The Bookseller of Belfast

This programme contains some strong language.

Oh, let me see now.

Mr Toad deserves a wee bit of space along with er,

Mr Robert Emmet I think, so...

I'll get you that, old boy.

Ah, there you are.

Mr Wilder, I'd forgotten about you.

You're first edition of The Ides Of March, so you are.

1845, hmm.

Interesting, very interesting.

Oh-ho-ho!

It's a wee first edition of Odd Man Out.

And about Belfast. 1948.

Mmm.

Can't wait for you to see the light of day, son.

How can people do that with books? Jesus Christ, it's ridiculous.

He's destroyed it with that bloody tape.

Eejit. Bloody eejit.

I can clean you up, son.

Yep, you're going to be happy here and back to the way you were.

How dare he put that on it? How dare he?

CONVERSATION IN BACKGROUND

-Here you go, John.

-Thanks, love.

-That OK for you?

-Very tasty.

Very, very tasty, love. Nice and fresh.

All right if I sit beside you?

You're all right, love.

I'm starving.

You hungry, pet? That looks nice.

Tell me, why do you get two bits of tomato and I only got one?

Because I made it myself!

Only joking!

-No, there were two bits of tomato there.

-So did you have two bits?

-Oh, aye.

-Do you want a wee bit, John?

-No, no, I'm all right now.

-MOBILE BLEEPS

-Everybody's trying to add me on Facebook today.

Tell me, Facebook, is this a sort of internet thing?

-I'm addicted to it, John. Every minute of the day.

-Is that right?

Yes, and I have actually set it up to my phone

so if I get a message on it, you are supposed to get a message on

the computer, but if I get a message on it it goes straight to my phone.

Somebody text me today saying,

"Hiya, I see you every week up at the Trinity Lodge, you look amazing."

-I'm like, I don't even know who that is.

-It's a fan!

-I know!

MUSIC STARTS

MUSIC: "Make You Feel My Love" by Adele

# I go hungry I'd go black and blue...#

That's nice.

# I'd go crawling down the avenue...#

Oh, God, I'd love to be a singer.

I'm a great believer, Jolene, that if you enjoy doing something,

do it for love of it, don't look what comes out the other end.

Like, I was in the book business for over 40 years.

I didn't go into it for to make any economic fortunes, which is nice.

I done it because I loved it. And no return. I still buy and sell books.

I mostly buy them for people and I give them

instead of charging them for them!

LAUGHS

If you believe that, you'll believe anything.

Somebody asked me earlier, was I selling that to you

so they could buy it?

You just tell them what you want, love.

That's nice.

-All the customers will all be waiting!

-No, let them go in.

It's lovely.

WHISTLES

See, last time I was in, Tony, you had a wee copy of No Mean City.

-And they were the old photographs of Belfast.

-Yes.

-I don't see it there.

It's very wee, if you recall,

-do remember that wee series that was done?

-I do, yeah.

-Sort of panoramic.

-Yes, I do, Brian Walker?

-One of the Brian Walker ones, yeah, you know?

I had a wee copy that I had to loan, but I never got it back, you know, so...

Oh, here. I know a guy who's looking for that.

I can always ring him. You know what they say about him?

You see the ones that are not signed are scarce. He signed everything!

Yeah, I know, don't go overboard.

We don't go overboard for the prices.

-We try our best to keep away, you know?

-That one's signed!

Mmm. Ah, delicious!

Mm. Oh-ho! Michaela's cooked.

Up to scratch. That'll be all right. That'll kick in for tomorrow.

Second-hand soup's always best.

Another run over and that will be beautiful.

HE WHISPERS THE WORDS

Don't know what that says but it ends "The bird from the sky."

WHISPERS: Through all the extremes without any, anyone's being able to.

Don't know.

Don't know. "Where one ends and another begins. You have..."

Don't know.

What's this you're reading?

Was this the one on Rome? Interesting, isn't it?

-Do you find it interesting?

-Yep.

-It's The Light Of Rome I'm reading.

-The Light Of Rome.

Can you move that over a wee bit? I can't see that from here.

Just a bit because that's a beautiful way of starting there.

Yeah, that's what caught my eye.

"The Light Of Rome is more a thing of beauty."

"It is a mystery."

And then they all started beating me at the bloody bus stop.

