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♪
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Whereas Allen Ginsberg
has made a lasting impact
5
00:01:05,500 --> 00:01:07,893
as a poet and a scholar,
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00:01:07,937 --> 00:01:11,419
and whereas his candor
and scholarship
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has served as an inspiration
to an entire generation,
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now therefore I,
mayor of the city of Boulder,
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00:01:19,166 --> 00:01:22,169
do hereby designate
Sunday, July 3rd,
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00:01:22,212 --> 00:01:24,258
as Allen Ginsberg Day.
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[applause, cheering]
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00:01:26,825 --> 00:01:35,573
♪
13
00:01:35,616 --> 00:01:37,662
"With the coming
of Dean Moriarty
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00:01:37,706 --> 00:01:39,273
began the part of my life
15
00:01:39,316 --> 00:01:42,493
you could call
my life on the road.
16
00:01:42,537 --> 00:01:45,931
In the bar I told Dean,
'Hell, man, I know very well
17
00:01:45,975 --> 00:01:48,847
you didn't come to me only
to want to become a writer.
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And, after all, what do
I really know about it
19
00:01:50,719 --> 00:01:52,503
except you gotta stick to it
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00:01:52,547 --> 00:01:54,765
with the energy
of a benny addict.'
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00:01:54,810 --> 00:01:58,247
Because the only people for me
are the mad ones,
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00:01:58,292 --> 00:02:01,295
the ones who never yawn
or say a commonplace thing
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00:02:01,338 --> 00:02:05,908
but burn, burn, burn like
fabulous yellow Roman candles
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00:02:05,951 --> 00:02:08,954
exploding like spiders
across the stars
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00:02:08,997 --> 00:02:11,261
and in the middle you see
the blue centerlight pop
26
00:02:11,305 --> 00:02:13,829
and everybody goes, 'Aww.'"
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00:02:13,872 --> 00:02:19,095
♪
28
00:02:19,139 --> 00:02:21,576
[phone dialing]
29
00:02:21,619 --> 00:02:30,106
♪
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00:02:30,150 --> 00:02:31,760
Hello, Ed.
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00:02:31,803 --> 00:02:33,327
Ladies and gentlemen,
we're honored to have
32
00:02:33,370 --> 00:02:35,894
on the line
from Lawrence, Kansas,
33
00:02:35,938 --> 00:02:38,549
a great American writer
whose brilliance
34
00:02:38,593 --> 00:02:43,163
and incomparable satire
[unintelligible].
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00:02:43,206 --> 00:02:45,295
Let's welcome
William Burroughs.
36
00:02:45,339 --> 00:02:46,949
[cheering]
37
00:02:46,992 --> 00:02:48,516
How many people are there?
38
00:02:48,559 --> 00:02:50,257
Town Hall is packed.
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00:02:50,300 --> 00:02:53,085
The Beat goes on, Bill.
40
00:02:53,129 --> 00:02:56,088
I've often been asked
if I had some words of advice
41
00:02:56,132 --> 00:02:57,525
to young people.
42
00:02:57,567 --> 00:02:58,743
♪
43
00:02:58,787 --> 00:03:00,397
If you are doing business
44
00:03:00,441 --> 00:03:03,444
with a religious
son of a bitch,
45
00:03:03,487 --> 00:03:05,576
get it in writing.
46
00:03:05,620 --> 00:03:08,666
His word isn't worth a shit,
not with good Lord
47
00:03:08,710 --> 00:03:11,147
telling him
how to fuck you over.
48
00:03:11,191 --> 00:03:12,366
[laughter]
49
00:03:12,409 --> 00:03:13,671
♪
50
00:03:13,715 --> 00:03:17,240
Gregory Corso and I
collaborated,
51
00:03:17,284 --> 00:03:19,155
almost inadvertently,
in building a--
52
00:03:19,199 --> 00:03:21,462
building a whole mythology
of a generation.
53
00:03:21,505 --> 00:03:23,768
-When Sputnik went up--
-Yeah, we did a chain poem.
54
00:03:23,812 --> 00:03:26,423
A chain poem made
in Amsterdam.
55
00:03:26,466 --> 00:03:29,948
And we took a rest and went
downstairs to the bathroom
56
00:03:29,992 --> 00:03:34,605
and this owner of the hotel,
what do you think he thinks?
57
00:03:34,649 --> 00:03:37,173
Two guys, right,
four legs,
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00:03:37,216 --> 00:03:39,262
they're having sex,
they're indignant.
59
00:03:39,305 --> 00:03:42,091
And I say, "Hey,
we're smoking a joint, man.
60
00:03:42,134 --> 00:03:43,440
We ain't having sex."
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00:03:43,484 --> 00:03:44,398
[laughter]
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00:03:44,441 --> 00:03:45,355
♪
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00:03:45,399 --> 00:03:46,748
"There once was a place,
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00:03:46,791 --> 00:03:49,316
perhaps, where all was light,
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00:03:49,359 --> 00:03:52,101
which once was the place,
pray tell,
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00:03:52,144 --> 00:03:55,583
some non-manmade god
hung out.
67
00:03:55,626 --> 00:03:57,976
And so tra-la, tra-la,
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00:03:58,020 --> 00:04:00,936
it's fin de siècle again,
my dears,
69
00:04:00,979 --> 00:04:02,894
and the music
of the spheres,
70
00:04:02,938 --> 00:04:06,333
some kind of mad,
mad laughter."
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00:04:06,376 --> 00:04:08,857
[applause]
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00:04:08,900 --> 00:04:13,557
♪
73
00:04:13,601 --> 00:04:16,081
[dog barking]
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00:04:16,125 --> 00:04:22,349
♪
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00:04:22,392 --> 00:04:24,829
[distant siren]
76
00:04:30,095 --> 00:04:31,575
Space.
77
00:04:31,619 --> 00:04:34,317
Like, the final frontier, man.
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00:04:34,361 --> 00:04:37,886
These are the voyages
of the hip Starship Enterprise.
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00:04:37,929 --> 00:04:42,456
Captain, permission to beam
Lawrence Ferlinghetti aboard.
80
00:04:42,499 --> 00:04:43,935
Permission, like, granted.
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00:04:43,979 --> 00:04:45,807
[laughter]
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00:04:45,850 --> 00:04:46,895
Where are we headed, man?
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00:04:48,505 --> 00:04:52,248
To, like, the Planet Bongo.
84
00:04:52,292 --> 00:04:55,556
They were the lonely voices
of dissent in the 1950s.
85
00:04:55,599 --> 00:04:57,427
Outsiders,
and proud of it,
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00:04:57,471 --> 00:05:00,343
they were the artists
who called themselves Beats.
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00:05:00,387 --> 00:05:03,172
Hear the sound,
hear the sound.
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00:05:03,215 --> 00:05:08,308
Zoom, zoom, zoom.
89
00:05:08,351 --> 00:05:09,918
[muttering]
90
00:05:09,961 --> 00:05:14,139
Oh--zoom, zoom, zoom.
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00:05:14,183 --> 00:05:15,358
Fallout shelter,
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00:05:15,402 --> 00:05:16,446
Sputnik,
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00:05:16,490 --> 00:05:17,752
H-bomb,
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00:05:17,795 --> 00:05:20,755
explosion, explosion,
explosion.
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00:05:20,798 --> 00:05:22,800
Bang!
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00:05:22,844 --> 00:05:24,715
[applause, snapping]
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00:05:24,759 --> 00:05:29,938
♪
98
00:05:29,981 --> 00:05:31,287
There's been
a revival of interest
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00:05:31,331 --> 00:05:32,593
in the Beat Generation.
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00:05:32,636 --> 00:05:34,638
Poetry readings are back
and being performed
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00:05:34,682 --> 00:05:36,945
at coffee houses
straight out of the '50s.
102
00:05:36,988 --> 00:05:39,643
Even MTV now
has poetry programs
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00:05:39,687 --> 00:05:42,080
that would make
Jack Kerouac proud.
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00:05:42,124 --> 00:05:54,876
♪
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00:05:54,919 --> 00:05:56,659
I feel all dead inside.
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00:05:56,704 --> 00:05:57,748
♪
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00:05:57,792 --> 00:05:59,315
Backed up in a dark corner.
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00:05:59,359 --> 00:06:00,751
♪
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00:06:00,795 --> 00:06:02,405
And I don't know
who's hitting me.
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00:06:02,449 --> 00:06:04,799
Shorty! Shorty, get me
that fight from Quinn.
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00:06:04,842 --> 00:06:06,540
I want money.
Do you understand? Money, money!
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00:06:06,583 --> 00:06:08,585
I forbid, I forbid. Better
buy a guy and shoot yourself.
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00:06:08,629 --> 00:06:10,152
You need money to buy a gun.
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00:06:10,195 --> 00:06:12,894
♪
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00:06:12,937 --> 00:06:14,199
It's my first day in school,
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00:06:14,243 --> 00:06:15,549
some kids got around me,
white kids.
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00:06:15,592 --> 00:06:16,506
They said, "Hey, who are you?
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00:06:16,550 --> 00:06:17,812
Is your father a monkey?"
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00:06:17,855 --> 00:06:19,727
I was dumb,
I smiled and said, "No."
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00:06:19,770 --> 00:06:21,337
Well, they wiped that smile
right off my face,
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00:06:21,381 --> 00:06:22,773
they beat it off.
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00:06:22,817 --> 00:06:24,166
I had to get beat up
a couple of more times
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00:06:24,209 --> 00:06:25,472
before I found out
that if you're colored,
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you stink.
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00:06:26,995 --> 00:06:28,475
♪
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00:06:29,563 --> 00:06:30,912
♪
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00:06:30,955 --> 00:06:33,218
In the '40s, the bomb dropped.
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00:06:33,262 --> 00:06:35,917
The entire planet
was threatened biologically.
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00:06:35,960 --> 00:06:37,527
When suddenly the realization,
130
00:06:37,571 --> 00:06:39,747
"Why are we being intimidated
by a bunch of jerks
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00:06:39,790 --> 00:06:41,618
who don't know anything
about life?
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00:06:41,662 --> 00:06:43,011
Who are they to tell us
what we feel
133
00:06:43,054 --> 00:06:44,578
and how we're supposed
to behave,
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00:06:44,621 --> 00:06:47,015
and why take
all that bullshit?"
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00:06:47,058 --> 00:06:49,452
[typing]
136
00:07:07,035 --> 00:07:09,167
We're at Columbia University
now,
137
00:07:09,211 --> 00:07:11,692
and the connection here
with the Beats
138
00:07:11,735 --> 00:07:14,434
is that this is
where Jack Kerouac
139
00:07:14,477 --> 00:07:16,740
and Allen Ginsberg met
140
00:07:16,784 --> 00:07:19,874
and the catalytic reaction began
141
00:07:19,917 --> 00:07:22,703
that became the Beat Movement,
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00:07:22,746 --> 00:07:26,271
and that was one of the forces
that helped create
143
00:07:26,315 --> 00:07:28,491
and I think shaped
the movements of the 1960s.
144
00:07:28,535 --> 00:07:31,712
Now, Kerouac comes down
from your own fair state
145
00:07:31,755 --> 00:07:34,366
of Massachusetts,
from Lowell.
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00:07:34,409 --> 00:07:36,630
He's a working class guy.
147
00:07:36,673 --> 00:07:39,502
From a very early age
is interested in writing.
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00:07:39,546 --> 00:07:42,940
He is a great football player
at Lowell,
149
00:07:42,984 --> 00:07:46,335
and they offered him
a football scholarship.
150
00:07:46,378 --> 00:07:50,426
The man who shook up America
with the Beat Movement was--
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00:07:50,470 --> 00:07:52,689
basically began
as a jock.
152
00:07:52,733 --> 00:07:55,518
Until he hurts his leg.
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00:07:55,562 --> 00:07:58,695
And at that point
he meets Allen Ginsberg
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00:07:58,739 --> 00:08:00,567
from Paterson, New Jersey,
155
00:08:00,610 --> 00:08:02,177
father a high school teacher,
156
00:08:02,220 --> 00:08:05,006
poet of minor note.
157
00:08:05,049 --> 00:08:08,662
And they're not talking
too much about football.
158
00:08:08,705 --> 00:08:11,273
They were interested
in something very corny,
159
00:08:11,316 --> 00:08:14,842
trying to find truth
and meaning in life.
160
00:08:14,885 --> 00:08:18,410
We weren't trying to make a
social revolution, particularly.
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00:08:18,454 --> 00:08:23,415
We were just trying to propose
our own souls to ourselves.
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00:08:23,459 --> 00:08:24,852
Were they lovers?
163
00:08:24,895 --> 00:08:27,681
We felt very close
to each other just intuitively,
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00:08:27,724 --> 00:08:30,988
but, uh, you know, without
any overt sexual thing,
165
00:08:31,032 --> 00:08:33,121
except that I was in love him.
166
00:08:33,164 --> 00:08:35,602
I had a crush on him,
I had a crush on everybody.
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00:08:35,645 --> 00:08:37,472
♪
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00:08:37,517 --> 00:08:40,563
They found African American
culture fascinating.
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00:08:40,607 --> 00:08:44,087
They related to weird people
like William Burroughs.
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00:08:44,131 --> 00:08:47,875
Jack and I went out
to investigate your soul
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00:08:47,918 --> 00:08:52,009
because we both really thought
you were a religious thing
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00:08:52,053 --> 00:08:55,230
and dignified
and weird but intelligent.
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00:08:55,273 --> 00:08:56,753
Jack said, uh,
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00:08:56,797 --> 00:08:59,582
"Bill is the most intelligent
man in America."
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00:08:59,626 --> 00:09:01,236
Did they take a lot of drugs?
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00:09:01,279 --> 00:09:03,238
Did they take
a lot of drugs?
177
00:09:03,281 --> 00:09:07,155
Cannabis, datura, coca...
178
00:09:07,198 --> 00:09:08,896
I had a habit, and that...
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00:09:08,939 --> 00:09:10,811
♪
180
00:09:10,854 --> 00:09:13,291
...kept me occupied.
181
00:09:13,335 --> 00:09:14,945
They were searching,
they were searching.
182
00:09:14,989 --> 00:09:18,122
They knew they weren't satisfied
with what was.
183
00:09:18,166 --> 00:09:20,603
And that's why we're here
at Columbia
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00:09:20,647 --> 00:09:24,738
trying to inhale
the atmosphere
185
00:09:24,781 --> 00:09:28,916
that once nurtured people
who dared to be different.
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00:09:28,959 --> 00:09:33,877
♪
187
00:09:33,921 --> 00:09:37,664
Burroughs began exploring
Times Square.
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00:09:37,707 --> 00:09:42,016
to sort of see
the lumpen population.
189
00:09:42,059 --> 00:09:45,019
He was interested in the
different varieties of the bars.
190
00:09:45,062 --> 00:09:46,498
♪
191
00:09:46,542 --> 00:09:48,457
He'd met Herbert Huncke,
192
00:09:48,500 --> 00:09:51,025
and Huncke was living
around Times Square,
193
00:09:51,068 --> 00:09:52,679
practically on the street.
194
00:09:52,722 --> 00:09:54,594
They'd come
strolling down the street
195
00:09:54,637 --> 00:09:56,639
with books under their arms.
196
00:09:56,683 --> 00:09:58,598
We thought you had some
kind of secret knowledge.
197
00:09:58,641 --> 00:10:03,167
It's just good, healthy activity
in a funny way.
198
00:10:03,211 --> 00:10:06,301
We'd pick up some grass,
smoke,
199
00:10:06,344 --> 00:10:10,435
and observe the phenomena
of the red light
200
00:10:10,479 --> 00:10:12,524
over the roof-combs
of the buildings
201
00:10:12,568 --> 00:10:15,963
that indicated some
kind of apocalyptic,
202
00:10:16,006 --> 00:10:18,792
end of millennium consciousness.
203
00:10:18,835 --> 00:10:21,229
Those were all justifications.
204
00:10:21,272 --> 00:10:22,752
-For what?
-For what?
205
00:10:22,796 --> 00:10:26,147
For what? For an interest
in the whole thing.
206
00:10:26,190 --> 00:10:28,410
Sometimes you lose sight
of the fact
207
00:10:28,453 --> 00:10:30,542
that these were basically
college kids,
208
00:10:30,586 --> 00:10:32,675
except for Burroughs,
who was a little older.
209
00:10:32,719 --> 00:10:34,721
These were basically
young people
210
00:10:34,764 --> 00:10:38,594
who were kind of broken off
in public, in a way.
211
00:10:38,638 --> 00:10:40,290
They were out getting loaded
and they were just
212
00:10:40,335 --> 00:10:45,079
making a lot of conversation
that they could build on.
213
00:10:45,122 --> 00:10:48,822
♪
214
00:10:48,865 --> 00:10:51,912
"Did I tell you my poem about
the Empire State Building
215
00:10:51,955 --> 00:10:54,349
that had not doomed
the dumb eyes of New York
216
00:10:54,392 --> 00:10:56,003
all the time?
'That was pretty good.'
217
00:10:56,046 --> 00:10:58,048
He says, 'Hey,
I've got a new poem too.'
218
00:10:58,092 --> 00:11:01,008
All these poets
struggling to be poets.
219
00:11:01,051 --> 00:11:02,662
Same time if they want to,
220
00:11:02,705 --> 00:11:06,709
they turn a little
purple moonlight pages
221
00:11:06,753 --> 00:11:09,886
in which their secret naked
doodlings do show.
222
00:11:09,930 --> 00:11:13,847
♪
223
00:11:13,890 --> 00:11:16,545
Secret scatological thought.
224
00:11:16,588 --> 00:11:18,286
♪
225
00:11:18,329 --> 00:11:20,070
That's why everybody
wants to see it."
226
00:11:20,114 --> 00:11:22,029
"America, I've given you all.
227
00:11:22,072 --> 00:11:23,726
Now I'm nothing.
228
00:11:23,770 --> 00:11:25,859
America, I used to be a
communist when I was a kid.
229
00:11:25,902 --> 00:11:27,730
I'm not sorry.
230
00:11:27,774 --> 00:11:30,211
I smoke marijuana
every chance I get.
231
00:11:30,254 --> 00:11:33,083
Whenever I go to Chinatown,
I get drunk and never get laid.
232
00:11:33,127 --> 00:11:35,912
My mind is made up,
there's going to be trouble."
233
00:11:35,956 --> 00:11:38,654
I have told you that
I will offer my beliefs,
234
00:11:38,698 --> 00:11:41,004
my affiliations,
and everything else
235
00:11:41,048 --> 00:11:42,266
for the American public,
236
00:11:42,310 --> 00:11:43,615
and they will know
where I stand
237
00:11:43,659 --> 00:11:45,139
as they do
from what I have written.
238
00:11:45,182 --> 00:11:46,706
-Stand away from the stand.
-I have written
239
00:11:46,749 --> 00:11:48,490
for Americanism
for many years and I shall...
240
00:11:48,533 --> 00:11:49,970
Stand away from the stand!
241
00:11:50,013 --> 00:11:51,449
...fight for
the Bill of Rights--
242
00:11:51,493 --> 00:11:53,538
Officer, take this man
away from the stand.
243
00:11:53,582 --> 00:11:56,063
The country had gotten
energized into this--
244
00:11:56,106 --> 00:11:58,239
the war effort
of the Second World War.
245
00:11:58,282 --> 00:12:01,285
And, uh,
when the men came back, uh,
246
00:12:01,329 --> 00:12:03,418
one thing--there was
the G.I. Bill was there,
247
00:12:03,461 --> 00:12:04,506
a lot of people
went to school that
248
00:12:04,549 --> 00:12:05,899
never would have
gone to school,
249
00:12:05,942 --> 00:12:07,248
went to the universities.
250
00:12:07,291 --> 00:12:10,164
Uh, uh, there was
a feeling of, uh,
251
00:12:10,207 --> 00:12:13,254
that--that America
was getting a fresh start,
252
00:12:13,297 --> 00:12:14,777
was getting a real start.
