July 28th, 2009 / 9:54 pm
Uncategorized

POWER QUOTE: WILLIAM SEWARD BURROUGHS

(from “the invisible generation” chapter of THE TICKET THAT EXPLODED):

why not give tape recorder parties every guest arrives with his recorder and tapes of what he intends to say at the party recording what other recorders say to him it is the height of rudeness not to record when addressed directly by another tape recorder and you can’t say anything directly have to record it first…you will hear one ugly voice and see one ugly spirit is  made of ugly old prerecordings   the more you run the tapes through and cut them up the less power they will have

28 Comments

  1. sammy

      I wouldn’t call this a power quote. More like another half-baked William Burroughs quote. Most of his writing was half-baked, actually. The only thing powerful about this is the “power of punctuation” that Burroughs gives the reader. But that was probably an accident. I kind of hate anything Beat.

  2. sammy

      I wouldn’t call this a power quote. More like another half-baked William Burroughs quote. Most of his writing was half-baked, actually. The only thing powerful about this is the “power of punctuation” that Burroughs gives the reader. But that was probably an accident. I kind of hate anything Beat.

  3. Justin Taylor

      Burroughs isn’t really a Beat, despite the fact that that crowd Beatified him. He was old when they were young, and I’ve always thought of it as a sort of delightful cosmic irony that he outlived every last one of them. Like whatshisface in To The Lighthouse- the poet. Anyway, what’s funny about this quote is that it basically describes potentially anywhere you go today. everyone comes a/v-armed all the time.

  4. Justin Taylor

      Burroughs isn’t really a Beat, despite the fact that that crowd Beatified him. He was old when they were young, and I’ve always thought of it as a sort of delightful cosmic irony that he outlived every last one of them. Like whatshisface in To The Lighthouse- the poet. Anyway, what’s funny about this quote is that it basically describes potentially anywhere you go today. everyone comes a/v-armed all the time.

  5. phamp

      stylistically he might not have been as congruous with the rest but beats wouldn’t have been beats without burroughs. dude schooled them on drug game. that’s what made the beats. like street hustling motherfuckers like corso and cassady, school big brains like ginsberg, suit and tie streety loony like burroughs and jack running around and wanting to be them all and all wanting to be each other.

  6. phamp

      stylistically he might not have been as congruous with the rest but beats wouldn’t have been beats without burroughs. dude schooled them on drug game. that’s what made the beats. like street hustling motherfuckers like corso and cassady, school big brains like ginsberg, suit and tie streety loony like burroughs and jack running around and wanting to be them all and all wanting to be each other.

  7. Sabra Embury

      This might sound silly dilly, but since we’re grazing the subject of cut-up, I was in a called car the other day with three photography people and with the way they were jiving bubbly we-did-whats about Saturday, I punched the NOTES key on my iPhone and started netting and tapping everything about this bicycle scavenger hunt mixed with the one-upper hijinx of a party. The word salad result was so as-is nice it’s hilarious. And if the tape recorder biz cramps your style with transcribing and intimidation to be clever–they all thought I was just epic texting my ass off, so it was real. Life is fun.

  8. Sabra Embury

      This might sound silly dilly, but since we’re grazing the subject of cut-up, I was in a called car the other day with three photography people and with the way they were jiving bubbly we-did-whats about Saturday, I punched the NOTES key on my iPhone and started netting and tapping everything about this bicycle scavenger hunt mixed with the one-upper hijinx of a party. The word salad result was so as-is nice it’s hilarious. And if the tape recorder biz cramps your style with transcribing and intimidation to be clever–they all thought I was just epic texting my ass off, so it was real. Life is fun.

  9. Justin Taylor

      Yes, Sabra. Life is fun.

  10. Justin Taylor

      Yes, Sabra. Life is fun.

  11. Tony O'Neill

      oh sammy you got bad taste in writing. burroughs is the best writer that america ever threw up.

  12. Tony O'Neill

      oh sammy you got bad taste in writing. burroughs is the best writer that america ever threw up.

  13. Blake Butler

      represent

  14. Blake Butler

      represent

  15. Ken Baumann
  16. Ken Baumann
  17. Ani

      generation

  18. Ani

      generation

  19. Ani

      “This video is not available in your country due to copyright restrictions.”

      Fuck you, youtube!

  20. Nathan Tyree

      Yo Yo. A big high five on the WSB upload. I fucking love burroughs

  21. Ani

      “This video is not available in your country due to copyright restrictions.”

      Fuck you, youtube!

  22. Nathan Tyree

      Yo Yo. A big high five on the WSB upload. I fucking love burroughs

  23. BAC

      I’m headed to Burroughs’s old ranch to shoot grapefruit off my wife’s head. It’s hot as hell today, as burroughs would have said, “the milk sours in the glass before it hits your lips.” (maybe a paraphrase i’ve been drinking.)

      hit your lips billy dubbs.

  24. BAC

      I’m headed to Burroughs’s old ranch to shoot grapefruit off my wife’s head. It’s hot as hell today, as burroughs would have said, “the milk sours in the glass before it hits your lips.” (maybe a paraphrase i’ve been drinking.)

      hit your lips billy dubbs.

  25. BAC
  26. BAC
  27. Janey Smith

      I’m playing with my soft machine.

  28. Janey Smith

      I’m playing with my soft machine.