Then when I looked around they were all shouting, "He's getting up,

"he's getting up."

JOHN LAUGHS

And I got such a dig in the head, my head hit the pub wall.

-And that was it?

-And my face was getting slapped.

And I opened my eyes and the first face I seen was Buck Alec.

I says, "Where is I?" He says "I told them to F off and or I'd shoot them!"

He'd shoot them?

Carried me round home to my long-suffering Ma.

God love her.

And there's a gentleman called John... Sorry?

-John Clancy.

-John Clancy.

-Pleased to meet you.

-Always known as John the Book.

-John the book!

LAUGHS

Right, you turn round.

People said John the Crook because I was a smithy dealer.

Along the back of the chairs there, that's the back of the chair, OK?

The table's in front of you and Grace is to your right-hand side.

-All right?

-Who's that?

-That's Grace.

John and John, do you want to talk away there?

I'm not going to say a warm-up speaker.

But this gentleman who is going to do the talking tonight, the poems,

I was always very close to John but what I love most about him

was very simple, the poetry.

Because what it was, not only did it bring the feeling when he wrote

his poems about Sailortown or York Street, for me, it re-lived them.

The shops, you can nearly smell the atmosphere.

It's like any area, like if I say I'm very proud to to be actually,

come from an area like Sailortown, we are diverse, we are

a mixed race as they call them now, Mickeys and Prods, you know?

But we've one thing in common, it was called poverty,

when we were growing up round here.

As an old friend of mine, Johnny Gillespie says,

we were that poor, we used to get parcels from the Third World.

And after a while, you get fed up of getting bananas.

LAUGHTER

In fact, I could tell you the first time I ever seen a banana.

You know, if you've never seen a banana before, what do you do?

You stick it in your gob the way it is and you start chewing it.

And my daddy says, "No, no, no, son, you peel it."

And you know I feel stupid at times, John? By God, I felt stupid.

It didn't hurt when they beat me with their weapons

Or when they smashed my nose and broke my jaw

It didn't hurt when they kicked my helpless body

It only hurt when her tearstained face I saw

It didn't hurt when they wouldn't give me water or medicine

To ease your throat so dry

It only hurt when I looked into her sad eyes

And it hurt me bad when I saw her start to cry.

That's lovely.

APPLAUSE

Now, these poems are encapsuled in the time they were written.

And I write in rhyme. Now, I've written a couple of novels.

I've written short stories, but when I do a poem, it has to be in rhyme

because as far as I'm concerned, if it isn't in rhyme, it isn't a poem.

TECHNO BEAT

HE RAPS: Just sit back and watch the intense suspense that I present

I invent the sound of a nation, turned present into presentation

Turned life on the street into life with a beat

What I write on the sheet is what I fight in defeat

I'm ambitious

But this road to riches turned me bitches and malicious

It's survival of the fittest I defy the odds

Living in a country full of riot squads

Bricks, bottles and blast bombs

Will I last long or will I pass on?

Keep your friends close but stay closer to your rivals

Trying to get ahead is a matter of survival

It's hard staying laden

The strongest will survive from the moment you arrive

You have nothing if you don't have the drive

See all you want until you get an eye

For how long will I last is a matter of survival

Just a matter of survival

I'm running for my life, in fact I'm jumping over fences

Smoking more dope trying to improve my senses

But if I get caught it seems that I'm defenceless

I'm ready to scrap like I'm ready to rap

But what good is all that if I get shot in the back

They're smarter than us all and you know you can't fool it

No matter how strong you are you can't stop a bullet

Some hot lead will be embedded in your head

You'll regret it what you said you must let it get you dead

They've got no balls but they betray themselves with men

Want to kill me cos I think the same as them

They gotta hold tight cos I ain't going without a fight

They wanna make my exit even harder than my arrival

Trying to get ahead is just a matter of survival.

Hello. My name is John Clancy, I am... I was a book-seller.

I used to give Gerard the odd book now and then, you know?

And he rang me a wee while back looking for a book

and unfortunately it didn't...

I'm not sure whether it was called The Nemesis File

or to get him another copy of Pride's Castle.

I got him a week copy of Pride's Castle years ago, you know?

So, was the book called The Nemesis File? That's good.

Well tell him, like, I haven't forgot about him,

but what it was, you see, I came across a book the other day

there with Nemesis on the title but it wasn't of that title, when I was in town, you know?