253
00:12:14,821 --> 00:12:17,519
Three years or so
after the end of the war,
254
00:12:17,562 --> 00:12:20,783
the draft is back, uh,
the Korean War then,
255
00:12:20,827 --> 00:12:24,874
the early '50s, uh,
the McCarthy hearings,
256
00:12:24,918 --> 00:12:27,355
the House Un-American
Activities Committee,
257
00:12:27,398 --> 00:12:29,836
the execution
of the Rosenbergs,
258
00:12:29,879 --> 00:12:33,796
the sense of a status quo,
business as usual,
259
00:12:33,840 --> 00:12:37,626
a kind of stolid,
even comfort.
260
00:12:37,669 --> 00:12:39,584
That it's the fattest
civilization around,
261
00:12:39,628 --> 00:12:41,282
the best ever.
262
00:12:41,325 --> 00:12:45,155
And, in reality, there was
an incredible provincialism
263
00:12:45,199 --> 00:12:48,028
and a very strong sense
of conformity
264
00:12:48,071 --> 00:12:50,813
and a stultifying feeling
265
00:12:50,857 --> 00:12:53,337
that you had to get along
with Life Magazine,
266
00:12:53,381 --> 00:12:54,991
as, you know,
what Ginsberg says,
267
00:12:55,035 --> 00:12:57,951
"I don't want my emotional life
to be read by Time."
268
00:12:57,994 --> 00:13:03,173
Eisenhower's intention was that
we should try to settle down
269
00:13:03,217 --> 00:13:06,742
to some nice, quiet,
American pursuits
270
00:13:06,786 --> 00:13:08,526
and not rock the boat,
271
00:13:08,570 --> 00:13:11,660
and it was time for us
to ease off a bit.
272
00:13:11,703 --> 00:13:15,142
He accomplished that,
the country was pretty quiet.
273
00:13:15,185 --> 00:13:18,101
We ask every citizen
to immediately report
274
00:13:18,145 --> 00:13:20,669
any information
regarding espionage,
275
00:13:20,712 --> 00:13:23,411
sabotage,
or un-American activities
276
00:13:23,454 --> 00:13:25,282
to the Federal Bureau
of Investigation.
277
00:13:25,326 --> 00:13:27,763
♪ That made him such a flop
278
00:13:27,807 --> 00:13:31,027
♪ Was he beeped
when he should have bopped ♪
279
00:13:31,071 --> 00:13:32,942
It was such
a schizophrenic distinction
280
00:13:32,986 --> 00:13:34,901
between a private world
of what everybody knew
281
00:13:34,944 --> 00:13:37,947
and talked about,
like black culture
282
00:13:37,991 --> 00:13:41,037
or teahead culture
of those years
283
00:13:41,081 --> 00:13:43,300
or just sexual culture
or gay culture,
284
00:13:43,344 --> 00:13:45,389
there were all these
marginalized cultures
285
00:13:45,433 --> 00:13:47,522
which were never represented
in public.
286
00:13:47,565 --> 00:13:50,003
♪
287
00:13:50,046 --> 00:13:52,440
It was friendship,
affairs, intermarriage,
288
00:13:52,483 --> 00:13:55,530
and a sense of, uh,
a community.
289
00:13:55,573 --> 00:13:56,661
♪
290
00:13:56,705 --> 00:13:58,402
They were the jazz musicians,
291
00:13:58,446 --> 00:14:01,797
and they were related to
the abstract expressionists.
292
00:14:01,841 --> 00:14:03,668
♪ Oh, you did it again
293
00:14:03,712 --> 00:14:06,802
But that wasn't the only thing
that was going on then.
294
00:14:06,846 --> 00:14:08,891
The poetry scene
was important,
295
00:14:08,935 --> 00:14:09,936
but there was also
the Living Theater
296
00:14:09,979 --> 00:14:11,111
was going on then.
297
00:14:11,154 --> 00:14:13,635
[rattling]
298
00:14:13,678 --> 00:14:15,637
♪
299
00:14:15,680 --> 00:14:18,031
Good morning, recruits.
300
00:14:18,074 --> 00:14:19,554
John Cage was important.
301
00:14:19,597 --> 00:14:22,035
[high-pitched bubbling]
302
00:14:22,078 --> 00:14:25,255
♪
303
00:14:25,299 --> 00:14:26,604
Happenings were happening then.
304
00:14:26,648 --> 00:14:30,695
♪
305
00:14:30,739 --> 00:14:33,568
There was a joy
and an optimism.
306
00:14:33,611 --> 00:14:34,525
♪
307
00:14:34,569 --> 00:14:35,831
The music reflected that.
308
00:14:35,875 --> 00:14:37,180
Charlie Parker
and Dizzy Gillespie
309
00:14:37,224 --> 00:14:39,879
were breaking down those walls.
310
00:14:39,922 --> 00:14:41,271
It's all insane,
then you look back,
311
00:14:41,315 --> 00:14:42,533
you look away, around,
312
00:14:42,577 --> 00:14:43,795
everything is coming in
from everywhere
313
00:14:43,839 --> 00:14:45,145
in the sound of the jazz.
314
00:14:45,188 --> 00:14:47,234
"Hi," "Hey."
315
00:14:47,277 --> 00:14:48,713
We were our own audience.
316
00:14:48,757 --> 00:14:50,933
I mean, Kerouac wrote
seven books--
317
00:14:50,977 --> 00:14:53,457
or 14 books before
they were published.
318
00:14:53,501 --> 00:14:55,764
We were more or less united,
I would say,
319
00:14:55,807 --> 00:14:57,548
towards increased awareness.
320
00:14:57,592 --> 00:14:59,202
♪
321
00:14:59,246 --> 00:15:00,900
Increased freedom.
322
00:15:00,943 --> 00:15:02,771
There were little connections
that we're making
323
00:15:02,814 --> 00:15:04,251
and they were building.
324
00:15:04,294 --> 00:15:07,036
What you had here,
as near as I can tell,
325
00:15:07,080 --> 00:15:09,212
was a collection
or a gathering
326
00:15:09,256 --> 00:15:12,259
of very, very great
intelligence.
327
00:15:12,302 --> 00:15:14,870
♪
328
00:15:14,914 --> 00:15:16,654
Dostoyevsky's
Notes from the Underground
329
00:15:16,698 --> 00:15:18,352
is the model of a lot
of these people,
330
00:15:18,395 --> 00:15:21,398
the guy who--who lives
in some kind of hole
331
00:15:21,442 --> 00:15:24,793
and rails at what's going on
around him.
332
00:15:24,836 --> 00:15:26,534
Many of us,
without knowing Dostoyevsky,
333
00:15:26,577 --> 00:15:27,709
thought that was our role.
334
00:15:27,752 --> 00:15:29,189
To write poetry,
to write music,
335
00:15:29,232 --> 00:15:31,147
to paint, to act,
to dance,
336
00:15:31,191 --> 00:15:32,496
to dare to dream.
337
00:15:32,540 --> 00:15:33,889
♪
338
00:15:33,933 --> 00:15:35,499
Allen had this vision,
339
00:15:35,543 --> 00:15:37,023
these Blake visions,
340
00:15:37,066 --> 00:15:38,372
and he suddenly said,
341
00:15:38,415 --> 00:15:40,374
"We're taking over
the universe."
342
00:15:40,417 --> 00:15:48,512
♪
343
00:16:03,701 --> 00:16:07,749
Well, Beat got the beat--
got the bebop beat
344
00:16:07,792 --> 00:16:09,316
so that you have
a sense of timing.
345
00:16:09,359 --> 00:16:10,708
♪
346
00:16:10,752 --> 00:16:13,233
Then there's the Catholic thing
of beatitude.
347
00:16:13,276 --> 00:16:14,451
♪
348
00:16:14,495 --> 00:16:16,279
You know, like sacred and holy.
349
00:16:19,326 --> 00:16:22,633
Huncke gave it as the one
I would usually give it,
350
00:16:22,677 --> 00:16:25,985
if somebody wants to tell you
their problem and all that,
351
00:16:26,028 --> 00:16:28,117
you say, "Not now, man,
I'm beat."
352
00:16:28,161 --> 00:16:29,466
When the Sputnik went up
and they said,
353
00:16:29,510 --> 00:16:32,034
"Oh, these guys
are out of this world,"
354
00:16:32,078 --> 00:16:33,165
Beatniks.
355
00:16:33,209 --> 00:16:35,037
Beatniks, nutniks,
356
00:16:35,081 --> 00:16:37,474
they all act like they was
behind the door
357
00:16:37,518 --> 00:16:39,128
when the brains
was handed out.
358
00:16:39,172 --> 00:16:41,348
[laughter]
359
00:16:41,391 --> 00:16:43,393
I met Mr. Ginsberg
maybe about two months
360
00:16:43,437 --> 00:16:45,265
after I had left prison.
361
00:16:45,308 --> 00:16:47,484
19--what? '49?
362
00:16:47,528 --> 00:16:48,833
♪
363
00:16:48,877 --> 00:16:50,226
You said '50.
364
00:16:50,270 --> 00:16:53,273
♪
365
00:16:53,316 --> 00:16:55,449
It was the beginning of 1950.
366
00:16:55,492 --> 00:16:58,017
Girl, sorry for
one fucking little mistake,
367
00:16:58,060 --> 00:16:59,409
stay out of it.
368
00:16:59,453 --> 00:17:01,368
♪
369
00:17:01,411 --> 00:17:03,979
Women were pretty much ornaments
370
00:17:04,022 --> 00:17:05,589
for the men and the Beats,
371
00:17:05,633 --> 00:17:07,069
and they were the caretakers.
372
00:17:07,113 --> 00:17:08,983
They got away with murder
373
00:17:09,028 --> 00:17:11,247
because what
they were proselytizing
374
00:17:11,290 --> 00:17:14,511
produced the male artist hero.
375
00:17:14,555 --> 00:17:17,513
Pattycake, pattycake.
376
00:17:17,558 --> 00:17:19,125
Sylvia...
377
00:17:19,167 --> 00:17:21,257
Did you see me wave
my zen stick?
378
00:17:21,300 --> 00:17:22,780
♪
379
00:17:22,824 --> 00:17:24,955
And there was a look
all the women had,
380
00:17:25,000 --> 00:17:26,393
a certain look.
381
00:17:26,435 --> 00:17:28,263
It was hard to tell them
from each other.
382
00:17:28,308 --> 00:17:31,920
♪
383
00:17:31,963 --> 00:17:34,662
I don't think we were
particularly machismo.
384
00:17:34,705 --> 00:17:37,926
Actually, Burroughs
and I were queer,
385
00:17:37,969 --> 00:17:39,884
very sensitive
and literary.
386
00:17:39,928 --> 00:17:42,235
Well, some of my best friends
were women.
387
00:17:42,278 --> 00:17:43,932
♪
388
00:17:43,975 --> 00:17:45,803
Most of them were gay
except Jack,
389
00:17:45,847 --> 00:17:48,893
now Jack had tough time
with women in a way,
390
00:17:48,937 --> 00:17:51,026
and I got in trouble with him
391
00:17:51,070 --> 00:17:53,811
and he got very unhappy
that I fucked his girl.
392
00:17:53,855 --> 00:17:57,119
But that was the time
when I did not know Jack.
393
00:17:57,163 --> 00:17:58,729
I was just introduced to him.
394
00:17:58,773 --> 00:18:01,384
It wasn't as if I fucked
my best friend's girl.
395
00:18:01,428 --> 00:18:03,038
[dog barking]
396
00:18:03,082 --> 00:18:05,301
"It's the Beat Generation,
it's beat,
397
00:18:05,345 --> 00:18:07,956
it's the beat to keep,
it's the beat of the heart,
398
00:18:07,999 --> 00:18:09,653
it's being beat
and down in the world,
399
00:18:09,697 --> 00:18:11,742
and like old time lowdown
400
00:18:11,786 --> 00:18:13,266
and like in
ancient civilizations
401
00:18:13,309 --> 00:18:16,007
the slave boatmen
rowing galleys to a beat."
402
00:18:16,051 --> 00:18:22,840
♪
403
00:18:22,884 --> 00:18:24,886
♪ Pull my daisy,
tip my cup ♪
404
00:18:24,929 --> 00:18:27,454
We didn't expect to be
represented in public.
405
00:18:27,497 --> 00:18:29,151
We just wanted
to represent ourselves
406
00:18:29,195 --> 00:18:30,718
and write for heaven, you know,
407
00:18:30,761 --> 00:18:32,415
building up treasures
in heaven.
408
00:18:32,459 --> 00:18:33,721
I think Kerouac despaired
409
00:18:33,764 --> 00:18:35,810
of ever having
his work published.
410
00:18:35,853 --> 00:18:39,466
I read the book
and I was simply stunned.
411
00:18:39,509 --> 00:18:43,731
I said then I believed that it
was as perfect an expression
412
00:18:43,774 --> 00:18:48,953
of a generation as Hemingway's
The Sun Also Rises.
413
00:18:48,997 --> 00:18:50,781
Kerouac was a writer.
414
00:18:50,825 --> 00:18:52,957
That is, he wrote.
415
00:18:53,001 --> 00:18:57,179
The difference being
a bullfighter who fights a bull
416
00:18:57,223 --> 00:18:58,833
is different
from a bullshitter
417
00:18:58,876 --> 00:19:01,401
who makes passes
with no bull there.
418
00:19:01,444 --> 00:19:03,316
Truman Capote got jealous
I went on The Tonight Show
419
00:19:03,359 --> 00:19:05,144
and said it wasn't writing,
it was typing.
420
00:19:05,187 --> 00:19:07,058
Yeah, fuck him.
421
00:19:07,102 --> 00:19:09,017
And now Truman's at the great
Tonight Showin the sky
422
00:19:09,060 --> 00:19:11,062
still wearing his white coat
while Jack's 15 books
423
00:19:11,106 --> 00:19:13,195
are translated into 11 languages
all over the world.
424
00:19:13,239 --> 00:19:15,502
[applause]
425
00:19:15,545 --> 00:19:17,330
Life Magazinecame around
to interview us
426
00:19:17,373 --> 00:19:19,549
for an article
on the Beat Generation.
427
00:19:19,593 --> 00:19:21,072
And I thought,
"Jesus,
428
00:19:21,116 --> 00:19:23,466
if they think
that we have anything to say,
429
00:19:23,510 --> 00:19:25,512
they must be scraping
the bottom of the barrel.
430
00:19:25,555 --> 00:19:27,514
They must be
pretty desperate."
431
00:19:27,557 --> 00:19:31,039
♪
432
00:19:31,082 --> 00:19:34,173
♪ Now the lesson is over,
get on your feet ♪
433
00:19:34,216 --> 00:19:37,480
♪ And go to town
and dig the beat ♪
434
00:19:37,524 --> 00:19:39,178
[applause]
435
00:19:41,441 --> 00:19:43,573
Jack, uh, got a couple
of square questions,
436
00:19:43,617 --> 00:19:45,009
but I think the answers
will be interesting.
437
00:19:45,053 --> 00:19:47,403
How long did it take you
to write On the Road?
438
00:19:47,447 --> 00:19:49,231
-Three weeks.
-Three weeks.
439
00:19:49,275 --> 00:19:52,103
That's amazing, how long
were you on the road itself?
440
00:19:52,147 --> 00:19:55,542
-Seven years.
-Seven years.
441
00:19:55,585 --> 00:19:57,239
I was on the road once
for three weeks
442
00:19:57,283 --> 00:19:59,633
and it took me seven years
to write about it,
443
00:19:59,676 --> 00:20:01,025
sort of the other way around.
444
00:20:01,069 --> 00:20:02,679
I've heard that
you write so fast
445
00:20:02,723 --> 00:20:05,247
that you don't like to use
regular typing paper
446
00:20:05,291 --> 00:20:08,381
but instead you prefer to use
one big long roll of paper.
447
00:20:08,424 --> 00:20:10,383
-Is that true?
-Yeah.
448
00:20:10,426 --> 00:20:12,907
When I write
narrative novels
449
00:20:12,950 --> 00:20:15,431
and I want to change
my narrative thought,
450
00:20:15,475 --> 00:20:16,650
I keep going...
451
00:20:16,693 --> 00:20:19,827
♪
452
00:20:19,870 --> 00:20:23,657
Wonderful part of Jack's
On the Roadwas when he said,
453
00:20:23,700 --> 00:20:27,661
"Our battered suitcases were
piled on the sidewalk again.
454
00:20:27,704 --> 00:20:30,446
We had longer ways to go,
but no matter.
455
00:20:30,490 --> 00:20:33,232
The road is life."
456
00:20:33,275 --> 00:20:36,147
"I'd often dreamed of going West
to see the country,
457
00:20:36,191 --> 00:20:39,412
always vaguely planning
and never taking off.
458
00:20:39,455 --> 00:20:40,717
I left with my canvas bag
459
00:20:40,761 --> 00:20:42,806
and took off
for the Pacific Ocean."
460
00:20:42,850 --> 00:20:45,331
The whole nation
was tilting westward.
461
00:20:45,374 --> 00:20:46,810
♪
462
00:20:46,854 --> 00:20:48,943
It was like a drink
that had been stirred
463
00:20:48,986 --> 00:20:53,034
with the Second World War
and it hadn't settled down yet.
464
00:20:53,077 --> 00:20:55,210
"Somewhere along the line
I knew there would be girls,
465
00:20:55,254 --> 00:20:57,517
visions, everything.
466
00:20:57,560 --> 00:20:59,214
Somewhere along the line,
467
00:20:59,258 --> 00:21:00,824
pearl would be handed to me."
468
00:21:00,868 --> 00:21:02,565
♪
469
00:21:02,609 --> 00:21:05,220
There's just nothing like
being out, uh,
470
00:21:05,264 --> 00:21:06,787
on an American road.
471
00:21:06,830 --> 00:21:08,789
♪
472
00:21:08,832 --> 00:21:11,618
You get outside,
something happens to ya,
473
00:21:11,661 --> 00:21:13,837
and when you're traveling
through outside,
474
00:21:13,881 --> 00:21:15,883
the wind goes over
the top of your head
475
00:21:15,926 --> 00:21:18,233
and you get a static charge.
476
00:21:18,277 --> 00:21:20,844
You'll see people with their
hair standing on end like this
477
00:21:20,888 --> 00:21:21,976
'cause they've been
driving a long time,
478
00:21:22,019 --> 00:21:24,370
and their eyes kind of wild.
479
00:21:24,413 --> 00:21:25,849
It's a high.
480
00:21:25,893 --> 00:21:32,856
♪
481
00:21:32,900 --> 00:21:37,165
The center of gravity
of our imagination in poetics
482
00:21:37,208 --> 00:21:41,561
moved off the East Coast and
came out into these grasslands.
483
00:21:41,604 --> 00:21:42,692
♪
484
00:21:42,736 --> 00:21:45,521
There was the expansion
of a heart
485
00:21:45,565 --> 00:21:50,047
to learn and to enjoy
all of America.
486
00:21:50,091 --> 00:21:54,138
And that included, as you see in
Jack's work and in Allen's work,
487
00:21:54,182 --> 00:21:56,750
the lives and minds
of ordinary people.
488
00:21:56,793 --> 00:21:58,360
♪
489
00:21:58,404 --> 00:22:00,275
"We arrived at Council Bluffs
at dawn.
490
00:22:00,319 --> 00:22:01,363
♪
491
00:22:01,407 --> 00:22:02,756
All winter I'd been reading
492
00:22:02,799 --> 00:22:05,324
the great wagon parties
that held council there.
493
00:22:05,367 --> 00:22:07,848
And, of course, now it was
only cute suburban cottages
494
00:22:07,891 --> 00:22:10,503
all laid out
in a dismal gray dawn.
495
00:22:10,546 --> 00:22:11,982
Then Omaha,
and, by God,
496
00:22:12,026 --> 00:22:13,332
the first cowboy I saw
497
00:22:13,375 --> 00:22:15,377
in a ten-gallon hat
and Texas boots,
498
00:22:15,421 --> 00:22:16,683
looked like any beat character
499
00:22:16,726 --> 00:22:18,685
of the brickwall dawns
of the East
500
00:22:18,728 --> 00:22:20,556
except for the getup."
501
00:22:20,600 --> 00:22:23,211
"America, this is quite serious.
502
00:22:23,254 --> 00:22:24,647
America, this is
the impression I get
503
00:22:24,691 --> 00:22:26,301
from looking in
a television set.
