GR translation: fueled up many a hearse

[Michael Bailey]

I think it’s a metaphor:
The danger of drinking & driving has caused many a funeral (which paid for
the gas in the hearse)
- also, sidelong comment on the strength of moonshine whisky (“white
lightning”) being so strong it could (hypothetically) fuel an internal
combustion engine

Not germane, but nostalgic:
Back in the day in a suburb far far away there was a brand of LSD sold as
white lightning…probably not what’s referred to here (Slothrop: “LSD -
that’s pounds, shillings, and pence, right?”)

More on-topic: 1969 country music song “Okie from Muskogee”

https://youtu.be/68cbjlLFl4U?si=ICG8MhUVTAw4ocfc

We don't smoke marijuana in Muskogee
We don't take our trips on LSD
We don't burn our draft cards down on Main Street
'Cause we like livin' right, and bein' free
We don't make a party out of lovin'
But we like holdin' hands and pitchin' woo
We don't let our hair grow long and shaggy
Like the hippies out in San Francisco do
And I'm proud to be an Okie from Muskogee
A place where even squares can have a ball
We still wave Old Glory down at the courthouse
And white lightnin's still the biggest thrill of all
Leather boots are still in style for manly footwear
Beads and Roman sandals won't be seen
And football's still the roughest thing on campus
And the kids here still respect the college dean
And I'm proud to be an Okie from Muskogee
A place where even squares can have a ball
We still wave Old Glory down at the courthouse
And white lightnin's still the biggest thrill of all
And white lightnin's still the biggest thrill of all
In Muskogee, Oklahoma, USA




But wait, there’s more -

https://2thinkgood.com/2010/01/04/1965-good-ol-boys-and-tom-wolfe/

Classic Tom Wolfe article on the genesis of stock car racing from the ranks
of delivery drivers for moonshine whisky (white lightning) who often had to
outrun police pursuit





There was also a bowdlerized TV series called “The Dukes of Hazzard” which
was based on countrified stock car drivers which glorified speeding on
country roads but omitted the liquor element

https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0078607/






On Thu, Nov 14, 2024 at 1:26 AM Mike Jing <gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com>
wrote:

> V191.15-23, P193.27-35
>
> The Ballad of Tantivy Mucker-Maffick
>
> Oh Italian gin is a mother’s curse,
> And the beer of France is septic,
> Drinking Bourbon in Spain is the lonely domain
> Of the saint and the epileptic.
> White lightning has fueled up many a hearse
> In the mountains where ridge-runners dwell—
> It’s a brew begot in a poison pot,
> And mulled with the hammers of Hell!
>
> What does "fueled up many a hearse" mean here?
> --
> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
>