the "Priest" they called him

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The "Priest" They Called Him (1992) is a collaboration between William S. Burroughs and Kurt Cobain (Nirvana). Cobain provides dissonant guitar backing based on "Silent Night" and "To Anacreon in Heaven" to Burroughs' deadpan short story reading. The track was released on CD and 10" picture disc.

This short piece read was first published in Exterminator!. The "Priest" in the track title refers to the story's protagonist, an otherwise nameless heroin addict trying to score on Christmas Eve. After selling a leather suitcase filled with a pair of severed legs (and subsequently visiting the ubiquitous crooked doctor), the Priest returns to a boarding house with a fix. While preparing, the Priest is interrupted by muffled moans from the next room. He knocks and finds a crippled Mexican boy in the throes of agonizing withdrawal. After giving the boy his drugs as an act of charity, the Priest returns to his room, reclines on his bed and dies, in what Burroughs calls the immaculate fix. Another reading of this piece was also used in "The Junky's Christmas", a short animated film in 1990.

The title character, the Priest, is only the protagonist for that section of the book (and, in fact, is at most only a side character in the rest of the novel), if the term protagonist is even applicable in this bit of Burroughs' writing.

The actual record is a 10-inch picture disc. Side one contains the audio and is the exact same grainy yellow-and-brown photo with red lettering as the front cover. The photo features Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic in a priest's outfit. Side two has enlarged black and white photos (appear also on the back cover of this album) split down the middle: Kurt Cobain on the left, and William Burroughs on the right. Their respective autographs are etched into the back. "William S. Burroughs" at the top and "Kurtis Donald Cohbaine" across the bottom.

Additionally, there are no typical hand-scratched pressing marks that usually indicate version, batch or side. Only on the reverse side does it have a stamped number.