504
00:22:26,345 --> 00:22:28,825
America, is this correct?
505
00:22:28,869 --> 00:22:30,697
It's true, I don't want
to join the Army
506
00:22:30,740 --> 00:22:32,960
or turn lathes
in precision parts factories.
507
00:22:33,003 --> 00:22:36,224
I'm nearsighted
and psychopathic anyway.
508
00:22:36,267 --> 00:22:39,358
America, I'm putting my queer
shoulder to the wheel."
509
00:22:39,401 --> 00:22:40,489
♪
510
00:22:40,533 --> 00:22:42,578
And away we go!
511
00:22:42,622 --> 00:22:45,146
"Into the interior,
512
00:22:45,189 --> 00:22:47,540
a vast subdivision,
513
00:22:47,583 --> 00:22:52,719
antennae of television
to the meaningless sky.
514
00:22:52,762 --> 00:22:53,763
♪
515
00:22:53,807 --> 00:22:55,809
In lifeproof houses
516
00:22:55,852 --> 00:22:57,767
they hover over the young...
517
00:22:57,811 --> 00:23:00,770
♪
518
00:23:00,814 --> 00:23:05,384
...sop up a little
of what they shut out.
519
00:23:05,427 --> 00:23:07,864
Only the young
bring anything in,
520
00:23:07,908 --> 00:23:11,390
and they are not young
very long."
521
00:23:11,433 --> 00:23:15,263
♪
522
00:23:15,306 --> 00:23:17,570
"Just ahead,
over the rolling wheatfields
523
00:23:17,613 --> 00:23:21,225
all golden beneath
the distant snows of Estes,
524
00:23:21,269 --> 00:23:23,314
I'd be seeing
old Denver at last.
525
00:23:23,358 --> 00:23:27,449
There were smokestacks, smoke,
railyards, red-brick buildings,
526
00:23:27,493 --> 00:23:30,713
and the distant
downtown gray-stone.
527
00:23:30,757 --> 00:23:33,847
I stumbled along with the most
wicked grin of joy in the world,
528
00:23:33,890 --> 00:23:36,719
among the old bums
and beat cowboys.
529
00:23:36,763 --> 00:23:40,157
I felt like an arrow that
could shoot out all the way."
530
00:23:40,201 --> 00:23:43,726
"A high tower on a wide plain.
531
00:23:43,770 --> 00:23:46,947
If you climb up
one floor
532
00:23:46,990 --> 00:23:49,819
you'll see
a thousand miles more."
533
00:23:49,863 --> 00:23:54,824
♪
534
00:23:54,868 --> 00:23:56,913
Right over those knolls
over there,
535
00:23:56,957 --> 00:23:59,568
something wonderful
is going to be.
536
00:23:59,612 --> 00:24:01,570
Uh, but you found out
the more you went
537
00:24:01,614 --> 00:24:03,572
there was just more knolls.
538
00:24:03,616 --> 00:24:08,055
"So in America
when the sun goes down
539
00:24:08,098 --> 00:24:09,926
and I sit on the old
broken-down river pier
540
00:24:09,970 --> 00:24:13,408
watching the long,
long skies over New Jersey
541
00:24:13,452 --> 00:24:15,454
and sense all that raw land
that rolls
542
00:24:15,497 --> 00:24:18,935
in one unbelievable huge bulge
over to the West Coast,
543
00:24:18,979 --> 00:24:21,982
and all that road going...
544
00:24:22,025 --> 00:24:24,506
I think of Dean Moriarty, I
even think of Old Dean Moriarty,
545
00:24:24,550 --> 00:24:28,684
the father we never found,
I think of Dean Moriarty.
546
00:24:28,728 --> 00:24:32,035
I think of Dean Moriarty."
547
00:24:32,079 --> 00:24:34,908
[applause]
548
00:24:34,951 --> 00:24:37,388
[typing]
549
00:24:45,962 --> 00:24:48,574
Well, I don't think
there is any real Neal.
550
00:24:48,617 --> 00:24:50,619
Kerouac's, uh, I think had a--
551
00:24:50,663 --> 00:24:52,752
had a sort of
an idealized figure
552
00:24:52,795 --> 00:24:56,625
of Neal as this
On the Roadcharacter.
553
00:24:56,669 --> 00:25:00,411
I mean, he's sort of
the On the Road,uh,
554
00:25:00,455 --> 00:25:02,196
personified.
555
00:25:02,239 --> 00:25:05,547
But there's such
an overwhelming trip...
556
00:25:05,591 --> 00:25:06,896
[laughs]
557
00:25:06,940 --> 00:25:08,594
...Cassady, I don't know,
558
00:25:08,637 --> 00:25:09,943
it's hard to even know
what to say about Cassady,
559
00:25:09,986 --> 00:25:11,640
he was so singular.
560
00:25:11,684 --> 00:25:15,339
He was the first person I met
who he himself was the art.
561
00:25:15,383 --> 00:25:16,732
♪
562
00:25:16,776 --> 00:25:18,299
A lot of people thought
he was crazy, you know,
563
00:25:18,342 --> 00:25:20,649
a lot of people
were afraid of him and--
564
00:25:20,693 --> 00:25:24,000
a lot--most people I know
didn't understand him at all,
565
00:25:24,044 --> 00:25:25,001
you know, yeah,
566
00:25:25,045 --> 00:25:27,351
but he was like
a musician.
567
00:25:27,395 --> 00:25:29,005
He was like Charlie Mingus.
568
00:25:29,049 --> 00:25:31,399
He played the bass line,
569
00:25:31,442 --> 00:25:32,661
whatever else happened
570
00:25:32,705 --> 00:25:34,054
was happening around
his bass line,
571
00:25:34,097 --> 00:25:38,145
and he used
[unintelligible].
572
00:25:38,188 --> 00:25:40,277
♪ Jack was sittin'
poker faced
573
00:25:40,321 --> 00:25:42,453
with bullets backed
with bitches ♪
574
00:25:42,497 --> 00:25:46,849
♪ Neal hunched at the wheel,
puttin' everyone in stitches ♪
575
00:25:46,893 --> 00:25:49,156
♪ Braggin' 'bout
some nurse he screwed
576
00:25:49,199 --> 00:25:51,898
while drivin'
through Nebraska ♪
577
00:25:51,941 --> 00:25:54,422
♪ And when she came
she honked the horn ♪
578
00:25:54,465 --> 00:25:57,991
Cassady was a sort of
self-taught prison boy
579
00:25:58,034 --> 00:26:01,864
who came here to New York
to go con Kerouac
580
00:26:01,908 --> 00:26:03,649
into teaching him
how to write.
581
00:26:03,692 --> 00:26:05,694
He was a great driver.
582
00:26:05,738 --> 00:26:09,089
And I don't mean a fast driver,
I mean a great driver.
583
00:26:09,132 --> 00:26:13,572
His, uh,
page was this highway.
584
00:26:13,615 --> 00:26:16,618
And his writing, too,
was one of these cars.
585
00:26:16,662 --> 00:26:19,012
All right, here we go,
one-handed delight.
586
00:26:19,055 --> 00:26:21,231
Ah, no, no, no,
that's masturbating.
587
00:26:21,275 --> 00:26:22,581
No, no, no.
588
00:26:22,624 --> 00:26:24,060
Nothing in the world
he liked better
589
00:26:24,104 --> 00:26:26,802
than getting about six
scared kids in the car
590
00:26:26,846 --> 00:26:28,978
and bring 'em back
about three days later
591
00:26:29,022 --> 00:26:32,112
and their eyes
looked like fried bolts.
592
00:26:32,155 --> 00:26:34,418
His special thing was
that he could remember
593
00:26:34,462 --> 00:26:36,769
the chain of thought
that went before
594
00:26:36,812 --> 00:26:39,032
that led up to a moment
of conversation.
595
00:26:39,075 --> 00:26:40,686
Came in here yesterday and, uh,
596
00:26:40,729 --> 00:26:42,035
jumbling and jittery around,
597
00:26:42,078 --> 00:26:43,514
and I sort of looked
like I was high,
598
00:26:43,558 --> 00:26:45,560
so I just let people
think I was high.
599
00:26:45,604 --> 00:26:47,301
Everybody has forms,
and everything's known
600
00:26:47,344 --> 00:26:48,432
and the forms are changing,
601
00:26:48,476 --> 00:26:49,869
there's no life in the forms.
602
00:26:49,912 --> 00:26:51,610
Just his whole body language
and everything
603
00:26:51,653 --> 00:26:54,351
was so communicative,
it was just amazing.
604
00:26:54,395 --> 00:26:55,439
♪
605
00:26:55,483 --> 00:26:56,789
It's already too late,
606
00:26:56,832 --> 00:26:58,529
the Pentagon is taking care
of it all,
607
00:26:58,573 --> 00:27:02,142
we're doing this deliberately
as far as that goes.
608
00:27:02,185 --> 00:27:04,100
♪
609
00:27:04,144 --> 00:27:06,233
The Pentagon is doing
what deliberately?
610
00:27:06,276 --> 00:27:08,496
Well, I don't know who's
running the country, do you?
611
00:27:08,539 --> 00:27:10,541
♪
612
00:27:10,585 --> 00:27:12,848
♪ Look out, California
613
00:27:12,892 --> 00:27:14,720
"We began rolling in
the foothills before Oakland
614
00:27:14,763 --> 00:27:16,286
and saw stretched out
ahead of us
615
00:27:16,330 --> 00:27:18,854
the fabulous white city
of San Francisco.
616
00:27:18,898 --> 00:27:21,074
'No more land,' yelled Dean.
617
00:27:21,117 --> 00:27:23,424
'Can't go no further 'cause
there ain't no more land.'"
618
00:27:23,467 --> 00:27:26,775
♪
619
00:27:26,819 --> 00:27:30,170
The war displaced everyone,
620
00:27:30,213 --> 00:27:33,129
and, uh,
they didn't go back home.
621
00:27:33,173 --> 00:27:35,001
It was a little
like after any war,
622
00:27:35,044 --> 00:27:38,265
and it was certainly
like after the Civil War
623
00:27:38,308 --> 00:27:41,398
when people like Mark Twain
were displaced
624
00:27:41,442 --> 00:27:44,575
and ended up
in San Francisco.
625
00:27:44,619 --> 00:27:47,056
He was a carpetbagger
in a way,
626
00:27:47,100 --> 00:27:50,277
just like the East Coast Beats
were all carpetbaggers,
627
00:27:50,320 --> 00:27:52,888
including myself.
628
00:27:52,932 --> 00:27:56,762
We're in a tradition
of dissidence.
629
00:27:56,805 --> 00:27:59,329
So we started City Lights.
630
00:27:59,373 --> 00:28:02,376
The idea was to create
a literary meeting place.
631
00:28:02,419 --> 00:28:06,032
There was already cultivated--
a San Francisco renaissance.
632
00:28:06,075 --> 00:28:09,688
There always way an anarchist,
pacifist, anti-Stalinist,
633
00:28:09,731 --> 00:28:15,606
anti-authoritarian, literary,
Bohemian, anti-war circle.
634
00:28:15,650 --> 00:28:18,218
People want to be themselves,
basically.
635
00:28:18,261 --> 00:28:21,351
People want to remain true
to their very being.
636
00:28:21,395 --> 00:28:23,745
People who don't wanna
play the game.
637
00:28:23,789 --> 00:28:26,574
People who wanna
be whatever they are.
638
00:28:26,617 --> 00:28:29,751
And that manifested itself
in literature and painting,
639
00:28:29,795 --> 00:28:33,146
in Bohemian parties,
poetry readings.
640
00:28:33,189 --> 00:28:34,713
I would go into a macho bar
641
00:28:34,756 --> 00:28:37,541
and jump on the pool table
and read some poems.
642
00:28:37,585 --> 00:28:40,719
Now, either I got beat up
or I made $50,
643
00:28:40,762 --> 00:28:43,156
most of the times I made $50.
644
00:28:43,199 --> 00:28:45,767
It was a cold night
in the big city
645
00:28:45,811 --> 00:28:48,161
where love is the roar
and death is the beat
646
00:28:48,204 --> 00:28:51,730
and I yell like a madman
at the top of my voice.
647
00:28:51,773 --> 00:28:55,734
Everybody sing,
everybody sing.
648
00:28:55,777 --> 00:28:59,215
Started to sing a song
about pretty flowers
649
00:28:59,259 --> 00:29:02,697
and then the men in their white
coats came with their jackets
650
00:29:02,741 --> 00:29:04,873
and I told them
to sing also.
651
00:29:04,917 --> 00:29:07,746
Let's sing a song,
let's sing a song.
652
00:29:07,789 --> 00:29:10,705
And they took me
away, away, away
653
00:29:10,749 --> 00:29:12,707
from the roar and the beat,
654
00:29:12,751 --> 00:29:13,969
the beat, the beat,
655
00:29:14,013 --> 00:29:16,711
let's sing a song.
656
00:29:16,755 --> 00:29:19,061
Like, uh,
657
00:29:19,105 --> 00:29:20,715
man, I'm here and, I mean,
658
00:29:20,759 --> 00:29:22,108
I've met a swinging group here.
659
00:29:22,151 --> 00:29:24,066
I like--I like, uh,
660
00:29:24,110 --> 00:29:25,546
I like Frisco the most, man,
661
00:29:25,589 --> 00:29:27,504
because, I mean,
the town jumps, you know?
662
00:29:27,548 --> 00:29:29,115
I mean, there are a lot
of scenes, man,
663
00:29:29,158 --> 00:29:31,334
and, uh, so, I mean,
it's like that, you know?
664
00:29:31,378 --> 00:29:33,075
Uh-huh.
665
00:29:33,119 --> 00:29:35,251
Kenneth Rexroth
was sort of, uh,
666
00:29:35,295 --> 00:29:36,557
the philosopher,
667
00:29:36,600 --> 00:29:38,298
the anarchist philosopher
668
00:29:38,341 --> 00:29:40,648
who preceded us
in San Francisco,
669
00:29:40,691 --> 00:29:43,694
said that San Francisco
was to the artists
670
00:29:43,738 --> 00:29:46,828
as Barcelona was
the Spanish anarchists.
671
00:29:46,872 --> 00:29:49,962
I guess it was a haven
for thinking and feeling people.
672
00:29:50,005 --> 00:29:51,746
In those days,
we were all outlaws.
673
00:29:51,790 --> 00:29:53,356
Anybody who had feelings
of their own
674
00:29:53,400 --> 00:29:55,228
or had their hair
a little bit too long
675
00:29:55,271 --> 00:29:56,882
or had an idea of their own
676
00:29:56,925 --> 00:29:59,275
or wanted to experience
new states of consciousness
677
00:29:59,319 --> 00:30:02,017
or to deepen themselves
or to grow a soul
678
00:30:02,061 --> 00:30:05,455
or to feel anything
out of the ordinary, uh,
679
00:30:05,499 --> 00:30:06,805
was a renegade.
680
00:30:06,848 --> 00:30:09,198
♪
681
00:30:09,242 --> 00:30:11,810
I'm Steven Ronin,
Beat historian.
682
00:30:11,853 --> 00:30:14,725
Here I am at 3119 Fillmore,
683
00:30:14,769 --> 00:30:17,206
location of the former
Six Gallery,
684
00:30:17,250 --> 00:30:20,819
where poet Allen Ginsberg
debuted his poem Howl,
685
00:30:20,862 --> 00:30:23,778
and history hasn't been
the same since.
686
00:30:23,822 --> 00:30:26,781
Rexroth had been invited
to organize a reading
687
00:30:26,825 --> 00:30:29,088
at the Six Gallery.
688
00:30:29,131 --> 00:30:32,439
He suggested to McClure
or myself that we organize it,
689
00:30:32,482 --> 00:30:33,962
and it fell to me.
690
00:30:34,006 --> 00:30:37,096
And Rexroth gave me
Gary Snyder's address.
691
00:30:37,139 --> 00:30:40,273
Snyder was a student studying
Chinese, Japanese, and Zen.
692
00:30:40,316 --> 00:30:41,578
♪
693
00:30:41,622 --> 00:30:44,668
Allen and I
lined up that space
694
00:30:44,712 --> 00:30:47,976
with the idea
of holding a reading
695
00:30:48,020 --> 00:30:51,980
for our various relatively
unpublished friends.
696
00:30:52,024 --> 00:30:55,375
♪
697
00:30:55,418 --> 00:30:57,812
What we were interested in
was our own writing
698
00:30:57,856 --> 00:31:00,206
and talking with people
who were also trying
699
00:31:00,249 --> 00:31:02,861
to write and paint
and whatever else.
700
00:31:02,904 --> 00:31:06,560
And, uh, trying to get our way
someplace else,
701
00:31:06,603 --> 00:31:08,649
get--get a new start
702
00:31:08,692 --> 00:31:11,957
that would gently replace
a lot of this slobber.
703
00:31:12,000 --> 00:31:14,133
And we stepped out
on the stage.
704
00:31:14,176 --> 00:31:15,612
With Kerouac in the audience,
705
00:31:15,656 --> 00:31:17,832
with Neal Cassady
in the audience.
706
00:31:17,876 --> 00:31:19,181
We didn't know
who would be there,
707
00:31:19,225 --> 00:31:20,661
we didn't know who to expect.
708
00:31:20,704 --> 00:31:22,924
"I followed the whole gang
of howling poets
709
00:31:22,968 --> 00:31:25,057
to the reading at Gallery Six
that night,
710
00:31:25,100 --> 00:31:27,276
which was,
among other important things,
711
00:31:27,320 --> 00:31:28,712
the night of the birth
712
00:31:28,756 --> 00:31:31,628
of the San Francisco
Poetry Renaissance.
713
00:31:31,672 --> 00:31:32,673
♪
714
00:31:32,716 --> 00:31:33,935
Scores of people stood around
715
00:31:33,979 --> 00:31:34,980
in the darkened galleries,
716
00:31:35,023 --> 00:31:36,677
straining to hear every word
717
00:31:36,720 --> 00:31:38,331
of the amazing poetry reading
718
00:31:38,374 --> 00:31:40,333
as I wandered
from group to group
719
00:31:40,376 --> 00:31:43,031
urging them to glug
a slug from the jug,
720
00:31:43,075 --> 00:31:45,468
or wandered back and sat on
the right side of the stage,
721
00:31:45,512 --> 00:31:48,428
giving out little wows
and yeses of approval."
722
00:31:48,471 --> 00:31:51,344
"Heaven was only half as far
that night,
723
00:31:51,387 --> 00:31:53,868
listening to the burnt phrases,
724
00:31:53,912 --> 00:31:57,393
when I heard the poet
have rhyming erection."
725
00:31:57,437 --> 00:31:59,352
When Allen read Howl,uh,
726
00:31:59,395 --> 00:32:02,659
we all knew that a line
had been drawn in the sand.
727
00:32:02,703 --> 00:32:04,400
We decided that
we would put our foot
728
00:32:04,444 --> 00:32:06,968
on that line
that Allen drew.
729
00:32:07,012 --> 00:32:10,841
I was there, and the next
morning I sent a telegram
730
00:32:10,885 --> 00:32:13,279
to Allen Ginsberg saying,
731
00:32:13,322 --> 00:32:15,672
"I greet you at the beginning
of a great career.
732
00:32:15,716 --> 00:32:17,283
When do we get the manuscript?"
733
00:32:17,326 --> 00:32:19,720
I had a conversation
with Rexroth the next day.
734
00:32:19,763 --> 00:32:21,113
I said,
"Gee, I'm gonna be famous
735
00:32:21,156 --> 00:32:23,854
in San Francisco,
or North Beach."
736
00:32:23,898 --> 00:32:26,727
And he said, "You're gonna be
famous from bridge to bridge."
737
00:32:26,770 --> 00:32:28,990
The first edition
was printed in England,
738
00:32:29,034 --> 00:32:32,907
but it was seized by the U.S.
Customs in San Francisco.
739
00:32:32,951 --> 00:32:35,823
All during the trial,
we were still selling it.
740
00:32:35,866 --> 00:32:39,435
We never took the book
out of the window.
741
00:32:39,479 --> 00:32:43,352
There were a series of trials
in the late '50s that, uh,
742
00:32:43,396 --> 00:32:44,919
liberated the work,
743
00:32:44,963 --> 00:32:48,227
and that meant a whole spiritual
liberation after that.
