately twisted pipes that he would point at clouds. This was called "cloudbusting.") The 12'' single version of the song has some pictures from the video on it, including the cloudbuster they used (which wasn't exactly the same as Reich's.)

Fury on Earth, by Myron Sharaf, is an excellent biography of Reich, told by someone who worked with Reich. It has just the right mixture of critical thinking and open-ness.

Patti on Reich:

lyrics of "Birdland"


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