It's just to let him know I haven't forgot about him.

My name is John Clancy. All right, darling. God bless you, love, bye.

Bye-bye, love. Bye, bye.

There we are, Tristan. We're getting there, kid.

We're getting there, so we are.

Now, here's a tricky part.

This is a tricky part.

This is the tricky part. Not too much, now Johnny boy.

We can be gentle. There you are, a newborn baby.

You're welcome back into the fold again.

Not perfection, but sure.

Too straight for perfection than anything whatsoever.

There we are, son.

"He came into the world in the middle of a thicket,

"in one of those little, hidden forest glades,

"which seemed to be entirely open but was really screened in on all sides.

"There was very little room in it, scarcely enough for him and his mother.

"He stood there swaying unsteadily on his thin legs

"and staring vaguely in front of them with clouded eyes which saw nothing.

"He hung his deep head, trampled a great deal

"and was still completely stunned.

"What a beautiful child, cried the magpie.

"She had flown past attracted by the deep groans of the mother

"who uttered in her labour.

"The magpie perched on the nearing branch.

"'What a beautiful child,' she kept repeating."

You know where it says a town that was buried?

That's because over the years Rome has been built over itself

repeatedly. From Julius Caesar built over Maximus'.

There's so much left in the city.

So, yeah, but they all rebuilt over each other's work?

Just trying to be remembered.

Just trying to be remembered for ever because if there are towns

where you are remembered for being a hero in books,

or you were an architect and you got remembered by leaving

beauty around, buildings, like the Coliseum.

The Coliseum was one of the most beautiful things.

-And you've seen it first-hand, haven't you?

-I have.

I've standed right outside it.

Wearing a hacky jersey, but I was still standing outside it.

Is Caesar your favourite emperor then?

Favourite emperor would probably either be Julius Caesar,

but most people would say Julius Caesar, because a lot of people have only ever heard of Julius Caesar.

But Julius Maximus would probably be my...

favourite emperor.

-Or Judas Maximus.

-I'm a fan of Nero. He was crazy.

Nero was a good emperor.

There's a lovely statue of Nero when you're walking up the river towards the Vatican.

HE SINGS OPERA

KNOCK AT DOOR

KNOCK AT DOOR

Are you going to be singing about spaghetti Bolognese all day?

-That's a bit loud. I'm trying to working here.

-Oh, shit! Sorry, man.

MUSIC: "O Mio Babbino Caro" by Puccini

-Hiya, Connor.

-How you doing, sir?

-Do you know what I'm doing?

I'm moving a lot of stuff from up in the loft.

-Stuff that's been up there for a while, you know.

-Yes.

-Be any chance maybe giving us a wee bit of a hand?

-Ah, no problem.

-Sitting about, not doing anything.

-You're not doing anything?

-I'm just going over to give John a wee hand here.

-OK.

-How's things?

-Oh, not so bad. How about yourself?

-Getting on, thanks.

-You follow me up.

-Yes.

-Can you get up all right there?

-Yes, I've got this wee light here as well.

-Oh, God bless you.

Not magic, son. What's that there?

-Here, could you move them books over there, Connor?

-Yes.

-Look at them.

We'll bring them down there, because what we'll have to do,

we'll have to come up someday and I might buy one of those lights,

that when you put it up, you're able to see everything.

What's in here, I wonder, son? Hold on.

I wonder if there's any books there. Oh, shit.

Oh, it's a pot-pourri in here, isn't it? All right? Here we are.

Let's see what this is, Connor.

Ah, this is a young girl I used to send books to. She was from, er...

-Where are we? Newcastle... California.

-California?

It says here, "to a special friend". That would be me.

"Thank you very much, John, for the two books received.

"My mother was very what, how would one say, thrilled

"with the complete collection of William Butler Yeats.

"God bless and thank you again for your help. Mary."

-There we are, then.

-How long ago was that?

-I wonder when they checked that.

-Yeah.

I was what you call a great book, man.

That's why they call me John the Book. But I was a crap businessman.

I would have given more stuff away. I seen people come then with their long lists, kids, you know,

students from school, and things like that there and they had no money.

And I would have said, "That's yours, take them."

You know and I mean that, too. Take them, and I'll see you again.

