Sasha Skenderija
PARANOID
I.
“Hey, married man!” I hear Eric's voice in the receiver. “I got a job in NYC. Let's go out and get
wasted.”
“How about Macabre? Chicks from Ithaca College go there.”
II.
“Where did they disappear to? Last Friday you couldn't get through the chicks on the way to the john.
Fuck a bar where the waitress is the best pussy.”
“Oh yeah, man. Exactly.” Eric nods and raises his index finger. “Exactly like that.” His eyes are
floating through his horrifyingly strong prescription as he pours beer from a pitcher.
“You should move to New York. Fuck this shit. The sooner the better.”
“So many ways to get what you want. I use the best. I use the rest,” I say, defending myself.
“What was that? It sounds familiar.”
“Pistols.”
“Oh yeah, buddy. I used to be a punk too. When I was sixteen, in Indiana. You fucking
ABSOLUTELY have to follow me to the city.”
“I'm working on that.”
“Fuck that shit. You've buried yourself in this stupid village coma – wife, child, loans...”
“Your future dream is a shopping scheme.” I'm searching again for a quote. Toasting him with a pint.
“Don't shit me, married man. Fuck that shit, Wife, family, librarianship – I'm done with that. It was
high time. I was sucking their cocks for 30 years. Fuck them all...”
“Oh, that's why you live on Eileen's breasts. A fucking substitute daddy.”
“Ah ha – three more weeks, buddy. Three more weeks! By the way, Eileen fucks like mad.”
“Oh no, thank you very much.”
“Hey man, the college chick invasion is just starting. I was starting to worry– it's almost midnight. Shit.
Look at them. They are so fucking nice. So tiny...” Eric babbles, smiling at the incoming girls.,
slouched in his chair.
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“As tiny as a hostie.”
“As a what?”
“That stuff in the church. The body of Jesus.”
“Wafer?”
“I guess that's how you say it in English.”
“That's great, man! Did you write it yourself?”
“One Polish poet, a dissident.”
“You DEFINITELY must move to the city, married man. HA! To have you there, we would turn that
place upside down.”
“'Cause I wanna be anarchy in the city!,” I say, cheering him up.
“Yeah – YEAH – YEAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!” He starts to scream, drunk, with a cheerleader's
enthusiasm. “That's good, buddy, IN THE CITY, that's perfect! I used to be a punk too, in Indiana...”
Black Sabbath from the speakers overwhelms our conversation. The chicks from Ithaca College arrive
in packs. As soon as they flash their IDs, they start moving their hips to the rhythm of Paranoid. The
girls are full of artificial cheer. There is some thrill in that, in the jerked off Boy Scout music. In the
tiny wafer-like college girls. There is some kind of NOSTALGIA.
“And not just whatever city. The one and only. THE CITY!”
I'm screaming to him over Paranoid. My words hit a chord.
“In the city!” He starts to yell. “Fuck all hippies. Go fuck yourself, Ozzie motherfucker. Suck my cock,
you jerk-off Cornellian freaks and your tiny pussies from Ithaca College! 'Cause
I wanna be
Anarchy
IN THE CITY!”
People around us start staring. I feel uncomfortable.
Actually, I don't give a shit.
I join Eric.
We are trying to overpower Paranoid. Get PISSED, DESTROY!
- THE END (Written in Ithaca in 2001. Translated by Stephanie Krueger and the author in December 2008)
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APPENDIX No.1:
APPENDIX No.2
Sex Pistols: ANARCHY IN THE UK
Ozzy Osborn –Black Sabbath: PARANOID
Right! NOW! ha ha ha ha ha
Finished with my woman
'cause she couldn't help me with my mind
People think I'm insane
because I am frowning all the time
I am an anti-christ
I am an anarchist
Don't know what I want but
I know how to get it
I wanna destroy the passer by cos I
I wanna BE anarchy!
No dogs body!
Anarchy for the U.K it's coming sometime and maybe
I give a wrong time stop a traffic line
your future dream is a shopping scheme cos I
I wanna BE anarchy!
In the city
How many ways to get what you want
I use the best I use the rest
I use the N.M.E I use anarchy cos I
I wanna BE anarchy!
THE ONLY WAY TO BE!
Is this the M.P.L.A
Or is this the U.D.A
Or is this the I.R.A
I thought it was the U.K or just
another country
another council tenancy
All day long I think of things
but nothing seems to satisfy
Think I'll lose my mind
if I don't find something to pacify
Can you help me, occupy my brain?
Oh yeah
I need someone to show me
the things in life that I can't find
I can't see the things that make true happiness,
I must be blind
Make a joke and I will sigh
and you will laugh and I will cry
Happiness I cannot feel and
love to me is so unreal
And so as you hear these words
telling you now of my state
I tell you to enjoy life
I wish I could but it's too late
I wanna be an anarchist and
I wanna be an anarchist
Know what I mean
And I wanna be anarchist!
Get PISSED DESTROY!
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