744
00:32:48,270 --> 00:32:51,230
It's really hard to get
that kind of publicity.
745
00:32:51,273 --> 00:32:53,797
♪
746
00:32:53,841 --> 00:32:54,929
What I've always loved
about Allen
747
00:32:54,973 --> 00:32:56,800
is precisely his bravery.
748
00:32:56,844 --> 00:32:58,541
I once wrote a poem about him.
749
00:32:58,585 --> 00:32:59,934
It went like this,
750
00:32:59,978 --> 00:33:06,027
"Sometimes I think
that ugly little queer,
751
00:33:06,071 --> 00:33:10,075
that four-eyed kike is
the bravest man in America."
752
00:33:10,118 --> 00:33:12,555
[typing]
753
00:33:25,003 --> 00:33:28,223
"I saw the best minds
of my generation
754
00:33:28,267 --> 00:33:30,660
destroyed by madness,
755
00:33:30,704 --> 00:33:35,970
starving hysterical naked...
756
00:33:36,014 --> 00:33:38,190
-Angelheaded hipsters...
-Angelheaded hipsters
757
00:33:38,233 --> 00:33:41,193
burning for the ancient
heavenly connection
758
00:33:41,236 --> 00:33:45,806
to the starry dynamo
in the machinery of night.
759
00:33:45,849 --> 00:33:49,853
Who poverty and tatters
and hollow-eyed and high
760
00:33:49,897 --> 00:33:53,074
sat up smoking in
the supernatural darkness
761
00:33:53,118 --> 00:33:55,337
of cold-water flats
762
00:33:55,381 --> 00:34:00,429
floating across the tops
of cities contemplating jazz...
763
00:34:00,473 --> 00:34:02,649
♪
764
00:34:02,692 --> 00:34:06,348
Who cowered in unshaven rooms
in underwear,
765
00:34:06,392 --> 00:34:08,697
burning their money
in wastebaskets
766
00:34:08,742 --> 00:34:11,788
and listening
to the Terror through the wall,
767
00:34:11,831 --> 00:34:15,922
who got busted in their pubic
beards returning through Laredo
768
00:34:15,966 --> 00:34:19,100
with a belt of marijuana
for New York,
769
00:34:19,143 --> 00:34:21,362
who ate fire
in paint hotels
770
00:34:21,407 --> 00:34:25,280
or drank turpentine
in Paradise Alley, death,
771
00:34:25,324 --> 00:34:30,632
or purgatoried their torsos
night after night with dreams,
772
00:34:30,677 --> 00:34:35,072
with drugs,
with waking nightmares...
773
00:34:35,116 --> 00:34:38,815
Peyote solidities of halls,
774
00:34:38,859 --> 00:34:42,080
green tree cemetery dawns,
775
00:34:42,123 --> 00:34:46,127
wine drunkenness
over the rooftops,
776
00:34:46,170 --> 00:34:49,348
storefront boroughs
of teahead joyride
777
00:34:49,391 --> 00:34:52,219
neon blinking traffic light,
778
00:34:52,264 --> 00:34:55,876
sun and moon
and tree vibrations
779
00:34:55,918 --> 00:34:59,140
in the roaring winter dusks...
780
00:34:59,184 --> 00:35:00,794
♪
781
00:35:00,837 --> 00:35:03,623
Who talked continuously
seventy hours
782
00:35:03,666 --> 00:35:06,321
from park to pad
to bar to Bellevue
783
00:35:06,365 --> 00:35:08,671
to museum
to the Brooklyn Bridge,
784
00:35:08,715 --> 00:35:12,632
a lost battalion
of platonic conversationalists
785
00:35:12,675 --> 00:35:15,156
jumping down the stoops
off fire escapes
786
00:35:15,200 --> 00:35:18,028
off windowsills
off the Empire State
787
00:35:18,072 --> 00:35:19,639
out of the moon,
788
00:35:19,682 --> 00:35:23,338
yacketayakking screaming
vomiting whispering facts
789
00:35:23,382 --> 00:35:25,688
and memories and anecdotes
and eyeball kicks
790
00:35:25,732 --> 00:35:29,518
and shocks of hospitals
and jails and wars,
791
00:35:29,562 --> 00:35:31,912
who loned it through
the streets of Idaho
792
00:35:31,955 --> 00:35:34,393
seeking visionary
indian angels
793
00:35:34,436 --> 00:35:37,135
who were visionary
indian angels,
794
00:35:37,178 --> 00:35:39,528
who howled on their knees
in the subway
795
00:35:39,572 --> 00:35:41,226
and were dragged
off the roof
796
00:35:41,269 --> 00:35:44,751
waving genitals
and manuscripts...
797
00:35:44,794 --> 00:35:46,187
♪
798
00:35:46,231 --> 00:35:49,495
Who wandered around
and around at midnight
799
00:35:49,538 --> 00:35:52,802
in the railroad yard
wondering where to go,
800
00:35:52,846 --> 00:35:56,154
and went,
leaving no broken hearts,
801
00:35:56,197 --> 00:36:01,202
who lit cigarettes in
boxcars boxcars boxcars
802
00:36:01,246 --> 00:36:04,901
racketing through snow
toward lonesome farms
803
00:36:04,945 --> 00:36:07,382
in grandfather night,
804
00:36:07,426 --> 00:36:13,301
and rose reincarnate in
the ghostly clothes of jazz
805
00:36:13,345 --> 00:36:17,523
in the goldhorn shadow
of the band...
806
00:36:17,566 --> 00:36:19,307
Carl Solomon!
807
00:36:19,351 --> 00:36:21,527
I'm with you in Rockland
808
00:36:21,570 --> 00:36:23,877
where you're madder than I am.
809
00:36:23,920 --> 00:36:28,186
♪
810
00:36:28,229 --> 00:36:30,231
I'm with you in Rockland
811
00:36:30,275 --> 00:36:32,799
where we wake up electrified
out of the coma
812
00:36:32,842 --> 00:36:37,282
by our own souls'
airplanes roaring over the roof
813
00:36:37,325 --> 00:36:40,328
they've come
to drop angelic bombs
814
00:36:40,372 --> 00:36:43,113
the hospital illuminates itself
815
00:36:43,157 --> 00:36:45,725
imaginary walls collapse
816
00:36:45,768 --> 00:36:48,771
O skinny legions run outside
817
00:36:48,815 --> 00:36:52,210
O starry-spangled
shock of mercy
818
00:36:52,253 --> 00:36:54,124
the eternal war is here
819
00:36:54,168 --> 00:36:58,128
O victory
forget your underwear
820
00:36:58,172 --> 00:36:59,913
we're free.
821
00:36:59,956 --> 00:37:04,222
♪
822
00:37:04,265 --> 00:37:06,398
I'm with you in Rockland
823
00:37:06,441 --> 00:37:09,444
in my dreams you walk
dripping from a sea-journey
824
00:37:09,488 --> 00:37:13,318
on the highway
across America in tears
825
00:37:13,361 --> 00:37:17,278
to the door of my cottage
in the Western night."
826
00:37:17,322 --> 00:37:19,237
♪
827
00:37:19,280 --> 00:37:21,674
[applause]
828
00:37:24,503 --> 00:37:26,679
The poem had
an immense effect on me.
829
00:37:26,722 --> 00:37:29,899
And I thought immediately
that Ginsberg was
830
00:37:29,943 --> 00:37:32,206
at the least a major poet,
and maybe a genius.
831
00:37:32,250 --> 00:37:35,078
I had no idea
that it would be famous.
832
00:37:35,122 --> 00:37:39,866
I had no idea that it was of
such value to other people.
833
00:37:39,909 --> 00:37:41,259
Apparently it was.
834
00:37:41,302 --> 00:37:43,435
I just had never, uh,
read any poetry
835
00:37:43,478 --> 00:37:46,002
that was that charged, that
intense, that extraordinary.
836
00:37:46,046 --> 00:37:47,352
And I knew he was gonna
make a revolution
837
00:37:47,395 --> 00:37:50,311
in the consciousness
of his time.
838
00:37:50,355 --> 00:37:52,182
So the Six Gallery's
still there,
839
00:37:52,226 --> 00:37:53,619
it's just in a different place.
840
00:37:53,662 --> 00:37:56,099
[siren wails]
841
00:37:58,667 --> 00:38:15,336
♪
842
00:38:15,380 --> 00:38:18,078
Once a month,
we will book a comedian
843
00:38:18,121 --> 00:38:19,558
who will offend everybody.
844
00:38:19,601 --> 00:38:20,907
[laughter]
845
00:38:20,950 --> 00:38:24,214
There are words
that offend me, uh,
846
00:38:24,258 --> 00:38:25,999
let's see, "Governor Faubus,"
847
00:38:26,042 --> 00:38:27,740
"segregation" offend me.
848
00:38:27,783 --> 00:38:31,439
Uh, and "night time television"
offends me.
849
00:38:31,483 --> 00:38:33,093
Some night time television.
850
00:38:33,136 --> 00:38:35,791
Both rabbis
and priests S-H-I-T.
851
00:38:35,835 --> 00:38:38,446
Only one F-U-C-Ks.
852
00:38:38,490 --> 00:38:41,580
Are you, uh, what is
loosely called a Beatnik?
853
00:38:41,623 --> 00:38:45,366
No, I am a poet
and a painter and sculptor.
854
00:38:45,410 --> 00:38:47,716
Hm, in other words,
you're out of work?
855
00:38:47,760 --> 00:38:49,544
That's right.
856
00:38:49,588 --> 00:38:52,504
"Come to be healed,
come to be saved.
857
00:38:52,547 --> 00:38:55,028
Screaming and laughing
down the beach,
858
00:38:55,071 --> 00:38:56,421
strangling each other,
859
00:38:56,464 --> 00:38:58,205
devouring flesh
and gnawing
860
00:38:58,248 --> 00:39:02,383
on fingers broken
and bones of splintered.
861
00:39:02,427 --> 00:39:06,387
Voices heard in Venice."
862
00:39:06,431 --> 00:39:08,607
They're dirty,
they never clean up,
863
00:39:08,650 --> 00:39:10,130
and then their mode of living
864
00:39:10,173 --> 00:39:12,001
is with their free love
865
00:39:12,045 --> 00:39:15,396
and their free meals
and their free, uh,
866
00:39:15,440 --> 00:39:17,267
pads, as they call them.
867
00:39:17,311 --> 00:39:21,097
"You have sometimes done it
as if you always knew
868
00:39:21,141 --> 00:39:23,186
how it was properly done.
869
00:39:23,230 --> 00:39:27,147
You knew it was there and
you knew that you were there
870
00:39:27,190 --> 00:39:30,237
and that you had done it better,
in a way,
871
00:39:30,280 --> 00:39:32,457
than anybody in a long time."
872
00:39:32,500 --> 00:39:37,810
♪
873
00:39:37,853 --> 00:39:38,898
Don't you ever feel tempted
874
00:39:38,941 --> 00:39:41,074
to occasionally
write for money
875
00:39:41,117 --> 00:39:43,468
instead of just writing
for the news?
876
00:39:43,511 --> 00:39:45,687
Well, I sometimes--
I write home to my father,
877
00:39:45,731 --> 00:39:46,993
he sends me some money.
878
00:39:47,036 --> 00:39:50,170
♪
879
00:39:50,213 --> 00:39:52,346
"Dear Allen:
880
00:39:52,390 --> 00:39:56,263
There is an end-of-the-world
feeling in Tangier,
881
00:39:56,306 --> 00:39:59,658
with its glut
of nylon shirts,
882
00:39:59,701 --> 00:40:04,445
Swiss watches,
scotch, and sex.
883
00:40:04,489 --> 00:40:07,448
The whole town is a trap.
884
00:40:07,492 --> 00:40:10,146
You will see it closing,
885
00:40:10,190 --> 00:40:13,062
but there will be no escape.
886
00:40:13,106 --> 00:40:15,978
No place to go."
887
00:40:16,022 --> 00:40:18,677
♪
888
00:40:18,720 --> 00:40:22,245
♪ The wayward wind
889
00:40:22,289 --> 00:40:25,423
♪ Is restless wind
890
00:40:25,466 --> 00:40:27,033
These are
the San Francisco shipyards
891
00:40:27,076 --> 00:40:28,556
at China Basin.
892
00:40:28,600 --> 00:40:30,123
Jack Kerouac
worked near here
893
00:40:30,166 --> 00:40:31,733
in the railroad
switching yards
894
00:40:31,777 --> 00:40:34,083
and Allen Ginsberg
came nearby here
895
00:40:34,127 --> 00:40:36,477
to write his famous
Sunflower Sutra.
896
00:40:36,521 --> 00:40:37,870
The Beats didn't just, uh,
897
00:40:37,913 --> 00:40:39,741
continually travel
on the road.
898
00:40:39,785 --> 00:40:41,439
Those who could
ordered freighters
899
00:40:41,482 --> 00:40:43,005
like American Kestrel
down there
900
00:40:43,049 --> 00:40:45,965
to head out on the open ocean
and, uh,
901
00:40:46,008 --> 00:40:49,185
give in to their wanderlust
internationally.
902
00:40:49,229 --> 00:40:53,668
♪ In a lonely shack
by a railroad track ♪
903
00:40:53,712 --> 00:40:55,844
"Dear Allen:
904
00:40:55,888 --> 00:41:00,545
Mexico is home to me
and I can't go there."
905
00:41:00,588 --> 00:41:04,505
♪ Make him a slave
to his wanderin' ways ♪
906
00:41:04,549 --> 00:41:06,507
"Got a letter from my lawyer.
907
00:41:06,551 --> 00:41:10,163
I am sentenced in absentia."
908
00:41:10,206 --> 00:41:12,818
♪ Is a restless wind
909
00:41:12,861 --> 00:41:13,993
♪
910
00:41:14,036 --> 00:41:15,734
♪ A restless wind
911
00:41:15,777 --> 00:41:17,257
I think she said to Bill,
912
00:41:17,300 --> 00:41:19,041
"Well, shoot that off my head."
913
00:41:19,085 --> 00:41:20,652
♪ To wander
914
00:41:20,695 --> 00:41:23,263
I knew that the ugly spirit,
915
00:41:23,306 --> 00:41:26,875
which is always the worst part
of everyone's character,
916
00:41:26,919 --> 00:41:31,271
would take over and that
something awful would happen.
917
00:41:31,314 --> 00:41:33,360
Just an absolute
piece of insanity.
918
00:41:33,403 --> 00:41:34,883
♪ Wayward wind
919
00:41:34,927 --> 00:41:37,233
It was then
that he began writing.
920
00:41:37,277 --> 00:41:38,974
[typing]
921
00:41:39,018 --> 00:41:39,845
♪
922
00:41:39,888 --> 00:41:40,759
♪ Yow
923
00:41:40,802 --> 00:41:41,977
♪
924
00:41:42,021 --> 00:41:43,326
♪ Yow
925
00:41:43,370 --> 00:41:45,285
Who are you?
926
00:41:45,328 --> 00:41:47,374
I'm Bill, who are you?
927
00:41:47,417 --> 00:41:48,854
I'm Tony.
928
00:41:48,897 --> 00:41:50,638
Where are you, Bill?
929
00:41:50,682 --> 00:41:52,727
I'm in a 1920 movie, Tony.
930
00:41:52,771 --> 00:41:53,815
[beeping]
931
00:41:53,859 --> 00:41:55,991
Who are you?
932
00:41:56,035 --> 00:41:57,645
I'm Tony.
933
00:41:57,689 --> 00:41:58,907
Who are you?
934
00:41:58,951 --> 00:42:00,256
I'm Bill.
935
00:42:00,300 --> 00:42:03,259
I was born February 5, 1914,
936
00:42:03,303 --> 00:42:05,479
in St. Louis, Missouri.
937
00:42:05,523 --> 00:42:09,788
♪ I've been around
for a long, long year ♪
938
00:42:09,831 --> 00:42:11,964
So I was sort of
a WASP washout.
939
00:42:12,007 --> 00:42:14,009
We will not listen to you.
940
00:42:14,053 --> 00:42:17,447
We have had enough
of your con and bullshit.
941
00:42:17,491 --> 00:42:18,492
♪
942
00:42:18,536 --> 00:42:20,929
I left the United States, uh,
943
00:42:20,973 --> 00:42:23,366
because of, uh,
I was in trouble.
944
00:42:23,410 --> 00:42:29,329
My whole life has been
resistance to the ugly spirit.
945
00:42:29,372 --> 00:42:32,462
♪
946
00:42:32,506 --> 00:42:34,726
I live with it
day and night.
947
00:42:34,769 --> 00:42:35,814
Uh!
948
00:42:35,857 --> 00:42:37,903
...risk getting
in any trouble,
949
00:42:37,946 --> 00:42:39,992
'cause I don't like violence.
950
00:42:40,035 --> 00:42:43,604
There is no thing to fear.
951
00:42:43,648 --> 00:42:45,867
There is no thing.
952
00:42:45,911 --> 00:42:50,437
He's probably
the only guy I know
953
00:42:50,480 --> 00:42:54,397
who was really
just full-out junkie
954
00:42:54,441 --> 00:42:57,662
who managed to come back,
kick it, and is still around.
955
00:42:57,705 --> 00:42:59,577
Very rare.
956
00:42:59,620 --> 00:43:01,317
There's all kinds
of addictions.
957
00:43:01,361 --> 00:43:04,059
Power is one
of the principal addictions.
958
00:43:04,103 --> 00:43:07,062
Whether they got the power,
they look sleek.
959
00:43:07,106 --> 00:43:09,151
Satisfied.
960
00:43:09,195 --> 00:43:11,589
They're getting it.
getting it steady.
961
00:43:11,632 --> 00:43:14,026
Thou shalt not blow pot-smoke
962
00:43:14,069 --> 00:43:16,202
into the face of thy pet.
963
00:43:16,245 --> 00:43:17,551
♪
964
00:43:17,595 --> 00:43:19,031
He could punch a typewriter
965
00:43:19,074 --> 00:43:21,120
or he could punch
the tape recorder to death
966
00:43:21,163 --> 00:43:23,601
in shorter time than any man
than I've never known.
967
00:43:23,644 --> 00:43:25,559
He had such enormous energy
in those days
968
00:43:25,603 --> 00:43:29,519
and such enormous intention
behind what he was doing.
969
00:43:29,563 --> 00:43:32,784
"Take the enclosed copy
of this letter,
970
00:43:32,827 --> 00:43:36,352
cut along the lines,
rearrange,
971
00:43:36,396 --> 00:43:38,659
putting section one
by section three
972
00:43:38,703 --> 00:43:41,488
and section two
by section four.
973
00:43:41,531 --> 00:43:43,925
And you will hear my voice."
974
00:43:43,969 --> 00:43:48,321
Brion had made these cutups
of various magazines.
975
00:43:48,364 --> 00:43:50,018
First cutups
were very, very funny.
976
00:43:50,062 --> 00:43:53,631
♪
977
00:43:53,674 --> 00:43:56,285
Then it wasn't so funny anymore.
978
00:43:56,329 --> 00:43:58,200
Life is a cutup.
979
00:43:58,244 --> 00:44:02,030
Every time you look
out the window
980
00:44:02,074 --> 00:44:03,684
and when you walk down
the street,
981
00:44:03,728 --> 00:44:06,818
you're continually being cut
by random factors.
982
00:44:06,861 --> 00:44:09,168
This is a fact
of human perception,
983
00:44:09,211 --> 00:44:12,127
and the cutup
simply made this explicit.
984
00:44:12,171 --> 00:44:14,782
♪
985
00:44:14,826 --> 00:44:17,002
How does it seem to you now?
986
00:44:17,045 --> 00:44:18,786
-How does it seem to you now?
-Good.
987
00:44:18,830 --> 00:44:19,831
-Thank you.
-Good.
988
00:44:19,874 --> 00:44:21,093
Look at that, thank you.
989
00:44:21,136 --> 00:44:23,704
[screeching]
990
00:44:23,748 --> 00:44:28,317
Surrealism is a kind of
automatic writing.
