William S. Burroughs - When did I stop wanting to be president

[@malcolmnicoll1165]

"Men with greatness in them never go in for politics." -Albert Camus

[@julians9070]

Very true.

[@vapordreams983]

Huey Long and Oswald Mosley were great. The revolutionaries are important

[@milascave2]

Which does not mean that he was apolitical. He was openly anti-Fascist and anti-Stalinist. And likewise, WSB was very open about opposing anything that involved government control.

[@milascave2]

@@vapordreams983 The people of England did not tolerate Fascists, led by Mosley or anybody else, and neither should we. Why were you posting that stuff here anyway? WSB was very anti-authoritarian.

[@CommonContentArchive]

@@vapordreams983 Weak trolling 😂

[@1971bdott]

Awesome thanks so much for sharing this. I miss William S Burroughs so much what an amazing man he was.

[@d3a1990]

One of the most transfixing writers and readers I’ve ever listened to. Burroughs’ voice is hypnotic.

[@davidbatteau-d3b]

Incredible. I love William Burroughs.

[@baronsaturday2103]

Me too.

[@julians9070]

Learning to appreciate his literature.

[@faststratjo2006]

We need Burroughs now to comment on these dark times.

[@davidscher4303]

he was

[@codybanks1942]

But, he is.

[@buckocrooks]

There are others. MC Ride. Thomas Piketty. Zizek. Jane Bennett. Gross Load. Holly Herndon. Bladee. All coalescing the vapor of human existence and showing us what's on the end of our fork.

[@dirkdirk1467]

@@buckocrooks did you just put bladee on the same level as william s burroughs

[@sts3016]

@dirk dirk he did, and he was right to do so

[@pjr5913]

i love this man!

[@paullangton-rogers2390]

I love him too. Only discovered a week ago and I can't get enough!! I want to hear and read everything he did. Definitely one of America's greatest writers of the 20th century, along with Truman Capote.

[@stevennorfolk4466]

What a wonderful great man. And a tenderness of thought long gone this godawful century. Note Kerouacs comments in his Vanity of Dolouz

[@matrix3817]

That's a real treat! Thanks!

[@vincentpanella9]

KNEW BURROUGH'S FICTION BUT NEVER BEFORE HIS SPEECHES.....OF HIS NOVELS JUNKY MY FAVORITE, THIS OPENS UP ANOTHER DIMENSION OF A GREAT AMERICAN WRITER

[@elizabethhann4028]

Colin Randall: Thank you *so very much* for posting this. A great routine from ol' Bill: *commissioner of sewers* indeed! Ha! Ha! This routine is very WILD BOYS, really, with its poisoned, ironic nostalgia for the old St. Louis of his cursed youth, and its evocations of "dim jerky faraway memories" (if you haven't read THE WILD BOYS, I implore you to go out and read it at once; I consider it to be Burroughs's best work, better even than NAKED LUNCH or THE SOFT MACHINE. What links WILD BOYS with "When Did I Stop Wanting to be President" is that nostalgia - poisoned, ironic, bleak nostalgia - is a leitmotif of both works, and both works describe certain memories and images as "dim, jerky, faraway"). Are you a big fan of Burroughs's work? And are you a writer yourself? I'm both, by the way.

[@1060michaelg]

