"Send lawyers, guns and money" original to Warren Zevon?

Cafe Society
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Or was it a term in use already? Has to be the best phrase ever about being in trouble!

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Zevon may have been inspired by a 19th Century song touting the might of the British Empire:

We don’t want to fight but by Jingo if we do,
We’ve got the ships, we’ve got the men, we’ve got the money too

3

ChatGPT says about “The shit has hit the fan”: The earliest known written reference is from the “U.S. military during World War II”. No attribution so probably not a flag officer. Admiral Farragut is famous for “Damn the torpedoes … full speed ahead!” and General Anthony Clement “Nuts” McAuliffe once said something he’s remembered for.

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Sounds like something Hunter Thompson might have written, although the phrase sounds earlier than Warren Zevon.

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From Riots, Civil and Criminal Disorders: Hearings Before the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of the Committee on Government Operations, United States Senate, 1968:

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Probably coincidental, but who knows? Maybe Zevon picked up the theme from reading this transcript at some point. Marijuana is a suitable fourth item.

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Lawyers, guns and money are three things a spoiled rich kid might beg his dad to send if he was in a jam in a Central American country. I’m sure Zevon wrote the song independently, but I’m also sure you could find the list elsewhere.