991
00:44:28,361 --> 00:44:30,711
Rimbaud's phrase was
a "systematic derangement
992
00:44:30,755 --> 00:44:32,670
of the senses,"
and the idea being
993
00:44:32,713 --> 00:44:34,584
that the senses are
to some extent
994
00:44:34,628 --> 00:44:38,153
ideological formed
by external pressure.
995
00:44:38,197 --> 00:44:40,808
Towers, open fire.
996
00:44:40,852 --> 00:44:43,202
[screeching]
997
00:44:43,245 --> 00:44:45,117
And so you shatter that,
break it up:
998
00:44:45,160 --> 00:44:49,251
drugs, extreme experiences,
kinky sex.
999
00:44:49,295 --> 00:44:52,907
In fact, the official definition
of surrealism
1000
00:44:52,951 --> 00:44:57,999
is to make a work
without any a priori
1001
00:44:58,043 --> 00:45:01,786
moral or aesthetic
considerations.
1002
00:45:01,829 --> 00:45:03,439
"Blast of trumpets:
1003
00:45:03,483 --> 00:45:05,659
The man wriggles.
1004
00:45:05,703 --> 00:45:09,315
His flesh turns to
viscid, transparent jelly
1005
00:45:09,358 --> 00:45:12,361
that drips away in green mist,
1006
00:45:12,405 --> 00:45:15,974
unveiling a monster
black centipede.
1007
00:45:16,017 --> 00:45:18,846
Waves of unknown stench
fill the room,
1008
00:45:18,890 --> 00:45:22,197
searing the lungs,
grabbing the stomach."
1009
00:45:22,241 --> 00:45:24,243
♪
1010
00:45:24,286 --> 00:45:27,550
Over a series of years,
from '53 to '57,
1011
00:45:27,594 --> 00:45:29,857
Burroughs sent me the letters
with all these--
1012
00:45:29,901 --> 00:45:34,035
the chapters or routines
of Naked Lunch,
1013
00:45:34,079 --> 00:45:36,385
and then by '57,
there was so much material
1014
00:45:36,429 --> 00:45:39,824
that I had and he had
that it was time
1015
00:45:39,867 --> 00:45:43,349
for me to leave San Francisco
and work on it with him
1016
00:45:43,392 --> 00:45:46,004
to shape it into a book.
1017
00:45:46,047 --> 00:45:48,702
Kerouac had started the typing.
1018
00:45:48,746 --> 00:45:50,399
We arrived with
all this new material,
1019
00:45:50,443 --> 00:45:53,751
shuffled it around,
typed it up.
1020
00:45:53,794 --> 00:45:57,232
We had about 500 pages of notes,
1021
00:45:57,276 --> 00:46:01,802
so Brion Gysin, Sinclair Beiles,
and I sat down
1022
00:46:01,846 --> 00:46:04,109
and assembled this.
1023
00:46:04,152 --> 00:46:05,632
A chapter went to the printer,
1024
00:46:05,675 --> 00:46:08,461
we said we would
figure out the order later,
1025
00:46:08,504 --> 00:46:10,855
but when I came back
from the printer,
1026
00:46:10,898 --> 00:46:12,378
we took one look and said,
1027
00:46:12,421 --> 00:46:14,815
"There's no necessity
to make any changes."
1028
00:46:14,859 --> 00:46:16,948
Burroughs said,
"I'm not American Express,"
1029
00:46:16,991 --> 00:46:19,472
if the readers ask
to take him from Tangier
1030
00:46:19,515 --> 00:46:22,040
to Paris in one jump,
1031
00:46:22,083 --> 00:46:25,478
he'll have
to get there himself.
1032
00:46:25,521 --> 00:46:28,133
If you want to be cool,
you gotta read, you know...
1033
00:46:28,176 --> 00:46:29,874
-Naked Lunch.
-Naked Lunch,you know,
1034
00:46:29,917 --> 00:46:32,093
'cause, you know,
that's a cool book.
1035
00:46:32,137 --> 00:46:33,094
They made a movie out of it.
1036
00:46:33,138 --> 00:46:34,704
They put it on trial.
1037
00:46:34,748 --> 00:46:36,489
It's about drugs.
1038
00:46:36,532 --> 00:46:38,665
♪ Woo-hoo
1039
00:46:38,708 --> 00:46:40,841
♪ Oh, yeah
1040
00:46:40,885 --> 00:46:43,322
♪ Get on down
1041
00:46:43,365 --> 00:46:45,063
There's certain requirements.
1042
00:46:45,106 --> 00:46:49,763
If someone can't stand
hours, years of solitude,
1043
00:46:49,807 --> 00:46:52,722
sitting in a chair
alone in a room,
1044
00:46:52,766 --> 00:46:55,856
he should look for
another trade, I think.
1045
00:46:55,900 --> 00:46:58,293
I tried to read Naked Lunch
and I read halfway through it
1046
00:46:58,337 --> 00:47:03,255
and I pitched it, it didn't
make too much sense to me.
1047
00:47:03,298 --> 00:47:06,127
It just sort of disgusts me.
1048
00:47:06,171 --> 00:47:08,913
"Thou shalt not be such a shit,
1049
00:47:08,956 --> 00:47:10,958
you don't know you are one."
1050
00:47:11,002 --> 00:47:14,092
Mr. Burroughs, do you regret
anything in your life?
1051
00:47:14,135 --> 00:47:16,877
♪
1052
00:47:16,921 --> 00:47:20,272
"I have no precise memory
of writing the notes
1053
00:47:20,315 --> 00:47:23,797
which have been published
under the title Naked Lunch.
1054
00:47:23,841 --> 00:47:26,756
The title was suggested
by Jack Kerouac.
1055
00:47:26,800 --> 00:47:30,456
The title means exactly what
the words say: naked lunch,
1056
00:47:30,499 --> 00:47:33,851
a frozen moment
when everyone sees
1057
00:47:33,894 --> 00:47:37,071
what is on the end
of every fork.
1058
00:47:37,115 --> 00:47:38,943
♪
1059
00:47:38,986 --> 00:47:40,988
I can feel the heat closing in.
1060
00:47:41,032 --> 00:47:42,903
I feel 'em out there
making their move,
1061
00:47:42,947 --> 00:47:46,211
setting up their devil doll
stool pigeons,
1062
00:47:46,254 --> 00:47:49,083
crooning over my spoon
and dropper I throw away
1063
00:47:49,127 --> 00:47:51,129
at Washington Square Station,
1064
00:47:51,172 --> 00:47:52,652
vault a turnstile,
1065
00:47:52,695 --> 00:47:54,262
two flights down
the iron stairs,
1066
00:47:54,306 --> 00:47:56,482
catch an uptown A train...
1067
00:47:56,525 --> 00:47:58,658
Young, good looking,
crew cut, Ivy League,
1068
00:47:58,701 --> 00:48:02,444
advertising type fruit
holds the door back for me.
1069
00:48:02,488 --> 00:48:05,360
I'm evidently his idea
of a character.
1070
00:48:05,404 --> 00:48:07,885
You know the type:
he comes on with bartenders
1071
00:48:07,928 --> 00:48:10,104
and cab drivers,
talking about right hooks
1072
00:48:10,148 --> 00:48:11,671
and the Dodgers,
1073
00:48:11,714 --> 00:48:13,978
call the counterman in Nedick's
by his first name.
1074
00:48:14,021 --> 00:48:15,544
A real asshole.
1075
00:48:15,588 --> 00:48:18,504
And right on time,
this narcotics dick
1076
00:48:18,547 --> 00:48:20,158
in the white trench coat--
1077
00:48:20,201 --> 00:48:24,902
now imagine tailing somebody
in a white trench coat.
1078
00:48:24,945 --> 00:48:27,295
Trying to pass as a fag,
I guess.
1079
00:48:27,339 --> 00:48:29,776
I can hear the way
he would say it,
1080
00:48:29,819 --> 00:48:32,257
holding my outfit
in his left hand,
1081
00:48:32,300 --> 00:48:34,389
right hand on his piece:
1082
00:48:34,433 --> 00:48:37,827
'I think you dropped
something, fella!"'
1083
00:48:37,871 --> 00:48:42,397
But the subway is moving."
1084
00:48:42,441 --> 00:48:45,923
"They call me
'the Exterminator.'
1085
00:48:45,966 --> 00:48:47,881
At one brief point
of intersection
1086
00:48:47,925 --> 00:48:50,231
I did exercise that function
and witnessed
1087
00:48:50,275 --> 00:48:52,886
the belly dance
of roaches suffocating
1088
00:48:52,930 --> 00:48:55,280
in yellow pyrethrum powder.
1089
00:48:55,323 --> 00:48:56,890
My present assignment:
1090
00:48:56,934 --> 00:48:59,980
Find the live ones
and exterminate.
1091
00:49:00,024 --> 00:49:04,289
Not the bodies but the molds,
you understand?
1092
00:49:04,332 --> 00:49:06,334
But I forget.
1093
00:49:06,378 --> 00:49:09,033
You cannot understand.
1094
00:49:09,076 --> 00:49:11,209
♪
1095
00:49:11,252 --> 00:49:14,342
The Meet Cafe occupies
one side of the plaza.
1096
00:49:14,386 --> 00:49:16,170
It's a maze of kitchens,
restaurants,
1097
00:49:16,214 --> 00:49:20,261
sleeping cubicles,
perilous iron balconies,
1098
00:49:20,305 --> 00:49:23,786
the basements opening
into the underground baths.
1099
00:49:23,830 --> 00:49:26,615
On stools
covered in white satin
1100
00:49:26,659 --> 00:49:28,922
sit naked Mugwumps,
1101
00:49:28,966 --> 00:49:31,316
sucking
translucent-colored syrups
1102
00:49:31,359 --> 00:49:33,100
through alabaster straws.
1103
00:49:33,144 --> 00:49:35,059
Mugwumps have no liver
1104
00:49:35,102 --> 00:49:38,801
and nourish themselves
exclusively on sweets.
1105
00:49:38,845 --> 00:49:41,630
These creatures secrete
an addicting fluid
1106
00:49:41,674 --> 00:49:43,545
through their erect penises
1107
00:49:43,589 --> 00:49:47,636
which prolongs life
by slowing metabolism.
1108
00:49:47,680 --> 00:49:49,247
Boat whistle, foghorns,
1109
00:49:49,290 --> 00:49:52,424
sky rocket burst
over oily lagoons.
1110
00:49:52,467 --> 00:49:55,949
Penny arcade open into a maze
1111
00:49:55,993 --> 00:49:58,386
of dirty pictures.
1112
00:49:58,430 --> 00:50:02,564
Ceremonial cannon
boom in the harbor.
1113
00:50:02,608 --> 00:50:06,351
A scream shoots down
a white hospital corridor
1114
00:50:06,394 --> 00:50:11,182
out along a wide, dusty street
between palm trees,
1115
00:50:11,225 --> 00:50:14,837
whistles out across
the desert like a bullet,
1116
00:50:14,881 --> 00:50:18,972
a thousand boys come at once
in outhouses,
1117
00:50:19,016 --> 00:50:22,323
bleak public school toilets,
attics, basements,
1118
00:50:22,367 --> 00:50:25,544
treehouses, Ferris wheels,
deserted houses,
1119
00:50:25,587 --> 00:50:30,027
limestone caves, rowboats,
garages, barns,
1120
00:50:30,070 --> 00:50:34,335
rubbly windy city outskirts
behind mud walls,
1121
00:50:34,379 --> 00:50:36,946
smell of dried excrement,
1122
00:50:36,990 --> 00:50:39,514
black dust blowing over
1123
00:50:39,558 --> 00:50:42,517
lean copper bodies.
1124
00:50:42,561 --> 00:50:44,519
Coming over a hill
of rusty iron
1125
00:50:44,563 --> 00:50:45,955
we meet a group of natives.
1126
00:50:45,999 --> 00:50:48,001
We throw gasoline on 'em
and light it.
1127
00:50:48,045 --> 00:50:49,133
White flash!
1128
00:50:49,176 --> 00:50:52,005
Mangled insect screams.
1129
00:50:52,049 --> 00:50:54,051
♪
1130
00:50:54,094 --> 00:50:56,792
I woke up with the taste
of metal in my mouth
1131
00:50:56,836 --> 00:50:59,273
back from the dead...
1132
00:50:59,317 --> 00:51:02,102
...trailing the colorless
death smell.
1133
00:51:02,146 --> 00:51:03,408
No, no more.
1134
00:51:03,451 --> 00:51:05,932
No más.
1135
00:51:05,975 --> 00:51:08,978
Tangier, 1959."
1136
00:51:09,022 --> 00:51:12,460
♪
1137
00:51:12,504 --> 00:51:14,549
"Dear Allen,
1138
00:51:14,593 --> 00:51:16,160
Made connection with
1139
00:51:16,203 --> 00:51:19,032
the unassuming
little witch doctor
1140
00:51:19,076 --> 00:51:23,471
who prepared me some yage.
1141
00:51:23,515 --> 00:51:26,170
It is the most powerful drug
1142
00:51:26,213 --> 00:51:29,129
I have ever experienced,
1143
00:51:29,173 --> 00:51:31,131
that is, it produces
1144
00:51:31,175 --> 00:51:34,787
the most complete
derangement of the senses."
1145
00:51:34,830 --> 00:51:37,137
I felt, you know,
1146
00:51:37,181 --> 00:51:39,096
pulling together like that.
1147
00:51:39,139 --> 00:51:42,229
Horrible feeling,
horrible feeling.
1148
00:51:42,273 --> 00:51:44,188
Why do you put yourself
through all that torture?
1149
00:51:44,231 --> 00:51:45,624
What are you talking about?
1150
00:51:45,667 --> 00:51:47,974
You want to take yage,
you take yage.
1151
00:51:48,017 --> 00:51:51,325
Smoking hashish
and sniffing cocaine,
1152
00:51:51,369 --> 00:51:56,113
it struck me as being a very
glamorous and easy life.
1153
00:51:56,156 --> 00:51:57,766
Little did I know.
1154
00:51:57,810 --> 00:52:01,248
♪
1155
00:52:01,292 --> 00:52:03,555
"Clear...
1156
00:52:03,598 --> 00:52:06,297
the senses bright,
1157
00:52:06,340 --> 00:52:10,301
sitting in the black chair,
rocker.
1158
00:52:10,344 --> 00:52:13,956
The white walls reflecting
the color of clouds
1159
00:52:14,000 --> 00:52:16,133
moving over the sun."
1160
00:52:16,176 --> 00:52:20,398
I would have never written
Cuckoo's Nestwithout LSD.
1161
00:52:20,441 --> 00:52:22,182
I think a lot of that stuff
that was written
1162
00:52:22,226 --> 00:52:25,403
by all of these guys
would never have happened
1163
00:52:25,446 --> 00:52:26,491
if they'd have just stayed on
1164
00:52:26,534 --> 00:52:27,970
the get up early
in the morning,
1165
00:52:28,014 --> 00:52:30,886
drink a lot of coffee,
and do what you can.
1166
00:52:30,930 --> 00:52:32,236
"Intimacies.
1167
00:52:32,279 --> 00:52:34,847
The rooms not important,
1168
00:52:34,890 --> 00:52:37,676
but like divisions
of all space,
1169
00:52:37,719 --> 00:52:39,939
of all hideousness and beauty.
1170
00:52:39,982 --> 00:52:42,594
I hear the music of myself."
1171
00:52:42,637 --> 00:52:44,161
What might be
a negative experience
1172
00:52:44,204 --> 00:52:46,685
for--for someone else
1173
00:52:46,728 --> 00:52:49,209
can be a very positive
experience for a writer.
1174
00:52:49,253 --> 00:52:54,127
The damage to health
from addiction is minimal.
1175
00:52:54,171 --> 00:52:58,044
But it has done things
to your soul.
1176
00:52:58,087 --> 00:52:59,219
[chuckles]
1177
00:52:59,263 --> 00:53:00,742
It was my protector.
1178
00:53:00,786 --> 00:53:02,831
It was something
that loved me, and I loved,
1179
00:53:02,875 --> 00:53:05,138
and I wanted, and there it was.
1180
00:53:05,182 --> 00:53:08,359
"I pass fantasies
as they sing to me
1181
00:53:08,402 --> 00:53:10,448
with Circe-Voices.
1182
00:53:10,491 --> 00:53:13,538
I visit among the peoples
of myself
1183
00:53:13,581 --> 00:53:16,236
and know all I need to know."
1184
00:53:16,280 --> 00:53:18,151
"The ancient goals
which we follow
1185
00:53:18,195 --> 00:53:20,501
can be defined
in modern terms
1186
00:53:20,545 --> 00:53:22,808
in the metaphors of the present
1187
00:53:22,851 --> 00:53:27,247
as turn on, tune in,
and drop out."
1188
00:53:27,291 --> 00:53:29,684
I was a psychologist.
1189
00:53:29,728 --> 00:53:33,079
I was running a big project
at prison.
1190
00:53:33,122 --> 00:53:36,343
So, naturally,
I used this new chemical,
1191
00:53:36,387 --> 00:53:38,867
this new vegetable
which gave insight,
1192
00:53:38,911 --> 00:53:40,782
and in one minute
the prisoner could see,
1193
00:53:40,826 --> 00:53:44,351
"Shit, I've been playing
that loser game all my life."
1194
00:53:44,395 --> 00:53:48,486
We are now in
the psychochemical age.
1195
00:53:48,529 --> 00:53:49,574
In the future,
it's not gonna be,
1196
00:53:49,617 --> 00:53:51,010
"What book do you read,"
1197
00:53:51,053 --> 00:53:52,359
but, "Which chemical do you use
1198
00:53:52,403 --> 00:53:54,492
to open your mind
to accelerate learning?"
1199
00:53:54,535 --> 00:53:56,842
And they were saying,
1200
00:53:56,885 --> 00:54:00,846
you know, LSD would make you
jump out of windows.
1201
00:54:00,889 --> 00:54:05,198
My answer to the head DA guy
was, "The rule there is
1202
00:54:05,242 --> 00:54:08,114
never take LSD
over the first floor."
1203
00:54:08,157 --> 00:54:10,725
"I pass into the room.
1204
00:54:10,769 --> 00:54:14,860
There's a golden bed
radiating all light."
1205
00:54:14,903 --> 00:54:17,036
"If we want to
discourage use of LSD
1206
00:54:17,079 --> 00:54:19,038
for altering our attitudes,
we'll have to encourage
1207
00:54:19,081 --> 00:54:21,606
such changes in our society
that nobody will need it
1208
00:54:21,649 --> 00:54:23,434
to break through
the common sympathy."
1209
00:54:23,477 --> 00:54:26,132
They were carrying on
a tradition,
1210
00:54:26,175 --> 00:54:28,134
an American tradition.
1211
00:54:28,177 --> 00:54:31,529
It is, in effect,
instant insanity.
1212
00:54:31,572 --> 00:54:35,097
When the time comes,
the wave comes, it happens.
1213
00:54:35,141 --> 00:54:37,099
Do they know the difference
between right and wrong?
1214
00:54:37,143 --> 00:54:38,144
-They do not.
-Do not know.
1215
00:54:38,187 --> 00:54:39,145
They do not know
the difference
1216
00:54:39,188 --> 00:54:40,233
between right and wrong.
1217
00:54:40,277 --> 00:54:41,408
You've got a much better chance
1218
00:54:41,452 --> 00:54:45,064
of walking from--walking
from a murder
1219
00:54:45,107 --> 00:54:46,979
than a drug charge.
1220
00:54:47,022 --> 00:54:51,853
"The air is full of silver
hangings and sheathes.
1221
00:54:51,897 --> 00:54:53,725
I smile to myself.
1222
00:54:53,768 --> 00:54:57,337
I know all there is to know."
1223
00:54:57,381 --> 00:54:59,992
I basically believe
1224
00:55:00,035 --> 00:55:04,344
that drugs are here
to help human evolve,
1225
00:55:04,388 --> 00:55:06,651
to help us to grow
in intelligence.
1226
00:55:06,694 --> 00:55:08,087
I think we're primitive.
1227
00:55:08,130 --> 00:55:10,219
We don't even know
how to use them.
1228
00:55:10,263 --> 00:55:11,830
You can misuse them.
