Prayer to Pasolini (Part 1) lyrics

[Spoken]
Hi, I'm John Waters, speaking to you electronically.

The one tourist site I always wanted to visit was the Pasolini murder scene park in Italy, where I had heard there was a monument, surrounded by overgrown grounds and a fence you had to climb over because the gate was always locked. When I was invited to the Rome Film Festival in late 2020, I thought, "Wow, here's my chance to go!"

Twenty miles outside of Rome, in the beach area of Ostia, I found it. The park is not overgrown, but there is a fence to discourage entry. But by whom? Homophobic Pasolini haters? Anti-communists? Ex-Catholic lunatics like myself? My friend did bring wire cutters just in case, but no, we didn't need them. The lock is all for effect. It's not even fastened, and the entryway to the well-manicured grounds opens easily after some strenuous jiggling.

This one-time crime scene is actually now a beautiful, peaceful spot. There's a sign warning of video surveillance that shows security guards spying from somewhere, but what are they looking for? Action, as they used to call public sex back in the days of Pasolini's murder? Wouldn't that actually be appropriate here? This place is more like the stations of the cross, if you ask me. Handsome marble markers with the names of Pasolini's films, quotes from his writings about resistance and the weapon of poetry, make you feel holy. You may even want to genuflect.

We've all had bad evenings sexually, so who knows what Pasolini's state of mind was the night he picked up seventeen year old hustler Pino the Frog at the Rome train station, offered him twenty thousand lira (worth about thirty dollars then), bought him pizza, and then drove him to this secluded area. For what, a blowjob? Mutual masturbation? Rear entry? Indiscriminate rimming? Only God knows for sure.

Pino was no stud. Named "The Frog" by the press after his arrest because of his bugged eyes, he looked like a lot of Pasolini's boyfriends. I bet he had pimples. All of Pasolini's favorites did. Pino was working class. He appeared straight, but do I believe all the conspiracy theories circulating today about Pasolini being killed for political reasons? Nah, I just think he had a bad trick, who later claimed a bullsh*t gay panic defense, saying he was freaked out because Pasolini wanted to put a wooden plank up his ass. Give me a break! A wooden plank? Even I have never fantasized that.

It wasn't the first time Pino had hustled. Sure, he was trade, the supposedly heterosexual male who isn't queer as long as they don't take the passive role in sex with another guy, but so what? Pasolini wouldn't mind this age old self-delusion. He loved straight guys with benefits, and like all greedy hustlers, what Pino really wanted was a fancy car like Pasolini's. Did the Frog put out that night before he crushed Pasolini's testicles, ran over him, and then set fire to the great director's dead body? Yeah, I bet he did, that sneaky little queerbait!