Billy the kid was a notorious outlaw, sensationalised through American folklore as one of the true gunfighters of the old west. However warped the Kids history may be, it seems correct for Chinaski to relate to him with his outlaw status and macho persona.  

Drink was Bukowskis choice of stimulus, he dabbled in drugs but it was more than likely to hear him criticising them. Even though for a while he did write for ‘High Times’ a title dedicated to all things drugs.  

 

Chinaski was being driven mad by the song ‘Around the world in 80 days’. It was the theme tune from a popular movie at the time, and has been re-recorded by countless artists. The first version was in 1956

 

and a hammy remake was released in 2006.

 

 

The idea that is better to go to jail than to be homeless is a common argument amongst a number of homeless charities.

This is the only poem in the entire book even though the author was a dedicated poet, its part of the classic nursery rhyme ...

Hey diddle diddle,

The cat and the fiddle,

The cow jumped over the moon,

The little dog laughed to see such sport,

And the dish ran away with the spoon.

 

 

Steve McQueen was a heart throb, rebel actor who liked racing motorbikes, a true champion of the people. His legacy lives on to this day with 'The Great Escape' one of the many films in his filmography, which is played every Chrismtmas on the TV in the UK.

 

Cold War propaganda in the States was often pushed through public institutions. The Cold War was a conflict of ideologies that has shaped the world today in almost every possible way and almost ended the world as we knew it.

 

 In the 1950's Henery Ford's General motors was the largest American car manufacturer. The company was at the forefront of mass production, this is where the term 'Fordism' in economics come from.

Chinaski was working night shifts and the Parakeets were keeping him up, he ended up setting them free in annoyance. Parakeets is a general term for small parrots, often kept as pets.