1229
00:55:11,873 --> 00:55:14,180
Assholes will always do
everything in their power
1230
00:55:14,223 --> 00:55:16,225
to fuck everything up,
you know?
1231
00:55:16,269 --> 00:55:17,923
It's like everything else
in life.
1232
00:55:17,966 --> 00:55:20,360
I mean, you can
overdose on sushi.
1233
00:55:20,404 --> 00:55:23,929
But still, they're there
for a purpose,
1234
00:55:23,972 --> 00:55:26,627
and I think the challenge
of an intelligent life
1235
00:55:26,671 --> 00:55:30,065
is to learn how to use drugs
without abusing them.
1236
00:55:30,109 --> 00:55:32,546
Uh...
1237
00:55:32,590 --> 00:55:33,895
There are a lot of drugs
I don't use
1238
00:55:33,939 --> 00:55:35,897
more than once a year,
I try to take
1239
00:55:35,941 --> 00:55:37,377
every illegal drug once a year.
1240
00:55:37,421 --> 00:55:38,770
That's like a Catholic
does that,
1241
00:55:38,813 --> 00:55:41,555
but no big deal.
1242
00:55:41,599 --> 00:55:44,732
♪
1243
00:55:46,168 --> 00:55:48,562
[tapping of typewriter keys]
1244
00:55:58,093 --> 00:56:01,836
Good evening, fellow members
of the Beat Generation.
1245
00:56:01,880 --> 00:56:05,536
♪
1246
00:56:05,579 --> 00:56:07,538
Well, it's too piercing,
man, it's too piercing.
1247
00:56:07,581 --> 00:56:09,801
-Well, I got [unintelligible].
-No, man, it's too piercing,
1248
00:56:09,844 --> 00:56:11,411
like, I don't dig loud noises.
1249
00:56:11,455 --> 00:56:13,195
-Well, you ruin the whole...
-Yeah, well, tough.
1250
00:56:13,239 --> 00:56:15,676
I'll take my bongos
and go, man.
1251
00:56:15,720 --> 00:56:17,286
♪
1252
00:56:17,330 --> 00:56:19,898
"Only God can make a tree."
1253
00:56:19,941 --> 00:56:21,769
[cymbal resonating]
1254
00:56:21,813 --> 00:56:25,947
♪ They called you
Beat Generation ♪
1255
00:56:25,991 --> 00:56:27,514
-I'll buy that.
-And I don't want
1256
00:56:27,558 --> 00:56:30,169
any of that beatnik stuff
during dinner, either.
1257
00:56:30,212 --> 00:56:32,258
And, Richard, I don't want
to see you smoking
1258
00:56:32,301 --> 00:56:34,042
any of those funny cigarettes.
1259
00:56:34,086 --> 00:56:35,827
♪
1260
00:56:35,870 --> 00:56:38,220
[speaking gibberish]
1261
00:56:38,264 --> 00:56:42,399
Man, like how square
can you get?
1262
00:56:42,442 --> 00:56:44,183
There was a kind of
beatnik craze
1263
00:56:44,226 --> 00:56:45,750
around the end of the '50s...
1264
00:56:45,793 --> 00:56:47,273
Well, the reason
we look for love
1265
00:56:47,316 --> 00:56:49,710
is to protect ourselves
from hate.
1266
00:56:49,754 --> 00:56:53,018
...which became parodied
and co-opted.
1267
00:56:53,061 --> 00:56:56,238
Well, if that's true, then,
the reason you look for hate
1268
00:56:56,282 --> 00:56:59,328
is to protect yourself
from love.
1269
00:56:59,372 --> 00:57:02,810
So, Gregory Corso went to Paris.
1270
00:57:02,854 --> 00:57:05,813
Burroughs stayed
in Tangiers and Paris.
1271
00:57:05,857 --> 00:57:08,816
Kerouac became more retired
at home after having
1272
00:57:08,860 --> 00:57:12,516
a great deal of venom
and mockery laid on him.
1273
00:57:12,559 --> 00:57:15,127
There's not enough time
to read all the books,
1274
00:57:15,170 --> 00:57:16,215
to see all the great paintings,
1275
00:57:16,258 --> 00:57:17,216
to hear all the music,
1276
00:57:17,259 --> 00:57:18,870
to think all the great thoughts
1277
00:57:18,913 --> 00:57:21,350
or just meet everybody,
but you've got to try.
1278
00:57:21,394 --> 00:57:24,092
I've got to try.
1279
00:57:24,136 --> 00:57:26,094
You need a girl, Leo.
1280
00:57:26,138 --> 00:57:29,402
Peter Orlovsky and I
disappeared into India,
1281
00:57:29,446 --> 00:57:31,186
basically went around the world
1282
00:57:31,230 --> 00:57:32,492
and stayed away
for three years
1283
00:57:32,536 --> 00:57:34,755
and studied something new.
1284
00:57:34,799 --> 00:57:40,369
♪
1285
00:57:40,413 --> 00:57:42,023
Buddhism is intellectually
1286
00:57:42,067 --> 00:57:44,156
an extraordinary
accomplishment,
1287
00:57:44,199 --> 00:57:48,334
a strikingly generous,
compassionate,
1288
00:57:48,377 --> 00:57:52,251
and persistent institution...
1289
00:57:52,294 --> 00:57:55,820
So you're like the tree--
the tree sitting there.
1290
00:57:55,863 --> 00:57:57,343
...practically speaking,
1291
00:57:57,386 --> 00:58:01,739
offering real teachings,
meditation...
1292
00:58:01,782 --> 00:58:05,786
Your muscles are hanging
from the trunk of the tree.
1293
00:58:05,830 --> 00:58:09,224
...how to see and understand
one's own mind...
1294
00:58:09,268 --> 00:58:10,835
Mouth closed.
1295
00:58:10,878 --> 00:58:14,055
Shoulders relaxed.
1296
00:58:14,099 --> 00:58:17,015
...and in the world,
make us remember
1297
00:58:17,058 --> 00:58:20,888
that our society includes
the non-human people.
1298
00:58:20,932 --> 00:58:26,111
So now, why don't we sit
doing nothing?
1299
00:58:26,154 --> 00:58:27,939
I was never really
heavy into Buddhism.
1300
00:58:27,982 --> 00:58:31,203
Get Allen Ginsberg
to talk about that.
1301
00:58:31,246 --> 00:58:34,032
He can go on and on and on.
1302
00:58:34,075 --> 00:58:36,687
♪
1303
00:58:36,730 --> 00:58:39,559
It's a big picture,
it's a big heart.
1304
00:58:39,603 --> 00:58:40,734
Do you think the Buddhists
see what I see?
1305
00:58:40,778 --> 00:58:41,822
Maybe they do see what I see.
1306
00:58:41,866 --> 00:58:43,128
Who the fuck knows?
1307
00:58:43,171 --> 00:58:45,086
They may just well
see what I see.
1308
00:58:45,130 --> 00:58:49,526
Thank you for your patience.
1309
00:58:49,569 --> 00:58:51,528
That was fucking beautiful.
1310
00:58:51,571 --> 00:58:53,530
[applause]
1311
00:58:53,573 --> 00:58:56,489
[chanting]
1312
00:59:02,103 --> 00:59:05,150
I guess it's like the argument
that Allen and I always have.
1313
00:59:05,193 --> 00:59:09,894
To me, Buddhism is
another form of metaphysics.
1314
00:59:11,635 --> 00:59:13,724
I'm a materialist, you know.
1315
00:59:13,767 --> 00:59:16,640
My view is that
the fundamental thing
1316
00:59:16,683 --> 00:59:19,164
that exists
is matter in motion.
1317
00:59:19,207 --> 00:59:21,383
If I can have your heart,
1318
00:59:21,427 --> 00:59:23,995
if I can have your prayers,
1319
00:59:24,038 --> 00:59:25,692
if the good Lord is willing,
1320
00:59:25,736 --> 00:59:29,827
I will continue to try
to lead this nation
1321
00:59:29,870 --> 00:59:32,612
and this world to peace.
1322
00:59:32,656 --> 00:59:35,528
♪ Lookin' for adventure
1323
00:59:35,572 --> 00:59:37,356
♪ And whatever comes our way
1324
00:59:37,399 --> 00:59:39,619
By the time I got back in '63,
1325
00:59:39,663 --> 00:59:41,969
the war was raging already,
1326
00:59:42,013 --> 00:59:44,798
and rather than--America,
rather than being
1327
00:59:44,842 --> 00:59:47,801
sort of enlightened
by the possibility
1328
00:59:47,845 --> 00:59:51,239
of some open world,
was trying to inflict
1329
00:59:51,283 --> 00:59:55,809
a Catholic dictator
on--with the Vietnamese.
1330
00:59:55,853 --> 00:59:58,812
♪ Heavy metal thunder
1331
00:59:58,856 --> 01:00:00,074
♪ Racin' with the wind
1332
01:00:00,118 --> 01:00:01,815
-React to what?
-React to the greatness
1333
01:00:01,859 --> 01:00:04,035
of the march and the day
as a victory or what?
1334
01:00:04,078 --> 01:00:05,558
You happy with it?
1335
01:00:05,602 --> 01:00:08,039
[speaking foreign language]
1336
01:00:08,082 --> 01:00:10,345
♪
1337
01:00:10,389 --> 01:00:11,956
We were beatniks,
we reveled in it.
1338
01:00:11,999 --> 01:00:14,567
We never called
each other beatniks.
1339
01:00:14,611 --> 01:00:18,484
Then, all of a sudden
in late 1966, early '67,
1340
01:00:18,527 --> 01:00:20,791
Ginsberg and Gary Snyder
and others
1341
01:00:20,834 --> 01:00:25,056
organized these--this big,
huge be-in in San Francisco.
1342
01:00:25,099 --> 01:00:27,798
♪ We can fly so high
1343
01:00:27,841 --> 01:00:29,408
And right after the be-in,
all of a sudden,
1344
01:00:29,451 --> 01:00:31,192
you were no longer a beatnik.
1345
01:00:31,236 --> 01:00:32,237
You were a hippie.
1346
01:00:32,280 --> 01:00:35,849
♪ Born to be wild
1347
01:00:35,893 --> 01:00:38,547
♪
1348
01:00:38,591 --> 01:00:39,679
So I really didn't have
any friends
1349
01:00:39,723 --> 01:00:40,941
all through high school
and college.
1350
01:00:40,985 --> 01:00:42,464
There was nobody
I could communicate with
1351
01:00:42,508 --> 01:00:44,118
and, yet, I knew
1352
01:00:44,162 --> 01:00:46,686
that I couldn't be
the only Martian.
1353
01:00:46,730 --> 01:00:50,995
♪
1354
01:00:51,038 --> 01:00:52,387
♪ I'm always swell
1355
01:00:52,431 --> 01:00:55,826
♪ The action is
I blow my mind all day ♪
1356
01:00:55,869 --> 01:00:58,306
♪ While on Long Island's
tennis courts ♪
1357
01:00:58,350 --> 01:01:00,700
♪ The blonde suburbans play
1358
01:01:00,744 --> 01:01:02,659
♪ Truckin', got my chips
cashed in ♪
1359
01:01:02,702 --> 01:01:04,791
After the first thing
called the "Human Be-In,"
1360
01:01:04,835 --> 01:01:06,924
that thing, it was like,
yeah, there is a community.
1361
01:01:06,967 --> 01:01:09,143
We were all those people
who were the weird ones,
1362
01:01:09,187 --> 01:01:10,623
you know, and it was
all of a sudden,
1363
01:01:10,667 --> 01:01:12,930
you discovered all these people
who were like you,
1364
01:01:12,973 --> 01:01:14,801
influenced by the beatniks.
1365
01:01:14,845 --> 01:01:16,063
Don't eat those, Ma.
1366
01:01:16,107 --> 01:01:17,543
They're Alice B. Toklas
brownies.
1367
01:01:17,586 --> 01:01:21,808
Mm, I love you,
Alice B. Toklas.
1368
01:01:21,852 --> 01:01:23,592
We would all like
to be able to live
1369
01:01:23,636 --> 01:01:25,464
an uncluttered life, you know,
1370
01:01:25,507 --> 01:01:26,944
and, like, think about moving
1371
01:01:26,987 --> 01:01:29,076
the whole human race
ahead a step.
1372
01:01:29,120 --> 01:01:33,733
These young people were
looking for a spiritual way
1373
01:01:33,777 --> 01:01:36,518
to rebel against
the American values,
1374
01:01:36,562 --> 01:01:38,129
almost as an extension
1375
01:01:38,172 --> 01:01:40,000
of what we'd begun
doing in the '50s.
1376
01:01:40,044 --> 01:01:43,830
They--they sort of
looked on us as the, uh...
1377
01:01:43,874 --> 01:01:45,397
...as the elders of the tribe.
1378
01:01:45,440 --> 01:01:47,051
What is your whole attitude
to life?
1379
01:01:47,094 --> 01:01:48,705
When you meet somebody, what is
your attitude towards them?
1380
01:01:48,748 --> 01:01:49,749
I don't like them.
1381
01:01:49,793 --> 01:01:51,359
-You don't?
-No.
1382
01:01:51,403 --> 01:01:54,885
Sometimes the caring
manifests itself as anger
1383
01:01:54,928 --> 01:01:57,148
or other feelings
1384
01:01:57,191 --> 01:01:58,758
that you might think of
as negative.
1385
01:01:58,802 --> 01:02:00,934
Anything that has
a strong charge
1386
01:02:00,978 --> 01:02:03,197
is where your heart is lying.
1387
01:02:03,241 --> 01:02:04,895
I think that
the Vietnamese War
1388
01:02:04,938 --> 01:02:07,419
is nothing but a plot
between the North Vietnamese
1389
01:02:07,462 --> 01:02:09,073
and the South Vietnamese
who are cousins
1390
01:02:09,116 --> 01:02:11,292
to get Jeeps in the country.
1391
01:02:11,336 --> 01:02:13,468
They're not very good plotters,
are they?
1392
01:02:13,512 --> 01:02:16,733
Well, they got a lot of Jeeps.
1393
01:02:16,776 --> 01:02:18,996
We were rebelling against
a kind of rigidity
1394
01:02:19,039 --> 01:02:21,128
in the culture, and the Beats
seemed to point out
1395
01:02:21,172 --> 01:02:23,957
that there were lots of room
in the U.S. Constitution
1396
01:02:24,001 --> 01:02:26,003
for more freedom.
1397
01:02:26,046 --> 01:02:28,005
We are going to Chicago.
1398
01:02:28,048 --> 01:02:29,354
About a quarter of a million
1399
01:02:29,397 --> 01:02:33,750
of young, energetic
love buddies...
1400
01:02:33,793 --> 01:02:38,537
...to engage in a Youth
International Party,
1401
01:02:38,580 --> 01:02:41,496
a sing-in, grope-in, love-in.
1402
01:02:41,540 --> 01:02:44,673
[shouting]
1403
01:02:44,717 --> 01:02:47,415
♪
1404
01:02:47,459 --> 01:02:50,157
...which has really
heightened the consciousness
1405
01:02:50,201 --> 01:02:52,116
with today's action.
1406
01:02:52,159 --> 01:02:55,206
-Are they expecting trouble?
-They expect to march.
1407
01:02:55,249 --> 01:02:57,295
We expect trouble all the time.
1408
01:02:57,338 --> 01:03:00,994
A whole generation was
systematically cut off
1409
01:03:01,038 --> 01:03:04,128
from outlets
to personal meaning.
1410
01:03:04,171 --> 01:03:08,741
We could play the game,
but what was it about?
1411
01:03:08,785 --> 01:03:10,351
No one knew.
1412
01:03:10,395 --> 01:03:13,050
The policeman isn't there
to create disorder.
1413
01:03:13,093 --> 01:03:15,704
The policeman is there
to preserve disorder.
1414
01:03:15,748 --> 01:03:20,187
So, we went with our
more non-conforming impulse.
1415
01:03:20,231 --> 01:03:22,537
[chanting]
1416
01:03:22,581 --> 01:03:26,150
The Beats were
originally non-political.
1417
01:03:26,193 --> 01:03:28,326
Others who were political
1418
01:03:28,369 --> 01:03:30,154
were really following
the Beat movement
1419
01:03:30,197 --> 01:03:32,243
to its logical conclusion.
1420
01:03:32,286 --> 01:03:34,288
Om, he was wonderful.
1421
01:03:34,332 --> 01:03:36,377
He was--he was
an honored presence.
1422
01:03:36,421 --> 01:03:39,119
They had a vision
and the vision was truth,
1423
01:03:39,163 --> 01:03:41,078
justice, and the American way.
1424
01:03:41,121 --> 01:03:42,906
Just like the guy
with the cape,
1425
01:03:42,949 --> 01:03:46,518
they were the Supermen
and Superwomen of our era.
1426
01:03:46,561 --> 01:03:48,302
♪ ...off of my face
1427
01:03:48,346 --> 01:03:51,044
[siren wailing]
1428
01:03:51,088 --> 01:03:53,481
The ground was really set
in the way by the people
1429
01:03:53,525 --> 01:03:55,788
who had helped us realize
1430
01:03:55,832 --> 01:03:58,660
that we didn't have to follow
what our elders told us
1431
01:03:58,704 --> 01:04:00,445
if we really didn't think
it was right.
1432
01:04:00,488 --> 01:04:03,622
I couldn't get naked
on somebody's front lawn
1433
01:04:03,665 --> 01:04:05,885
and get myself arrested,
it wasn't my style,
1434
01:04:05,929 --> 01:04:08,148
but I really admired that.
1435
01:04:08,192 --> 01:04:11,848
Born of distant dark
planet names,
1436
01:04:11,891 --> 01:04:13,762
I, woodwoman,
1437
01:04:13,806 --> 01:04:15,547
I spell it away!
1438
01:04:15,590 --> 01:04:19,812
Mega, mega, mega, mega,
mega, mega, mega, mega,
1439
01:04:19,856 --> 01:04:21,509
mega, mega, mega!
1440
01:04:21,553 --> 01:04:25,426
[unintelligible shout]
1441
01:04:25,470 --> 01:04:29,778
♪ Knock, knock, knockin'
on heaven's door ♪
1442
01:04:29,822 --> 01:04:33,173
There's a time when
the operation of the machine
1443
01:04:33,217 --> 01:04:35,175
becomes so odious,
1444
01:04:35,219 --> 01:04:38,787
makes you so sick at heart
that you can't take part.
1445
01:04:38,831 --> 01:04:40,789
[gunshot]
1446
01:04:40,833 --> 01:04:42,182
♪
1447
01:04:42,226 --> 01:04:44,141
But I always thought
that what we were doing
1448
01:04:44,184 --> 01:04:46,621
was a patriotic act.
1449
01:04:46,665 --> 01:04:49,668
Who has always been out there?
1450
01:04:49,711 --> 01:04:52,714
Old crazy coots
that keep out on the edge
1451
01:04:52,758 --> 01:04:55,369
of where civilization
is going.
1452
01:04:55,413 --> 01:04:58,938
I think a lot of this comes
from Cassady and from Kerouac.
1453
01:04:58,982 --> 01:05:00,548
Cassady was our driver.
1454
01:05:00,592 --> 01:05:02,986
He knew that this was going
to be the best stage
1455
01:05:03,029 --> 01:05:05,075
he was ever gonna have
to do his number.
1456
01:05:05,118 --> 01:05:06,946
Never mind all that reflection.
1457
01:05:06,990 --> 01:05:08,426
Let's see who we are.
1458
01:05:08,469 --> 01:05:10,863
Let's turn the thing on
as bright as it will go
1459
01:05:10,907 --> 01:05:13,170
and then see what kind of
shadow we cast.
1460
01:05:13,213 --> 01:05:18,088
♪ Knock, knock, knockin'
on heaven's door ♪
1461
01:05:18,131 --> 01:05:21,178
"I put my back toward
the screen and then spun
1462
01:05:21,221 --> 01:05:23,310
and let the momentum
carry the panel
1463
01:05:23,354 --> 01:05:27,445
through the screen and window
with a ripping crash.
1464
01:05:27,488 --> 01:05:30,535
The blast splashed
out in the moon
1465
01:05:30,578 --> 01:05:34,278
like a bright, cold water
baptizing the sleeping earth.
