itburns

So I read "The Joke's Over" on the plane to/from California this week. It's a memoir by illustrator extraordinare Ralph Steadman re his time with Dr. Hunter S. Thompson. It's a grand book. It gives no new detail to anyone who is an active admirer of both men's work, but does give an "other side of the tale" view of some familar stories. A particular highlight for me is the reprinting of the lyrics to a song HST, Ralph and Mo Dean (wife of Watergate figure John) wrote by a Hollywood pool in 1976. Ralph claims to have the only recording so I have told Lawyerboy to spare no expense in obtaining it for us. Until then the song is as below:

Those Weird and Twisted Nights

[The song starts with a quiet romantic stanza which Mo suggested to soften the Gonzo shriek]

My day is your day
Your day is mine
Our days are no days
Until you are mine

[And then the song proper begins]

Ooooh! Ye-e-es O-o-oooH ye-e-e-ees
Those long strange nights
Those weird and twisted nights
Those weird and twisted nights

A scar heals black in the neon lights
Through weird and twisted nights
Headlights spear approaching cars
Black needles pierce the eyes
OooO-H ye-eee-eee-s OO-ooo-hoo-ye-eee---e-e-s.
Those long strange nights
Those weird and twisted nights,

But never mind the nights, my love
Be-ca-a-au-sssse...

They never really happen anyway
They never really happened anyway

And days go by
And love goes by
And sooner or later
We all must die
And sooner or later
We all live a lie

Drive your steak through a darkened heart
In a red Mercedes Benz
The blackness hides a speeding tramp
The savage beast pretends

Ooooooo-ooo-oh yesssssssss!
Ooooooo-ooo-oh yesssssssss!
These long, strange nights
These long, strange nights
These long, strange nights
Oooooooooo-ooo-oh go-oo-o-od!
Oooooooooo-ooo-oh go-oo-o-od!
These warped and twisted nights
These weird and tortured nights

If you write words shocked through with truth
Hunger, dirt and gutter sharp
Eat the words and spurn the gutter
Climb the rise and surf

Ooooooo-ooo-oh yesssssssss!
Ooooooo-ooo-oh yesssssssss!
These long, strange nights
These weird and twisted nights
Oooooooooo-ooo-oh go-oo-o-od!
Oooooooooo-ooo-oh go-oo-o-od!
These warped and twisted nights
These warped and twisted rights
Ah, but never mind your rights, my love
Because...
They never really happened anyway
They never really happened anyway

But days go by
And love goes by and sooner or later
We both must die
And sooner or later we all live a lie

[The song rounds off with the band singing...]

They never really happened anyway.

[Repeat to saxaphone and other band members and finishing on Hunter's voice saying over the phone...]

Well...er...let me get some whiskey, of course.
We both must die