Hunter S. Thompson - Songs of the Doomed: More Notes on the Death of the American Dream

ALSO BY HUNTER S. THOMPSON

Prince Jellyfish

The Rum Diary

Hells Angels

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail 72

The Great Shark Hunt

The Silk Road

The Curse of Lono

Generation of Swine

The Night Manager

The Proud Highway

Screwjack

Better Than Sex

Fear and Loathing in America

Polo Is My Life

Kingdom of Fear

Hey Rube

SIMON & SCHUSTER PAPERBACKS
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Copyright 1990 by Hunter S. Thompson
All rights reserved,
including the right of reproduction
in whole or in part in any form.

SIMON & SCHUSTER PAPERBACKS and colophon are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

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The Library of Congress has cataloged this title as follows:
Thompson, Hunter S.
Songs of the doomed : more notes on the death of the American dream/
Hunter S. Thompson.
p. cm.
Originally published: New York : Summit Books, 1990.
1. United StatesPolitics and government19451989. 2. United StatesPolitics
and government1989 3. Political cultureUnited States
History20th century. I. Title.
E839.5 .T47 2002

973.92dc21

2002029113

ISBN-13: 978-0-671-42018-5
ISBN-10: 0-671-42018-6
ISBN-13: 978-0-7432-4099-4 (Pbk)
ISBN-10: 0-7432-4099-5 (Pbk)
eISBN-13: 978-1-45166-926-8

Grateful acknowledgment is made for the following permissions: Extract from Anatomy of Melancholy courtesy of AMS Press. I Knew the Bride When She Used to Rock and Roll writtenby Nick Lowe, 1977 by Rock Music Company, used by permission. Extract from The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald reprinted by permission of Charles Scribners Sons, an imprint ofMacmillian Publishing Company, copyright 1925 by Charles Scribners Sons, renewed 1953 byFrances Scott Fitzgerald Lanahan. Warning Is Issued on Cocaine Use with Sex After ManLoses Limbs, by Lawrence K. Altman, June 3, 1988; copyright 1988 by The New York TimesCompany; reprinted by permission. Letter: Final Analysis: Gerald Goldstein, Esq. copyrightGerald Goldstein, used by permission. D.A. Snags Thompson in Sex Case and Thompson Hitwith 5 Felonies copyright David Matthews-Price, used by permission. Hunter Hails LegalTriumph for Americans copyright Mark Huffman, used by permission. American Pie wordsand music by Don McLean copyright 1971, 1972 by Music Corporation of America, Inc., andBenny Bird Music; rights administered by MCA Music Publishing, a Division of MCA Inc., NewYork, NY 10019; used by permission. Extract from The Quiet American by Graham Greenecopyright 1955 by Graham Greene; reprinted by permission of Viking Penguin, a Division ofPenguin Books USA Inc. Extract from Where Are You Tonight? written by Michael Timmins1990 Paz Junk Music and BMG Songs, Inc., used by permission; all rights reserved. SacredElegy V from George Barker Collected Poems reprinted by permission of Faber & Faber Ltd.

To David McCumber and Rosalie Sorrells

When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro

HST

To all the friends and strangers and even enemies who answered the Great Roll Call when I was seized by rabid scum who tried to put me in prison

Shortly before this book went to press, we were stunned and profoundly demoralized by a news bulletin out of Aspenalong with murky AP wire-photossaying that Dr. Thompson had been inexplicably seized, searched, and arrested on nine felony counts and three bizarre misdemeanor charges of brutal sex and violence. Initial reports from the Pitkin County Sheriffs Department were hazy and incoherent, but Thompsons alleged attorney told reporters that The Doctor is probably guilty of these crimes and many others, which means he could go to state prison for at least sixteen years.

It seemed impossible, but so what? Moments after his arrest, Thompson posted $2,000 cash bail and flew out to California on a private Lear jet to deliver a series of lectures on Journalism and the Law, despite efforts by local police authorities to prevent him from leaving the state without an ankle-strap body beeper that would cause him to radiate high-pitched beeping signals every fifteen seconds and would suck blood from the arch of his foot every two hours for drug-abuse testing and other criminal evidence.

He disappeared, nonetheless, in the company of a key female witness, and remained incommunicado for many days until he was finally tracked down in a bungalow at the Beverly Hills Hotel by his old friend and colleague Raoul Duke, who flew in from Shanghai on a U.S. military jet to head the search for Thompson and force him to deliver his book manuscript on schedule, in accordance with a seven-year-old contract that made no provision for jailing and criminal seizure of the author by half-bright white-trash cops in a troubled rural district.

Duke agreed to return from China, after long years of exile, to head the Operations wing of Thompsons legal defense and also compel delivery of the doomed and desperate writers final chapter. In a hastily called press conference at the Polo Lounge on Sunset Boulevard, Duke told reporters to stand back. This is victory or death. That is all ye know and all ye need to know.

Fiend behind the fiend behind the fiend behind the
Fiend. Mastodon with mastery, monster with an ache.
At the tooth of the ego, the dead drunk judge:
Wheresoever Thou art our agony will find Thee
Enthroned on the darkest altar of our heartbreak
Perfect. Beast, brute, bastard, O dog, my God!

G EORGE B ARKER , S ACRED E LEGY V, 1943

He that goes to law holds a wolf by the ears.

R OBERT B URTON , Anatomy of Melancholy

I wandered into a library last week and decided to do a quick bit of reading on The Law, which has caused me some trouble recently. It was a cold, mean day, and my mood was not much different. The library was empty at that hour of the morning.... It was closed, in fact, but not locked. So I went in.

Far up at the top of the long stone staircase I could see a small man gesturing at me: waving at me, shouting.... But his voice sounded crazy and scattered, like the screeching of a cat or the sound of beer bottles exploding in a garbage compactor. The only words I could hear were OUT and NIGHT.

When I got about halfway up the stairs I stopped and raised both hands. Dont worry! I shouted. Police!