1466
01:05:34,321 --> 01:05:35,975
♪
1467
01:05:36,019 --> 01:05:40,675
I put my hand on the sill
and vaulted after the panel
1468
01:05:40,719 --> 01:05:42,460
into the moonlight."
1469
01:05:42,503 --> 01:05:44,462
[shouting]
1470
01:05:44,505 --> 01:05:46,551
♪
1471
01:05:46,594 --> 01:05:48,945
Mr. Kesey, do you feel
that you have the right
1472
01:05:48,988 --> 01:05:50,990
to do what you want,
whatever you want,
1473
01:05:51,034 --> 01:05:52,731
and still live in this world?
1474
01:05:52,774 --> 01:05:55,690
[shouting and laughing]
1475
01:05:55,734 --> 01:05:57,910
I feel that man has the right
to be as big
1476
01:05:57,954 --> 01:05:59,999
as he feels it in him to be.
1477
01:06:00,043 --> 01:06:02,480
[laughs]
1478
01:06:02,523 --> 01:06:12,272
♪
1479
01:06:12,316 --> 01:06:14,753
[indistinct chatter]
1480
01:06:18,235 --> 01:06:19,627
This is the death
of Neal Cassady
1481
01:06:19,671 --> 01:06:21,803
at San Miguel de Allende,
where he died
1482
01:06:21,847 --> 01:06:23,457
walking along
the railroad tracks
1483
01:06:23,501 --> 01:06:27,374
after getting stoned
and whatever.
1484
01:06:27,418 --> 01:06:30,682
And the uppers and downers
at the same time.
1485
01:06:30,725 --> 01:06:33,119
[indistinct chatter]
1486
01:06:34,816 --> 01:06:38,037
♪
1487
01:06:38,081 --> 01:06:41,258
He wasn't destined
to grow old.
1488
01:06:41,301 --> 01:06:44,522
He was always young
and he always will be.
1489
01:06:44,565 --> 01:06:49,048
A hundred years ago,
he would have been on a horse,
1490
01:06:49,092 --> 01:06:52,138
but his--his hot rod
was his horse.
1491
01:06:52,182 --> 01:06:53,835
♪
1492
01:06:53,879 --> 01:06:57,100
"Delicate eyes that
blinked blue Rockies,
1493
01:06:57,143 --> 01:06:59,624
all ash.
1494
01:06:59,667 --> 01:07:04,324
Nipples, ribs I touched
with my thumb are ash.
1495
01:07:04,368 --> 01:07:07,936
Mouth my tongue touched
once or twice,
1496
01:07:07,980 --> 01:07:10,200
all ash."
1497
01:07:10,243 --> 01:07:12,376
♪
1498
01:07:12,419 --> 01:07:15,727
Our existence is so brief,
1499
01:07:15,770 --> 01:07:19,209
as we understood it,
that it becomes more poignant
1500
01:07:19,252 --> 01:07:23,213
and more emotionally rich
1501
01:07:23,256 --> 01:07:26,825
knowing that it's like a dream
1502
01:07:26,868 --> 01:07:30,394
that is already finished,
as Kerouac once said.
1503
01:07:30,437 --> 01:07:32,657
Life is a dream already over.
1504
01:07:32,700 --> 01:07:40,099
♪
1505
01:07:40,143 --> 01:07:44,886
Jack, suddenly, one morning,
had a hemorrhage,
1506
01:07:44,930 --> 01:07:47,585
apparently brought on by, uh...
1507
01:07:47,628 --> 01:07:51,023
...years and years
of consuming alcohol,
1508
01:07:51,067 --> 01:07:54,853
which I guess is the typical
alcoholic's death.
1509
01:07:54,896 --> 01:07:57,160
The American
by his day was sick.
1510
01:07:57,203 --> 01:08:00,467
Hard-heartedness
had taken over.
1511
01:08:00,511 --> 01:08:03,688
So I would say America
broke his heart.
1512
01:08:03,731 --> 01:08:05,690
♪
1513
01:08:05,733 --> 01:08:06,865
You just have to read
the reviews
1514
01:08:06,908 --> 01:08:08,171
of his books in those days.
1515
01:08:08,214 --> 01:08:12,566
He was put down,
it was, you know, knifed
1516
01:08:12,610 --> 01:08:15,395
and, yet, he was writing
about enthusiasm and delight,
1517
01:08:15,439 --> 01:08:18,833
and he was being treated
like some juvenile delinquent.
1518
01:08:18,877 --> 01:08:20,531
♪
1519
01:08:20,574 --> 01:08:24,229
Now, Jack, Mr. Kerouac,
to what extent do you believe
1520
01:08:24,273 --> 01:08:27,146
that the Beat Generation
1521
01:08:27,190 --> 01:08:30,062
is related
1522
01:08:30,106 --> 01:08:32,456
to the--to the hippies?
1523
01:08:32,499 --> 01:08:34,066
What do they have in common?
1524
01:08:34,110 --> 01:08:36,112
Was this an evolution
from the one to the other?
1525
01:08:36,155 --> 01:08:37,852
We're just the older ones.
1526
01:08:37,896 --> 01:08:40,594
I'm 46 years old,
these kids are 18.
1527
01:08:40,638 --> 01:08:42,509
It's the same movement
which is apparently
1528
01:08:42,553 --> 01:08:46,818
some kind of Dionysian movement
1529
01:08:46,861 --> 01:08:49,647
in late civilization,
1530
01:08:49,690 --> 01:08:52,997
in which I did not intend
any more than I suppose
1531
01:08:53,041 --> 01:08:55,478
Dionysus did
or whatever his name was.
1532
01:08:55,522 --> 01:08:56,871
Ha-ha!
1533
01:08:56,915 --> 01:08:58,524
Hey, that was good, wasn't it?
1534
01:08:58,568 --> 01:09:00,353
I'm good all the time, boy.
1535
01:09:00,397 --> 01:09:03,617
Give that man a drink.
1536
01:09:03,661 --> 01:09:06,228
Spent all the night
with poets and so on.
1537
01:09:06,272 --> 01:09:07,881
He drank and all that.
1538
01:09:07,925 --> 01:09:11,582
And, well, I said,
"Aren't you afraid of hell?"
1539
01:09:11,625 --> 01:09:14,106
He says, "Oh, no," he says,
"I'm concerned with heaven,"
1540
01:09:14,149 --> 01:09:17,196
he says, "I'm thinking
about heaven all the time.
1541
01:09:17,240 --> 01:09:19,764
I want to see Gerard,
my little brother."
1542
01:09:19,807 --> 01:09:22,245
"He'd already scribed
a thousand dreams,
1543
01:09:22,288 --> 01:09:24,290
a thousand pages of dharma,
1544
01:09:24,334 --> 01:09:27,467
a million words that sounded
like a million ears.
1545
01:09:27,511 --> 01:09:29,252
His heart was tender.
1546
01:09:29,295 --> 01:09:33,865
He'd already died
and become a recording angel."
1547
01:09:33,907 --> 01:09:36,911
Jack Kerouac, the novelist
who wrote On the Road,
1548
01:09:36,955 --> 01:09:38,522
reached the end of it today.
1549
01:09:38,565 --> 01:09:41,481
The 47-year-old spokesman
for the Beat Generation
1550
01:09:41,524 --> 01:09:42,960
died of a massive hemorrhage
1551
01:09:43,004 --> 01:09:44,962
in a St. Petersburg,
Florida, hospital.
1552
01:09:45,005 --> 01:09:49,228
♪ And what love endures
1553
01:09:49,272 --> 01:09:51,099
♪
1554
01:09:51,143 --> 01:09:55,495
♪ All my thoughts of you
1555
01:09:55,539 --> 01:09:56,844
♪
1556
01:09:56,888 --> 01:10:01,893
♪ For I'm so completely yours
1557
01:10:01,936 --> 01:10:03,503
♪
1558
01:10:03,547 --> 01:10:05,418
All the people that leave
this stuff here,
1559
01:10:05,462 --> 01:10:07,942
it's their way.
1560
01:10:07,986 --> 01:10:09,901
You know, it's their way
of coming here,
1561
01:10:09,943 --> 01:10:12,164
it's part of their path,
you know?
1562
01:10:12,208 --> 01:10:16,647
It's like 13-year-old kids,
college kids,
1563
01:10:16,690 --> 01:10:20,303
guys my age, old-timers.
1564
01:10:20,346 --> 01:10:22,261
Wicked spectrum.
1565
01:10:22,305 --> 01:10:25,482
♪
1566
01:10:25,525 --> 01:10:27,484
So, this what's gonna
happen to you?
1567
01:10:27,527 --> 01:10:30,269
No, I want to be
in an unmarked grave.
1568
01:10:30,313 --> 01:10:32,097
♪
1569
01:10:32,139 --> 01:10:33,228
What do you think Jack
would have felt
1570
01:10:33,272 --> 01:10:34,882
about all this--all this?
1571
01:10:34,925 --> 01:10:36,841
Yeah, he would have grooved
on this stuff
1572
01:10:36,884 --> 01:10:39,191
because--because this stuff
comes from the heart
1573
01:10:39,235 --> 01:10:41,148
and that's where
he was coming from.
1574
01:10:41,193 --> 01:10:43,674
I believe in order,
1575
01:10:43,717 --> 01:10:47,068
tenderness, and piety.
1576
01:10:47,112 --> 01:10:49,157
Well, then your point
was that a movement
1577
01:10:49,201 --> 01:10:53,161
which you conceived
as relatively pure
1578
01:10:53,205 --> 01:10:55,163
has become ideologized.
1579
01:10:55,207 --> 01:10:57,557
No, a movement that was
considered what?
1580
01:10:57,601 --> 01:10:58,732
Pure.
1581
01:10:58,776 --> 01:11:01,126
Yes, it was pure in my heart.
1582
01:11:01,169 --> 01:11:03,868
♪ Don't explain
1583
01:11:03,911 --> 01:11:08,089
♪
1584
01:11:10,396 --> 01:11:12,398
Belief and Technique
for Modern Prose
1585
01:11:12,442 --> 01:11:14,182
by Jack Kerouac.
1586
01:11:14,226 --> 01:11:15,706
"List of essentials:
1587
01:11:15,749 --> 01:11:17,969
One, scribbled
secret notebooks
1588
01:11:18,012 --> 01:11:21,059
and wild typewritten pages
for your own joy.
1589
01:11:21,102 --> 01:11:24,715
Two, submissive to everything,
open, listening.
1590
01:11:24,758 --> 01:11:29,110
Three, try never get drunk
outside your own house.
1591
01:11:29,154 --> 01:11:32,244
Four, be in love
with your life.
1592
01:11:32,288 --> 01:11:35,900
Five, something that you feel
will find its own form.
1593
01:11:35,943 --> 01:11:39,599
Six, be crazy
dumbsaint of the mind.
1594
01:11:39,643 --> 01:11:42,602
Seven, blow as deep
as you want to blow.
1595
01:11:42,646 --> 01:11:44,603
Eight, write what you want
1596
01:11:44,648 --> 01:11:47,389
bottomless
from bottom of the mind.
1597
01:11:47,433 --> 01:11:51,742
Nine, the unspeakable visions
of the individual."
1598
01:11:51,785 --> 01:11:54,092
"Dean was in a trance.
1599
01:11:54,135 --> 01:11:57,050
The tenorman's eyes
were fixed straight on him;
1600
01:11:57,094 --> 01:11:59,663
he had a madman who
not only understood but cared
1601
01:11:59,706 --> 01:12:01,665
and wanted to understand more
1602
01:12:01,708 --> 01:12:04,276
and much more than there was.
1603
01:12:04,320 --> 01:12:06,844
The tenorman wore
a tattered suede jacket,
1604
01:12:06,887 --> 01:12:08,672
purple shirt, cracked shoes,
1605
01:12:08,715 --> 01:12:11,022
and zoot pants without press.
1606
01:12:11,065 --> 01:12:13,023
He didn't care.
1607
01:12:13,067 --> 01:12:16,070
His big brown eyes
were concerned with sadness,
1608
01:12:16,114 --> 01:12:17,724
and the singing of songs slowly
1609
01:12:17,768 --> 01:12:20,684
and with long,
thoughtful pauses.
1610
01:12:20,727 --> 01:12:22,032
His mouth quivered.
1611
01:12:22,076 --> 01:12:24,775
He looked at us, Dean and me,
1612
01:12:24,818 --> 01:12:27,603
with an expression
that seemed to say, "Hey, now,
1613
01:12:27,647 --> 01:12:28,605
what's this thing
we're all doing
1614
01:12:28,648 --> 01:12:31,303
in this sad brown world?"
1615
01:12:31,347 --> 01:12:33,349
Then it came to the end
of his song,
1616
01:12:33,392 --> 01:12:36,090
and for this there had to be
elaborate preparations,
1617
01:12:36,134 --> 01:12:37,918
during which time you could
send all the messages
1618
01:12:37,962 --> 01:12:39,833
to Garcia around the world
12 times
1619
01:12:39,877 --> 01:12:41,835
and what difference
did it make to anyone?
1620
01:12:41,879 --> 01:12:44,316
Because here, we were dealing
with the pit and prune juice
1621
01:12:44,360 --> 01:12:45,577
of poor beat life itself
1622
01:12:45,621 --> 01:12:48,364
in the god-awful streets of man.
1623
01:12:48,407 --> 01:12:50,278
Sat in the corner
with a bunch of boys
1624
01:12:50,322 --> 01:12:52,237
and paid no attention to them.
1625
01:12:52,280 --> 01:12:54,500
He looked down and wept.
1626
01:12:54,544 --> 01:12:56,197
He was the greatest.
1627
01:12:56,241 --> 01:12:58,156
♪
1628
01:12:58,199 --> 01:13:00,027
I had put the light out,
1629
01:13:00,071 --> 01:13:02,900
so, in the dark, dancing,
I kissed her.
1630
01:13:02,943 --> 01:13:04,335
♪
1631
01:13:04,380 --> 01:13:06,294
It was giddy,
whirling to the dance,
1632
01:13:06,338 --> 01:13:09,210
the beginning,
1633
01:13:09,254 --> 01:13:11,125
the usual beginning
of lovers kissing,
1634
01:13:11,169 --> 01:13:13,867
standing up in a dark room,
1635
01:13:13,911 --> 01:13:18,306
the room being the woman's
the man all designs.
1636
01:13:18,350 --> 01:13:21,875
Quick to plunge, bite,
put the light out,
1637
01:13:21,919 --> 01:13:24,443
hide my face in shame,
1638
01:13:24,487 --> 01:13:26,706
make love to her tremendously
because of lack of love
1639
01:13:26,750 --> 01:13:28,925
for a year almost
1640
01:13:28,969 --> 01:13:31,668
and the need pushing me down,
1641
01:13:31,710 --> 01:13:33,844
our little agreements
in the dark,
1642
01:13:33,887 --> 01:13:36,455
the really should-not-be-tolds,
1643
01:13:36,499 --> 01:13:38,544
for it was she who later said,
1644
01:13:38,588 --> 01:13:40,327
'Men are so crazy.
1645
01:13:40,371 --> 01:13:42,200
They want the essence.
1646
01:13:42,243 --> 01:13:44,245
The woman is the essence.
1647
01:13:44,289 --> 01:13:46,030
There it is
right in their hands
1648
01:13:46,073 --> 01:13:50,773
but they rush off erecting
big abstract constructions.'
1649
01:13:50,817 --> 01:13:52,471
But I cannot
in this confession
1650
01:13:52,514 --> 01:13:55,909
betray the innermosts,
the thighs,
1651
01:13:55,952 --> 01:13:58,434
what the thighs contain.
1652
01:13:58,477 --> 01:14:01,132
The thighs contain the essence,
1653
01:14:01,175 --> 01:14:03,439
yet though there I should stay
and from there I came
1654
01:14:03,482 --> 01:14:05,702
and will eventually return,
1655
01:14:05,745 --> 01:14:08,487
still I have to rush off
and construct,
1656
01:14:08,531 --> 01:14:12,577
construct, for nothing,
for Baudelaire poems."
1657
01:14:12,621 --> 01:14:13,884
♪
1658
01:14:13,927 --> 01:14:15,625
This is just his bones here.
1659
01:14:15,668 --> 01:14:18,192
His spirit is around us.
1660
01:14:18,236 --> 01:14:23,110
♪
1661
01:14:23,154 --> 01:14:25,591
[tapping of typewriter keys]
1662
01:14:25,635 --> 01:14:34,513
♪
1663
01:14:34,557 --> 01:14:36,514
I'd like an omelet, plain,
1664
01:14:36,559 --> 01:14:39,562
and a chicken salad sandwich
on wheat toast.
1665
01:14:39,605 --> 01:14:41,607
"Sixteen years ago,
we were put down
1666
01:14:41,651 --> 01:14:45,698
for being filthy beatnik
sex commie dope fiends."
1667
01:14:45,742 --> 01:14:48,179
Now, all you have to do
is hold the chicken,
1668
01:14:48,222 --> 01:14:50,050
bring me the toast,
give me a check
1669
01:14:50,094 --> 01:14:51,530
for the chicken salad sandwich,
1670
01:14:51,574 --> 01:14:53,793
and you haven't broken
any rules.
1671
01:14:53,837 --> 01:14:55,534
You see that sign, sir?
1672
01:14:55,577 --> 01:14:58,362
Do you see this sign?
1673
01:14:58,406 --> 01:15:00,278
"Sixteen years later
1674
01:15:00,321 --> 01:15:02,715
Allen's the respect
of his elders,
1675
01:15:02,759 --> 01:15:04,543
the love of his peers."
1676
01:15:04,587 --> 01:15:07,067
Do you have nostalgia
for the '50s and '60s now?
1677
01:15:07,111 --> 01:15:08,982
None at all,
it's more interesting now.
1678
01:15:09,026 --> 01:15:11,637
I mean, it's the s--
the '50s, '60s, '70s,
1679
01:15:11,681 --> 01:15:12,856
same thing as now.
1680
01:15:12,898 --> 01:15:14,510
It's eternity all the time,
1681
01:15:14,553 --> 01:15:17,817
so there's no point
having nostalgia for eternity.
1682
01:15:17,861 --> 01:15:20,428
"Bill, Bill is ever Bill,
1683
01:15:20,472 --> 01:15:21,865
even though he stopped drugging
1684
01:15:21,907 --> 01:15:23,867
and smoking cigarettes."
1685
01:15:23,910 --> 01:15:26,260
I'm pleased tonight
to introduce a man
1686
01:15:26,304 --> 01:15:27,697
who, in my opinion,
1687
01:15:27,740 --> 01:15:31,091
is the greatest living writer
in America.
1688
01:15:31,135 --> 01:15:32,876
"Me? I'm still considered
1689
01:15:32,919 --> 01:15:36,009
an unwashed beatnik
sex commie dope fiend."
1690
01:15:36,053 --> 01:15:38,621
Want a hit?
I don't have a light.
1691
01:15:38,664 --> 01:15:42,886
"Dear Audience, we early heads
of present style
1692
01:15:42,929 --> 01:15:47,193
and consciousness
are the Daddies of the Age."
1693
01:15:47,237 --> 01:15:48,587
The Beats, in standing up,
1694
01:15:48,630 --> 01:15:50,502
got laughed at
by the civilization.
1695
01:15:50,546 --> 01:15:52,243
All the academic--
you don't know how much hatred
1696
01:15:52,286 --> 01:15:53,897
there was for these guys
and sneers,
1697
01:15:53,940 --> 01:15:56,116
and teachers would snicker.
1698
01:15:56,160 --> 01:15:57,683
Police, you may as well open.
1699
01:15:57,727 --> 01:16:00,380
The moment The Beard
first opened in Los Angeles,
1700
01:16:00,425 --> 01:16:02,469
every night,
city vice squad detectives
1701
01:16:02,514 --> 01:16:04,124
arrested the cast
and the producer.
1702
01:16:04,168 --> 01:16:05,952
When are we gonna get
controversial again, Allen?
1703
01:16:05,996 --> 01:16:09,826
It's all getting too sedate,
don't you think so?
1704
01:16:09,869 --> 01:16:11,262
How many years has it been
since you've been busted?
1705
01:16:11,305 --> 01:16:12,568
I mean, we're in trouble here.
