Not P but Joni

[Erik T. Burns]

https://www.nixonfoundation.org/2009/07/pynchon-in-nixonland/

*In 1972, [Thomas Pynchon] selected a quote from Joni Mitchell’s song "The
Circle Game" to use as the epigraph to the final section of Gravity’s
Rainbow (at that stage still titled Mindless Pleasures). Reportedly, his
publisher could not secure permission to use the quote (which appeared in
the advance galleys of the book), so at the last minute Pynchon inserted
instead the single word "What?" and attributed it to RN (who also appears
in the last pages of that book under the name Richard M. Zhlubb).*

*What? - Richard M. Nixon*
The uncorrected proofs of *Gravity's Rainbow* sent in advance to book
critics featured a different epigraph here. source
<http://www.jonathanrosenbaum.com/?p=15378>. Instead of the Nixon quote, it
used the following:


*“She has brought them to her senses, *
*They have laughed inside her laughter, *
*Now she rallies her defenses, *
*For she fears someone will ask her *
*For eternity — *
*And she’s so busy being free….” — Joni Mitchell.*

These lyrics come from the song "Cactus Tree," from Mitchell's 1968 album,
"Song To A Seagull." Full lyrics and sample at (fansite) Jonimitchell.com
<http://jonimitchell.com/music/song.cfm?id=84>.
https://gravitys-rainbow.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Pages_617-626&oldid=2810


On Wed, Jun 23, 2021 at 8:41 AM Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:

> I don't remember, if I ever knew.....Let's find out;
>
> On Wed, Jun 23, 2021 at 3:20 AM Thomas Eckhardt <
> thomas.eckhardt at uni-bonn.de>
> wrote:
>
> > Which lines? Which song?
> >
> > On Tue, 22 Jun 2021 15:11:25 -0400
> >   Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:
> > > You might have seen the NYT and other mags doing their
> > >tributes to the 50th
> > > anniversary of Joni Mitchell's great *Blue. *
> > > Her lawyers fiercely protected the unauthorized
> > >appearance of any of her
> > > words and songs (or parts of). Some of you will remember
> > > that four lines of a song had to be removed from*
> > >Gravity's Rainbow *because of
> > > her. .
> > > But today she has just offered *Blue *again to all of us
> > >in Spotify.
> > >
> > > Thank you, Joni.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
> https://open.spotify.com/album/1vz94WpXDVYIEGja8cjFNa?referral=labelaffiliate&utm_source=1101lhfRzFoH&utm_medium=Warner_RhinoRecordsUS&utm_campaign=labelaffiliate
> > > --
> > > Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
> >
> >
> >
> --
> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
>