GR translation: On the beam

[Paul Mackin]

it means, "on the right track," or "now you're cookin' with gas," or "now
you've got it right."  Musician talk. Beam can be a musical term.

Often it was, "on the beam, Jackson."

Here, it seems to be used sarcastically.

On Fri, Dec 25, 2015 at 1:18 PM, Mike Jing <gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com>
wrote:

> V679.7-14   “Uh, Myrtle . . .” Slothrop approaches gold-snooded M.M. a
> little deferent, “uh, do you think you could . . .” Jesus they run through
> this same routine every time—doesn’t Myrtle wish Sniveling Slothrop would
> cut this wishy-washy malarkey ’n’ be a man fer once! She lights a
> cigarette, lets it droop from one comer of her mouth, juts out the opposite
> hip and sighs, “On the beam,” exasperated already with this creep—
>        And Los! the miracle is done, they’re now zipping along the
> corridor-streets of the Raketen-Stadt like some long-necked sea monster.
>
> What does "On the beam" mean here?
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://waste.org/pipermail/pynchon-l/attachments/20151225/e8dfff34/attachment.html>