But I remember one young girl came in, I'll never forget it as long as I live.

She was doing a wee Irish course. She was looking at a biography of John Hume, etc, etc, etc.

I had all these books and I give them to her. And I says, "Take them, love.

"Whenever you get your degree and you start earning a few quid,

"come down and spend a few pound with me."

And a number of days down the line, this young lady appears, beautiful young girl,

one of those attractive young girls that look well.

The right type of perfume, you know.

Should have seen the perfume - I would have drunk it at one time!

Cost about 100 quid a bottle!

And one thing about it, she went around the shop and she picked out three or four books.

And she says, "By the way, thank you very much," and she handed me an envelope and walked out.

And there was a note in it, "Thank you very much". And there was £100 in it.

-Now do you know what I'm talking about?

-That's it.

-People don't forget the favours.

-What goes around comes around.

Go.

Straight up, John.

-Oops-a-daisy.

-How did he get that bed up in here?

Is that bed made up? That bed that's up there!

Was that made up indoors, or what?

How did you get it in originally? Oh, dear!

It's stuck! Stuck!

-Oh, my goodness!

-Shit.

Let me see.

We'll see, I think.

Right, OK.

-Shit!

-Oh, mind you don't hurt yourself.

-Ah, no.

-Well, be careful.

It gets like that, you see.

Oh, no! It's not going to fit.

You see?

See what I mean? You see. Look.

-I'll tell you something...

-It's like a water bed.

You see that one I took off? That's just a more comfortable mattress than the one I took off.

-So this one is going to stay here.

-Oh, no. John.

And better still, it even fits nearly down there.

-But do you not think...

-But say you don't want to keep this mattress.

You'd have to promise me, no smoking in the bed.

No, no smoking in the bed, love.

I'll... Look, I'll tell you what I'll do with you.

I'll even remove my cigarette and ashtray, you see, like so.

And I promise you there is no cigarettes. Sorry about that, love, you know.

-So what are you going to do? Get a new bed?

-No.

Michelle, I was born in this bed and with the grace of God, I die on it.

-Can you not make it a bit more Belfast?

-A wee bit more Belfast?

-A wee bit less, even.

-Less?

-You just sound too Belfastish.

-But that's where I'm from.

-But why? It should be better.

-Because I was born there.

-You could try it more.

Rapping like an American? (RAPS) I'm a sleeper.

I take life one step at a time, some try to live out their dreams...

-That's better. You don't think that better?

-No, that sucks.

No. I'm a sleeper, I take life one step at a time, some try to live out their dreams...

-No, because it's very flat, if you know what I mean.

-OK. I'll whizz it up.

I'm the sleeper, I take life one step at a time

Some try to live out their dreams but mine's are captain, my man

they say you're seeking new fame but not when you reclaim

my man's no motivation

I spend more time in bed than most spend in education

and all my weekend hours are just flurried with frustration. Why?

Cos I'm not...

# Overheard, underpaid

# I'm sure there's hurt

-# I could change my ways

-Cos there's the smoker, the sleeper,

the tosser and turner, this is the smoker, the sleeper,

-the tosser and turner. Yeah?

-Good! Do you like that?

-I like that!

-Do you?

-M'hm. Do you like it?

-What are you listening to?

-Er, Puccini.

Let me hear. Can I have a listen?

-It's good?

-I think it's good.

Oh, mummy, that's depressing.

-What do you mean, depressing?

-That's what you'd play at a funeral.

-No, it's not. It's a thing of beauty.

-Why do you like it?

It's mainly from the country it comes. Italy shows so much...

Country music?

No, from the country it comes from, which is Italy. It's Puccini.

It's a town.

It's mainly because Italy put pure beauty

and romance into everything they do.

You shouldn't listen to all of that shit. You'll end up killing yourself!

See, with a big spliff, and that, and a big cup of tea - perfect.

-You're so like your brother.

-Yeah, well so-so.

He prefers to listen to rap most of the time.

-Yeah?

-I only listen to four rappers.

-Oh, do you?

-Yes.

-Rap's not my favourite thing. I'd rather jive or head bang.

-Yeah.

-I better go back to work.

-OK.

-Well, nice to see you.

-Stop listening to that shitty tunes.

-All right.

-See ya later.

-See ya later.

