The first ending is from the WR version -identical to the mss- and the second one is from War All the Time.
There's good and less good in both versions. I prefer the brevity of the line "It's then that the interviews end..." in the latter and the wording "he too knows it's bullshit" is superior to "he knows it's bullshit too." But overall, I think I like the more genuine "helps get the old catfood" Buk-style in the WR version. So, WR by a whisker.
I happen to agree with Purple. Let's make a cut-up of the first lines from the revised version and the last 2 1/2 lines from the first.
Purple Stickpin nailed it. This may be one of the few cases where the editing improved the text, except deleting the cat food was a bad move.
Here it is: It's about then that the interviews end although I am proud sometimes when I see the pictures later and there I am and there is the cat and we are photographed together. He too knows it's bullshit but it helps get the old catfood... Right? If I were an editor, that's how I would have done it. But what the fuck do I know... Right?
i prefer the version published posthumously in 'come on in' it's about then that the interviews cease although i am proud in the pictures and the photographs with the cat together he too knows but somehow helps.
I don't see it in Come on in...but it is in Pleasures of the Damned. No doubt there's some subtle sarcasm I'm missing, as the version in Damned is not like yours.
