GR translation: fueled up many a hearse

[Mike Weaver]

Weren't hearses also used to transport bootleg booze - in the coffins?

On 15/11/2024 04:20, Michael Bailey wrote:
> 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
>>
> --
> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l