I'm a shy person a lot of the time and whenever I meet new friends,

I'm usually stoned then, so I'm usually able to talk.

So, say, like I try a new girlfriend, like going out with a new girl,

and I can't talk, I have nothing to say.

I'll go and look at them for ten minutes and come back

and have a wee waterfall or bong, got back

and just be talking to absolute heavens, but it's perfect

because girls like to talk but they don't like to talk that much.

In the dances, going back to the old Orpheus days, if I hadn't had

a drink, I had to walk around the floor all night, I would

have been scared to approach a girl to say, "Can I have this dance?"

See, I didn't fucking feel like it. Fucking...

If I'd have gone up and danced with no booze in me.

I was like wrapped in fucking plaster of Paris, you know.

See, a couple of drinks, fucking John Travolta, move over!

I'll tell you the best description, Robert, that I ever heard of alcohol.

And it was from a wee woman who I loved dearly,

who happened to be my mother, who was then in her late 70s.

In reality, she was worrying herself to death about her youngest son

who was going to die.

And the best description that I ever heard,

and this is not an Irish mother,

was my mother "Son, I wish you were dead rather than

"the way your living." Now do you know where I'm coming from?

She hit it on the button.

But in that diseased condition, you can't see it that way.

That's a threat to you.

Now, I looked into her eyes and she looked into mine

and I seen the pain.

I went out the door,

and down to the Somerton Inn which is only around the corner.

I ordered a glass of brandy, which is my drink of choice,

in fact my ma called me Brandy Balls. You know what I mean?

I put a wee drop of ginger in it and after three drinks I says,

"That bitch.

"How could she say that to me?"

I dropped that brandy on the floor and it smashed.

And do you imagine all the wee shards of glass in the bottom.

And I got down like a dog and licked it off the floor, picking

the glass out of my tongue which had been bleeding.

Now, in reality you would...

I would say that's the depths of despair

and I never get called a genius, but I'm not stupid.

That was 1970.

I didn't stop drinking till 1983, so it gives you

an idea of the progression and where it will lead you to.

They call it the gates of insanity or death.

WOMAN SINGS KARAOKE

# Watch you smile while you are sleeping

# While you're far away and dreaming

# Then I kiss your eyes and thank God we're together

# Oh, I don't want to close my eyes

# I don't want to fall asleep cos I miss you baby

# And I don't want to miss a thing

# Cos even when I dream of you The sweetest dream will never do

# I still miss you, babe and I don't want to miss a thing... #

Remember to breathe and remember to smile.

-# When I close my eyes...

-You're enjoying it.

# I don't Want to fall asleep because I miss you, babe

# And I don't wanna miss a thing

# Even when I dream of you... #

-That's it. You're doing well. That's it. That's the song.

-Thank you.

And who was it? The Morrellas, Morrella...Morelli's?

Morelli's, yeah. Big Tony's not too well.

-You probably remember Big Tony, the singer? Sing with a showband?

-Yes.

-Beautiful voice.

-That's right. Tony Morelli.

-Tony.

-I was talking to him.

-Jolene, sit in here.

A cousin of his, you know. Here? Here?

Where's my dark glasses?

Hey, yourself. That's looks superb. What?

-Its country and western theme.

-Maybe with a hat, I'll look better.

-I don't know.

You're looking all right the way it is, love. I'll tell you one thing.

I wouldn't get too far in the competition, Jolene.

Also, if we have a bit of TV crew in here,

so please don't say fuck or bugger, OK? You can bleep that one out.

So if you don't want to be on, if you're on DLA,

and you're not really meant to be out of the house

because you've got rickets or gout or something like that there,

do not be waving your hands in the air, and going, "Mummy look at me!

"I'm on fucking tape, momma, look at this!

"Look what I can do with my arm that I should have strapped up!"

Don't be doing anything like that there, OK?

Because we are not responsible if brew catches your arm.

OK, keeps your hands clapping, she was typing for now,

the wonderful Jolene, Jolene, Jolene.

