No really, thanks!

November 23, 2006 12:52 PM

William S. Burroughs' Thanksgiving Prayer
posted by Citizen Premier (26 comments total)

Saw that on Wonkette yesterday. 20 years later it's still relevant.
posted by joseph_elmhurst at 12:55 PM on November 23, 2006

It's pretty incredible that an head shot of an old man talking over the American flag can still epitomize cool. And funny. And also be insightful and yet very, very sad. All in about two minutes.

Burroughs is just the best.
posted by stinkycheese at 1:08 PM on November 23, 2006

Thanks for William Burroughs, who made the 20th century slightly less unconscionable and irredeemable.
posted by bukharin at 1:39 PM on November 23, 2006

Thanks.
posted by trip and a half at 1:44 PM on November 23, 2006

Awesome.
posted by BackwardsCity at 1:45 PM on November 23, 2006

http://www.metafilter.com/mefi/46959
posted by rxrfrx at 1:47 PM on November 23, 2006

(Incidentally, I met Bill Burroughs a couple of times at parties in my misspent youth. Struck me as an interesting old guy. Had no idea who he was at the time. I continue to be an ignorant idiot. Thanks for the memories and thanks again.)
posted by trip and a half at 1:50 PM on November 23, 2006

Why have I seen this every year since it was first written?

We are all so alternative.
posted by daq at 1:52 PM on November 23, 2006

Well, most posts have an expiry date of 365 days anyways.
posted by Citizen Premier at 1:54 PM on November 23, 2006

sophomoric
posted by vronsky at 1:55 PM on November 23, 2006

Oh, yes, vronsky, it's utterly immature... Now go be pleased with yourself.
posted by bukharin at 1:58 PM on November 23, 2006

He forgets to thank the Mexican authorities that let him get away with murdering his wife.
posted by Kraftmatic Adjustable Cheese at 2:11 PM on November 23, 2006 [2 favorites]

Thanks to vronsky, for putting the "meta" back in metafilter, by describing your own post.
posted by anomie at 2:15 PM on November 23, 2006

Man I love that old faggot. That being said, Kraftmatic, I'm now coughing from laughing so much.
posted by Nelson at 2:27 PM on November 23, 2006

Oh here we go - Burroughs moaning again. Couldn't you have changed the record, you whiney old fuck.
posted by forallmankind at 2:40 PM on November 23, 2006

He forgets to thank the Mexican authorities that let him get away with murdering his wife.

Come now, it's a matter of record that the Ugly Spirit made him do it. What court could convict him with that defence?
posted by jack_mo at 2:40 PM on November 23, 2006

WSB was the only beat that mattered.

heres the entire prayer if you want to make your school-aged children to commit something to memory this holiday season

Thanks for the wild turkey and
the passenger pigeons, destined
to be shit out through wholesome
American guts.


Thanks for a continent to despoil
and poison.


Thanks for Indians to provide a
modicum of challenge and
danger.

Thanks for vast herds of bison to
kill and skin leaving the
carcasses to rot.

Thanks for bounties on wolves
and coyotes.

Thanks for the American dream,
To vulgarize and to falsify until
the bare lies shine through.

Thanks for the KKK.

For nigger-killin' lawmen,
feelin' their notches.

For decent church-goin' women,
with their mean, pinched, bitter,
evil faces.

Thanks for "Kill a Queer for
Christ" stickers.

Thanks for laboratory AIDS.

Thanks for Prohibition and the
war against drugs.

Thanks for a country where
nobody's allowed to mind the
own business.

Thanks for a nation of finks.

Yes, thanks for all the
memories-- all right let's see
your arms!

You always were a headache and
you always were a bore.

Thanks for the last and greatest
betrayal of the last and greatest
of human dreams.
posted by tsarfan at 2:51 PM on November 23, 2006

whatever...
I miss uncle Bill, and things would be less interesting if he had not been around.
posted by edgeways at 2:53 PM on November 23, 2006

trip and a half, I am well fookin' jealous.
posted by imperium at 3:22 PM on November 23, 2006

Dude, total downer. The man needs more turkey.
posted by blue_beetle at 3:23 PM on November 23, 2006

I was just reading the wikipeda article on the Burroughs corporation, which helped create the COBOL programming language and today I discovered that the founder was the grandfather of William S. Burroughs (and indeed, had the same name)

Conclusion, wikipedia is awesome.
posted by delmoi at 3:33 PM on November 23, 2006

Yeah, the war on drugs must have hit a nerve...
posted by Krrrlson at 3:38 PM on November 23, 2006

It's normal nowadays to belittle someone for having a trust fund, but Wild Bill's many adventures were often funded by just such a fund - and where did the money for all that free-living come from? That's right, the Burroughs adding machine that delmoi alludes to above.

He did have real jobs too, but I always thought that was kind of neat, and perfectly in keeping with the often contradictory nature of the man.
posted by stinkycheese at 3:46 PM on November 23, 2006

Does that make him a cyberpunk?
posted by Artw at 3:56 PM on November 23, 2006

maybe a junkpunk
posted by ernie at 5:27 PM on November 23, 2006

Thanksgiving Prayer is included on the excellent Dead City Radio, one of Uncle Bill's releases from 1990.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 5:38 PM on November 23, 2006