1706
01:16:12,611 --> 01:16:13,873
I was busted
just three weeks ago.
1707
01:16:13,916 --> 01:16:16,702
Of course, of course,
there you go.
1708
01:16:16,746 --> 01:16:18,791
[shouting]
1709
01:16:18,835 --> 01:16:21,620
I'm mad as hell, and I'm not
gonna take it anymore!
1710
01:16:21,664 --> 01:16:22,752
I'm mad as hell!
1711
01:16:22,795 --> 01:16:24,449
I'm not gonna take it anymore!
1712
01:16:24,492 --> 01:16:26,016
I'm mad as hell,
and I'm not gonna take it--
1713
01:16:26,059 --> 01:16:27,931
I'm not gonna take it anymore!
1714
01:16:27,974 --> 01:16:28,932
I'm mad as hell!
1715
01:16:28,975 --> 01:16:30,847
Literary Movements for $200.
1716
01:16:36,592 --> 01:16:38,898
-Jeopardy, TV program.
-Oh.
1717
01:16:38,942 --> 01:16:41,553
Burroughs, Kerouac,
and Ginsey are accepted
1718
01:16:41,597 --> 01:16:43,511
-in a literary...
-On the contrary, Gregory.
1719
01:16:43,555 --> 01:16:44,556
-Bullshit.
-The point is...
1720
01:16:44,600 --> 01:16:45,862
Those three were the big ones
1721
01:16:45,905 --> 01:16:47,864
and anybody afterwards is...
1722
01:16:47,907 --> 01:16:50,214
-That's all right with me.
-But it ain't all right with me
1723
01:16:50,257 --> 01:16:51,737
'cause they don't know
where to place me.
1724
01:16:51,781 --> 01:16:53,521
I had my book published
before his.
1725
01:16:53,565 --> 01:16:55,262
Yeah, but, Gregory,
you seem very bitter,
1726
01:16:55,306 --> 01:16:59,657
and your poetry and your work
is so joyful and happy.
1727
01:16:59,702 --> 01:17:02,008
Bitter? I'm not a bitter man.
1728
01:17:02,052 --> 01:17:03,314
Bitter?
1729
01:17:03,357 --> 01:17:05,664
I bet my poems
top all your shots.
1730
01:17:05,708 --> 01:17:07,405
Watch the game, you don't
even know what's gonna happen
1731
01:17:07,448 --> 01:17:08,493
eighty years from now.
1732
01:17:08,536 --> 01:17:11,278
These fuckers may be niente.
1733
01:17:11,322 --> 01:17:13,672
[indistinct chatter]
1734
01:17:13,716 --> 01:17:14,760
♪
1735
01:17:14,804 --> 01:17:16,370
Gregory Corso.
1736
01:17:16,414 --> 01:17:19,286
[cheering]
1737
01:17:19,330 --> 01:17:22,768
Whereas Lowell-born author
Jack Kerouac
1738
01:17:22,812 --> 01:17:24,639
is known as one
of this century's
1739
01:17:24,683 --> 01:17:27,380
most important figures
in American literature.
1740
01:17:27,425 --> 01:17:31,037
Now everybody says,
"Oh, I went to school with him.
1741
01:17:31,081 --> 01:17:34,084
Oh, yes, I knew him very well!"
1742
01:17:34,127 --> 01:17:37,391
"Dear Daddy Jack,
I am your real daughter
1743
01:17:37,434 --> 01:17:38,741
that you never found.
1744
01:17:38,784 --> 01:17:42,135
Love everlasting,
Jan Michelle."
1745
01:17:42,179 --> 01:17:46,096
♪
1746
01:17:46,139 --> 01:17:50,056
They have totally shat upon
the whole premise
1747
01:17:50,100 --> 01:17:52,145
of the Beat Generation
which is to be free,
1748
01:17:52,189 --> 01:17:55,888
and free speech,
and it's Kerouacgate.
1749
01:17:55,932 --> 01:18:03,679
♪
1750
01:18:03,722 --> 01:18:06,159
[tapping of typewriter keys]
1751
01:18:06,202 --> 01:18:14,080
♪
1752
01:18:14,124 --> 01:18:16,692
[humming]
1753
01:18:16,735 --> 01:18:21,087
♪
1754
01:18:21,130 --> 01:18:25,788
Ladies and gentlemen,
an American hero,
1755
01:18:25,831 --> 01:18:28,138
American bard,
1756
01:18:28,181 --> 01:18:31,010
American genius.
1757
01:18:31,054 --> 01:18:32,359
You can't see on the left,
1758
01:18:32,403 --> 01:18:35,318
it says "All proceeds
for this image
1759
01:18:35,362 --> 01:18:38,017
go to the Jack Kerouac
School of Poetics
1760
01:18:38,061 --> 01:18:40,759
in Naropa Institute,
Boulder, Colorado."
1761
01:18:40,803 --> 01:18:42,500
Oh, that's great,
this goes to the--
1762
01:18:42,543 --> 01:18:44,110
I got my alibi.
1763
01:18:44,154 --> 01:18:46,243
Oh, that's good.
1764
01:18:46,286 --> 01:18:48,027
-I, uh...
-That's a good cause.
1765
01:18:48,071 --> 01:18:49,812
I have my alibi
for not selling out.
1766
01:18:49,855 --> 01:18:51,943
Not many people do.
1767
01:18:51,987 --> 01:18:54,077
No.
1768
01:18:54,120 --> 01:18:56,427
♪ Teacher Death
1769
01:18:56,469 --> 01:18:59,125
♪ I do thank you
1770
01:18:59,169 --> 01:19:02,041
♪ For inspiring me
1771
01:19:02,085 --> 01:19:05,697
♪ To sing this blues
1772
01:19:05,741 --> 01:19:08,787
♪ Father Breath
1773
01:19:08,831 --> 01:19:12,617
"Allen died April 5th, 1997.
1774
01:19:12,660 --> 01:19:16,925
He said to me, 'I thought
I would be terrified,
1775
01:19:16,969 --> 01:19:19,755
but I'm exhilarated.'
1776
01:19:19,798 --> 01:19:20,755
His last words to me."
1777
01:19:20,799 --> 01:19:24,193
♪ Time will tell
1778
01:19:24,237 --> 01:19:25,673
♪
1779
01:19:25,717 --> 01:19:27,675
"Larry was another.
1780
01:19:27,719 --> 01:19:30,112
I talked till ten
the night of his death.
1781
01:19:30,156 --> 01:19:33,116
He said, 'Why not?'"
1782
01:19:33,159 --> 01:19:37,076
"I saw God in the sky,
in the form of huge, gold,
1783
01:19:37,120 --> 01:19:39,513
sunburning clouds
above the desert.
1784
01:19:39,557 --> 01:19:41,820
He seemed to point a finger
at me and say,
1785
01:19:41,864 --> 01:19:43,909
'Pass here and go on.
1786
01:19:43,952 --> 01:19:46,041
You're on the road to heaven.'"
1787
01:19:46,085 --> 01:19:52,222
♪
1788
01:19:52,264 --> 01:19:54,790
Let us pray.
1789
01:19:54,833 --> 01:19:58,663
"Our Father,
whose art's in heaven,
1790
01:19:58,706 --> 01:20:00,883
hallowed be Thy name
1791
01:20:00,925 --> 01:20:03,886
unless things change."
1792
01:20:03,929 --> 01:20:06,540
Keep the fire alive.
1793
01:20:06,584 --> 01:20:08,107
Keep love alive, brothers.
1794
01:20:08,151 --> 01:20:10,762
Keep love alive.
1795
01:20:10,806 --> 01:20:12,851
Do you still write poems
and things, too?
1796
01:20:12,895 --> 01:20:16,376
Me? I never stopped in my life
writing poetry.
1797
01:20:16,420 --> 01:20:17,682
When I feel like
writing a poem,
1798
01:20:17,725 --> 01:20:19,423
I write a poem,
how can you stop?
1799
01:20:19,466 --> 01:20:22,034
Can you give us a line
of the newest that you wrote?
1800
01:20:22,077 --> 01:20:23,557
A line, a line?
1801
01:20:23,601 --> 01:20:27,083
All right, "Death is a rumor
spread by life."
1802
01:20:27,126 --> 01:20:29,389
How's that?
1803
01:20:29,433 --> 01:20:30,956
Come again?
1804
01:20:31,000 --> 01:20:43,186
♪
1805
01:20:43,228 --> 01:20:45,710
[siren wailing]
1806
01:20:45,753 --> 01:20:56,721
♪
1807
01:20:56,764 --> 01:20:58,331
It's continuing a tradition.
1808
01:20:58,375 --> 01:20:59,767
You know, it's continuing
a tradition
1809
01:20:59,811 --> 01:21:01,508
and finding our antecedents.
1810
01:21:01,552 --> 01:21:03,206
I mean, so we have to look back
1811
01:21:03,249 --> 01:21:04,728
before we can look forward.
1812
01:21:04,772 --> 01:21:06,339
"You should be putting me
out of my misery!
1813
01:21:06,383 --> 01:21:08,385
Give me some smack
and a case of blackjack,
1814
01:21:08,428 --> 01:21:11,300
and I will save us all
from a world of shit!"
1815
01:21:11,344 --> 01:21:13,346
"His legs were left in Vietnam!
1816
01:21:13,389 --> 01:21:15,566
His arms were found
in Sing Sing!
1817
01:21:15,609 --> 01:21:17,611
His scalp is on Nixon's belt!
1818
01:21:17,655 --> 01:21:19,875
His blood paints
the streets of the ghetto!
1819
01:21:19,918 --> 01:21:21,833
His eyes are still
looking for Jesus
1820
01:21:21,877 --> 01:21:23,835
to come down from some cloud,
1821
01:21:23,879 --> 01:21:27,883
and make everything all right
when Jesus died in Attica!"
1822
01:21:27,925 --> 01:21:29,797
♪
1823
01:21:29,841 --> 01:21:32,800
[siren wailing]
1824
01:21:32,844 --> 01:21:35,934
♪
1825
01:21:35,978 --> 01:21:37,414
They just stepped
right off the edge
1826
01:21:37,457 --> 01:21:39,371
and we're--we're
on the edge, too.
1827
01:21:39,416 --> 01:21:40,721
We need a light right now.
1828
01:21:40,764 --> 01:21:42,505
I say, now or never right now.
1829
01:21:42,549 --> 01:21:43,986
Give us our sight right now.
1830
01:21:44,029 --> 01:21:45,378
Give us our light right now!
1831
01:21:45,422 --> 01:21:47,250
Now or never right now!
1832
01:21:47,293 --> 01:21:48,947
Yeah!
1833
01:21:48,991 --> 01:21:51,732
Talked about the hot sperm seed
being spilled on the ground
1834
01:21:51,776 --> 01:21:53,691
and how the birds fluttered,
1835
01:21:53,734 --> 01:21:56,955
and, you know, I was 16
and I knew what that was about,
1836
01:21:56,999 --> 01:22:00,132
and you didn't talk about it,
you know.
1837
01:22:00,175 --> 01:22:04,223
And it--it let me feel okay,
it let me feel okay.
1838
01:22:04,267 --> 01:22:06,094
"Bashful beneath her T-shirt,
1839
01:22:06,138 --> 01:22:09,184
draped across shoulder blades
and collarbones,
1840
01:22:09,228 --> 01:22:12,666
pushes straw hair
from hollowed eyes and asks,
1841
01:22:12,710 --> 01:22:14,930
'Am I beautiful to you?'"
1842
01:22:14,973 --> 01:22:20,630
♪
1843
01:22:20,674 --> 01:22:22,981
"I could clearly see
revealed the connection
1844
01:22:23,025 --> 01:22:26,680
of her black-seam stockings
and her red garters,
1845
01:22:26,724 --> 01:22:30,423
like two deadly circuits
fused to activate a device
1846
01:22:30,467 --> 01:22:32,295
of total annihilation."
1847
01:22:32,338 --> 01:22:34,906
[speaking foreign language]
1848
01:22:34,950 --> 01:22:37,039
All the mambo kings
and cumbia queens,
1849
01:22:37,082 --> 01:22:38,866
Aztec lords, Inca princesses,
1850
01:22:38,910 --> 01:22:41,217
every Hernandez and Fernandez.
1851
01:22:41,260 --> 01:22:42,609
♪
1852
01:22:42,653 --> 01:22:44,481
It's time to make our move.
1853
01:22:44,523 --> 01:22:49,486
♪
1854
01:22:49,529 --> 01:22:51,139
Don't tell me about it,
I don't want to know about
1855
01:22:51,183 --> 01:22:54,795
six-year-old black girls
getting raped by 12 pigs
1856
01:22:54,839 --> 01:22:57,189
in KKK uniforms,
carving up her belly
1857
01:22:57,233 --> 01:22:58,538
and throwing her out
in Staten Island
1858
01:22:58,582 --> 01:23:00,062
like some kind of
sack of garbage
1859
01:23:00,105 --> 01:23:01,324
in a plastic sheet.
1860
01:23:01,367 --> 01:23:05,023
"Oh, MTV, you must shine
like a beacon,
1861
01:23:05,067 --> 01:23:08,766
for I am getting old
and my knees are creakin'.
1862
01:23:08,809 --> 01:23:11,812
Please give these young people
some food for thought.
1863
01:23:11,856 --> 01:23:14,728
You really should,
you really ought."
1864
01:23:14,772 --> 01:23:16,730
I read Kerouac and I feel
that what he's saying
1865
01:23:16,773 --> 01:23:19,733
is that he's not looking for
universal meaning to life,
1866
01:23:19,777 --> 01:23:21,735
but he's saying, "Fuck you,
I'm gonna make my own meaning,
1867
01:23:21,779 --> 01:23:24,260
and if you don't like it,
then kiss my ass."
1868
01:23:24,303 --> 01:23:28,090
♪
1869
01:23:28,133 --> 01:23:30,309
I was mute, tongue-tied,
1870
01:23:30,353 --> 01:23:33,356
burdened by shadows
and silence.
1871
01:23:33,398 --> 01:23:36,011
Now I speak
1872
01:23:36,054 --> 01:23:38,796
and my burden is lightened,
1873
01:23:38,839 --> 01:23:41,277
lifted free.
1874
01:23:41,320 --> 01:23:43,192
♪
1875
01:23:43,235 --> 01:23:46,325
"I know this body is impatient,
1876
01:23:46,369 --> 01:23:50,025
I know I constitute
only a meager voice and mind,
1877
01:23:50,068 --> 01:23:51,112
yet I loved.
1878
01:23:51,156 --> 01:23:52,331
I love.
1879
01:23:52,375 --> 01:23:55,117
I want no sentimentality.
1880
01:23:55,160 --> 01:23:57,554
I want no more than home."
1881
01:23:57,597 --> 01:24:16,921
♪
1882
01:24:16,964 --> 01:24:18,966
A young person
will come up to me
1883
01:24:19,010 --> 01:24:21,621
and he'll be standing there,
maybe he'll have a mohawk,
1884
01:24:21,665 --> 01:24:24,233
or maybe he'll have
one side of his head shaved
1885
01:24:24,276 --> 01:24:26,583
and the other side in, uh,
1886
01:24:26,626 --> 01:24:29,629
in dreads,
and he and I are sharing
1887
01:24:29,673 --> 01:24:32,023
many of the same thoughts,
he's anti-war,
1888
01:24:32,067 --> 01:24:33,807
believes in the environment,
1889
01:24:33,851 --> 01:24:36,201
and that person will say,
"Whatever happened to the--
1890
01:24:36,245 --> 01:24:39,291
whatever happened to the Beats
and to the '60s?
1891
01:24:39,335 --> 01:24:41,772
Did they just get run over
by the steamroller
1892
01:24:41,815 --> 01:24:42,816
of the corporations?"
1893
01:24:42,860 --> 01:24:44,253
And it makes me want to laugh
1894
01:24:44,296 --> 01:24:49,432
because this kid
is so much like what...
1895
01:24:49,475 --> 01:24:52,565
...so many people from
that period made possible.
1896
01:24:52,609 --> 01:24:54,698
He's standing there
in his own natural,
1897
01:24:54,741 --> 01:24:57,135
much freer body
asking me those things,
1898
01:24:57,179 --> 01:25:00,356
and it's kind of funny
because I think, you know,
1899
01:25:00,398 --> 01:25:02,227
"You're us."
1900
01:25:02,271 --> 01:25:03,924
♪
1901
01:25:03,968 --> 01:25:06,275
'Cause we're the source.
1902
01:25:06,318 --> 01:25:19,288
♪
1903
01:25:19,331 --> 01:25:20,637
"What is that feeling
1904
01:25:20,680 --> 01:25:22,682
when you're driving away
from people
1905
01:25:22,726 --> 01:25:24,075
and they recede on the plain
1906
01:25:24,119 --> 01:25:27,339
till you see their specks
dispersing?
1907
01:25:27,383 --> 01:25:29,733
It's the too-huge world
vaulting us,
1908
01:25:29,776 --> 01:25:32,127
and it's goodbye.
1909
01:25:32,170 --> 01:25:34,999
But we lean forward
to the next crazy venture
1910
01:25:35,041 --> 01:25:36,609
beneath the skies."
1911
01:25:41,309 --> 01:25:50,406
♪
1912
01:25:50,449 --> 01:25:53,148
♪ Hey Jack Kerouac
1913
01:25:53,191 --> 01:25:56,107
♪ I think of your mother
1914
01:25:56,151 --> 01:25:57,195
♪
1915
01:25:57,239 --> 01:25:59,980
♪ And the tears she cried
1916
01:26:00,023 --> 01:26:04,463
♪ They were cried
for none other ♪
1917
01:26:04,507 --> 01:26:07,945
♪ Than her San Francisco
beat boys ♪
1918
01:26:07,987 --> 01:26:11,731
♪ You were the favorite
1919
01:26:11,775 --> 01:26:14,647
♪ Now they sit
and rattle their bones
1920
01:26:14,691 --> 01:26:19,434
and think of their
blood-stoned days ♪
1921
01:26:19,478 --> 01:26:23,308
♪ You chose your words
from mouths of
1922
01:26:23,352 --> 01:26:26,746
babes got lost in the wood ♪
1923
01:26:26,790 --> 01:26:30,402
♪ The hip flask
slinging madman ♪
1924
01:26:30,446 --> 01:26:34,666
♪ Steaming cafe flirts
1925
01:26:34,710 --> 01:26:39,237
♪ In Chinatown
howling at night ♪
1926
01:26:39,281 --> 01:26:54,209
♪
1927
01:26:54,252 --> 01:26:56,776
♪ Allen baby
1928
01:26:56,820 --> 01:26:58,996
♪ Why so jaded
1929
01:26:59,039 --> 01:27:00,824
♪
1930
01:27:00,867 --> 01:27:06,568
♪ Have the boys all grown up
and their beauty faded ♪
1931
01:27:06,612 --> 01:27:08,788
♪
1932
01:27:08,832 --> 01:27:10,834
♪ Billy
1933
01:27:10,877 --> 01:27:15,012
♪ What a saint
they've made you ♪
1934
01:27:15,055 --> 01:27:19,103
♪ Just like Mary down in Mexico
1935
01:27:19,146 --> 01:27:21,410
on All Souls' Day ♪
1936
01:27:21,452 --> 01:27:23,150
♪
1937
01:27:23,193 --> 01:27:26,980
♪ You chose your words
from mouths of
1938
01:27:27,023 --> 01:27:30,549
babes got lost in the wood ♪
1939
01:27:30,593 --> 01:27:34,510
♪ Cool junk booting madmen
1940
01:27:34,553 --> 01:27:38,340
♪ Street-minded girls
1941
01:27:38,383 --> 01:27:42,387
♪ In Harlem howling at night
1942
01:27:42,431 --> 01:27:56,967
♪
1943
01:27:57,010 --> 01:28:00,449
♪ What a tear-stained
1944
01:28:00,492 --> 01:28:03,755
shock of the world ♪
1945
01:28:03,800 --> 01:28:08,674
♪ You've gone away
without saying,
1946
01:28:08,718 --> 01:28:13,418
saying goodbye ♪
1947
01:28:13,462 --> 01:28:18,510
♪
132682
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