For the recording, Ginsberg sang pieces from 18th-century English poet William Blake's illustrated poetry collection of the same name and set them to a folk-based instrumental idiom, featuring simple melodies and accompaniment performed with a host of jazz musicians.

Among the album's contributors were trumpeter Don Cherry, arranger/pianist Bob Dorough, multi-instrumentalist Jon Sholle, drummer Elvin Jones, and Peter Orlovsky – Ginsberg's life-partner and fellow poet – who contributed vocals and helped produce the recording with British underground writer Barry Miles.

He was inspired to undertake the project by a religious vision of Blake from decades earlier and his witnessing the 1968 Democratic National Convention protest activity, as well as rock music of the era's counterculture, citing its qualities of poetry and consciousness.

In 1948, Ginsberg experienced what he described as a religious vision of 18th-century English poet William Blake appearing in his East Harlem apartment and reciting poetry to him.

[6] He planned to record musical adaptations of poems from Blake's illustrated Songs of Innocence and of Experience collection, which thematized the importance and sanctity of childhood, featuring critiques of systemic child abuse ("The Chimney Sweeper"), organized religion ("The Garden of Love"), and "the institutionalized culture of benevolence that perpetuated poverty" ("Holy Thursday").

[7] Ginsberg was also inspired by the rock music of 1960s counterculture, citing acts like the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, the Byrds, Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, the Fugs, the Band, and Donovan.

[9] British underground writer and businessman Barry Miles was enlisted to produce the recording, and Ginsberg helped set him up at the legendary Hotel Chelsea, paying for and negotiating a favorable rent from its manager Stanley Bard, who knew and respected the poet.

[8] The harmonium, played before by Ginsberg at numerous poetry readings, was borrowed from his life-partner and fellow poet Peter Orlovsky, who had received the instrument as a souvenir from Benares during the pair's visit to India in the early 1960s.

[12] Ginsberg was accompanied by a host of jazz musicians during the recording sessions, including trumpeter Don Cherry, bassist Herman Wright, guitarist Jon Sholle, French horn player Julius Watkins, and arranger/vocalist/pianist Bob Dorough.

[11] Vocally, Ginsberg demonstrates a lithe, high-toned delivery[21] and the dramatic character of what Ink 19 magazine's James Mann calls "a poet's voice".

[21] In the opinion of Relix magazine's Jeff Tamarkin, Ginsberg's "intonations and somewhat droning delivery" of Blake's words possess a grasp on their "inherent rhythms and melodies", pitted against contemporary "folk-rock/jazz-based forms".

He credited Ginsberg for singing in the manner of Blake's writing – "crude, human, touching, and superb" – and enhancing the source material with his musicians, a feat Christgau found seemingly impossible.

[24] In Rolling Stone, Bangs applauded Ginsberg's vocals and found the record effortless and unpretentious, "like a labor of love, a salute from a young visionary to an ancient sage, executed with delicacy and charm".

[6] At the time, Ginsberg also considered making an album of Blake settings with David Axelrod, a Los Angeles-based producer and composer best known for his successful tenure at Capitol Records.