+Elizabeth Hann I thought so too. As he was reading the line came into my head, "I have run off to join the wild boys---by the time you read this I will be far away....music of East St. Louis toodle-loo"...paraphrasing but I think that's close. Yeah, THE WILD BOYS does not get the propers it deserves to be sure. I think those of us who are or recovering or recovered addicts (when the roll gets called up yonder we'll all be there, won't we?) too often cut our remaining teeth on "Junky" (a book I have had to bind together w/tape from countless readings...numbers of old connections scrawled on the front and back covers...I'm just an old sentimental fool!) and NAKED LUNCH, well, I feel that addiction is the Rosetta Stone to understand NAKED LUNCH...never met a citizen who could dig a word of it. I am very much a HUGE devotee of Uncle Bill's spoken word work...I can recite "Spare Ass Annie and Other Tales" from memory. Sometimes, it takes a group of people a suspense laden 10 seconds to perform...heh. William is one of only three writers who I consider to be endowed with the gift of prophecy...the other two being Aldous Huxley and George Orwell (I will throw in Ray Bradbury for his vision of the post literate age we now find ourselves in, which he gave us in "Fahrenheit 451"). Have you seen "Burroughs: The Movie" recently? It's on KZbin again but who knows for how long...it's NOW called "Burroughs The Life Thereof" or some similar clumsy title. Burroughs saved my life more than once...and the times...the many times I was looking down the barrel of approaching junk sickness...no one holding or willing to let go of any (even though I had pulled them out of the fire many times) and old numbers of connections long disconnected for the non-payment, as Bill would say. Until I got too sick to even read it was somehow comforting to read "Lee" going through the same thing...you know? I nearly died twice from acute w/d and needed medical intervention to keep me from rolling the proverbial "7". I am a writer of poetry/prose and am completing a book of my experiences as a cabby...it is called "The Cabby Chronicles". I may change the name but it has been the working title all along. Also have the material that I have for some reason not put in order for a book of prose I've dubbed "Poems In The Key Of RX" Written during the 12 plus years of heavy addiction. We'll see. Please drop me a line whenever you like, it is a real and rare pleasure to happen upon a lover of Burroughs who knows their stuff. PS---Have you ever dug "The Letters of William S. Burroughs 1945-1959"? Edited by Oliver Harris...FANTASTIC. Be Well.

[@jameshadfiled1694]

this man was REAL. and as such could never have been elected,tis the pity!

[@jimmyzbike]

So very good

[@davidhitchen5369]

Timeless

[@marcinciszek-pop]

Fantastic

[@spacealienjesus709]

Thank you for this

[@baronsaturday2103]

Burroughs for president, that would have been great! No war on drugs, (legalisation) no more hassle around homosexuality or street prostitution, poetry/art/spoken word readings on every street corner, etc... PS: In this era we should have Patti Smith or Henry Rollins for president!

[@megavidaeos]

From the things I’ve read on his first hand experience with heavy drug addiction, I doubt he would have been okay with legalizing them all just like that.

[@kailenparker3437]

I bet he wouldnt enforce a vaccine

[@billpaxton7525]

Good, but you lost me at Henry Rollins. Fortunately there was only two words after that.

[@fatmunch6318]

I have a list of yards that have desperate need of sewer lines to be routed through them

[@fudgetone]

Thank you very much. This is one of my favorite pieces of his work. I'm a longtime fan and I've never seen anything from this event. If there's any more, please upload it! Also, have you ever seen a 'long' version of "Towers Open Fire"?? A full-length version of it, at least an hour. I saw it in the 90s and I've been searching for it everywhere.

[@geinikan1kan]

Looks like it’s Burroughs and Tony Soprano “We’ll just dump that here until you pay up.”

[@billpaxton7525]

I like the whistling from the audience at the mention of 'sex cults'.

[@saraivatoledo1842]

I hope this has to do with my own past entertainment with opiates but listening to Burroughs usually makes me nod ... that narcotic line where dream and reality meet if you will .

[@ToneSoCooL3]

thanks for posting, Wish it had subtitles, he is probably drunk

[@paulaharrisbaca4851]

These gay men who had daddy issues (and women too) are fascinating. I adored Ws Burroughs and I tried to emulate his life as a junky because I was pissed at my parents divorcing as a 2 year old

[@paulaharrisbaca4851]

He would adore TikTok.

[@ZachRose88]

Good writer, bad politician. Haha.

[@whynot8635]

Now u did it, he is gonna run a sewer straight thru ur frontyard!

[@ginahanlon1815]

I am personally to blame for the existence of Bill Burroughs and atheism. Also for K-town's latest round of witchhunt trials.

[@markchristopher3202]

one royal sure footed son of a bitch

[@tomgoodwin7239]

Thotfull read for better times

[@MrThirstyshark]

He would be much better than trump

[@carlos66965]

William would be a better president than trump, even in his current form.

[@pointpoint10]

@@carlos66965 Less putrid, too.

[@josephcambron7060]

Shove your anti Trump garbage commentary up your brainwashed a$$es.

[@kailenparker3437]

Facking so called normal cunts! 😂

[@Sc00byg00ky]

Oh look a bunch of Brandon supporters with tds

[@mikemarley2389]

Burroughs would be a far better president than the guy in DC now in 2022.

[@Sc00byg00ky]

You unfortunately seem to be in the minority in the comments