Metamorphosis was written in 1988 and takes its title from a play based on Kafka's short story. Numbers three and four are from Glass's incidental music to the play. Numbers one and two use themes from Glass's soundtrack to the acclaimed Errol Morris film The Thin Blue Line. Mad Rush was written for the occasion of the Dalai Lama's first public address in New York City, in the fall of 1981. Originally an open-structured or open-ended piece, it was first performed by Glass on organ during the Dalai Lama's entrance into the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. Wichita Vortex Sutra is the result of a chance meeting between two long-time friends, Glass and poet Allen Ginsberg, in St. Mark's Books, a popular bookstore in the East Village.