APPLAUSE

# If I should stay

# I would only be in your way

# So I'll go, but I know

# I'll think of you each step of the way

# And I will always love you

# I will always love you

SONG CHANGES TO "9 TO 5" BY DOLLY PARTON

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

# Tumble out of bed and stumble to the kitchen

# Pour myself a cup of ambition yawning, stretching

# Try to come to life

# Jump in the shower and the blood starts pumping

# Out on the streets the traffic starts jumping

# Folks like me on the job from 9 to 5

# Working 9 to 5, what a way to make a living

# Barely getting by, it's all taking and no giving

# You just use your mind and they never give you credit

# It's enough to drive you crazy if you let it. #

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

Wow! Well, everybody loves a bit of a medley.

I love a bit of Dolly medley, you can never go wrong. Did you enjoy that?

-Yes.

-OK, Kat.

Absolutely, the first rule of show business - if you

-forget your words, you shake your ass, and you did it.

-CHEERING

-Woo!

-So, I think you look absolutely fantastic,

just the way you use the stage, you look terrific tonight,

and you should be very proud of yourself, so well done. Well done.

Congratulations, Jolene, great.

And ladies and gentlemen, a big round of applause for our backing

dancers, the lovely Pan's People.

OK, fingers crossed we get to see a little bit of bare flesh tonight.

I was just thinking to me self, remember that club we were at,

-Michelle?

-Mm-hm.

-There was some crowd in it, like.

Yeah, we're going to go to the finals, definitely, for support.

Ach, I think she'll make the final all right.

There's no problem there, and I mean that too, love.

No problem whatsoever.

I do believe that, you know.

Means she goes across the water to that other thing, doesn't she?

-Is she going to Liverpool?

-That's right, John.

Well, you never know, it's that TV thing.

That's the real X Factor. It's called the X Factor.

-Oh, is that what it's called?

-Yeah.

-I watched a couple of times.

It'd be great for her to go to that, wouldn't it?

Ach, the wee thing that gets me sometimes about programmes

like that, they give people so many dreams,

and I'm a great believer,

it's unfair to take anybody's dreams away.

You build them up and then, of course, you knock them down.

The press, anyway, you know. But it's a hard, hard game, Michelle.

-I can't sing.

-Don't you sing as well?

-When I get a few drinks, I like karaoke, like.

-Oh, do you?!

-Oh, aye.

Here, we have to get something organised there.

You can't hear yourself singing when you sing in one of them things.

So you think you're brilliant!

I used to sing in the boys choir, but that's a long, long time ago.

You know, little tenor, you know.

You all right?

-Come in.

-A mattress for you.

-Come on. Mr Cassidy, how are you?!

Lovely to see you!

I bet that fits like a tee, don't worry about that there.

They're only books.

Aw, would you look at that!

Now, there's a few wee books up there, Mr Cassidy.

Mostly Irish stuff, you know. I'm a collector, as you know yourself.

And I must get that we book on Winnie Carney. That's amazing.

-It's a small world, isn't it?

-It certainly is.

Who's the baby on the wall?

That would have been a brother of mine who passed away,

when he was four-year-old. That was our Hugh.

I was the youngest of the family, you know, and he died of meningitis.

And then I had a sister, Rosaline, she passed away.

I'm the babby of the family. And I'm the only one left.

-The last of the Mohicans!

-I'm the last of the Mohi...

And they're all away now, you know.

Mother, it was her anniversary yesterday.

Jeez, my ma loved that bed. My ma died in it. Jimmy died in it.

So if they can die in it, I'll die in it!

HE SIGHS

HELICOPTER WHIRRS

SIRENS WAIL

POLICE RADIO CHATTER

The only thing is, maybe you can go and ask the police man there.

-You see, I don't know.

-I'm going up to Carr's Glenn.

-Carr's Glenn?

-Aye.

-Jesus, I don't know, darling, honestly. I'm sorry.

-I'll ask.

-Ask the policeman, love.

-Yeah.

Your wee woman there has to go to Carr's Glenn, I don't

think she'll be able to get up. See it apparently wasn't blocked off, sure it wasn't, this morning?

-But she'll be able to get a bus down...

-She can get the bus down there.

-The bus is going up Cliftonpark Avenue, and then up...

-Are they?

It's cutting the whole way across.

-Maybe the police might be able to tell her then.

-Aye.

See where that library is, it usually picks you up there. There was a few people there this morning,

but I don't know how the kids got to school.

Usually they stand at the library, you see.

And get the bus straight up the road. But, it's absolutely mad.

Crazy, like.

Like I'm not from here, I'm from England, myself,

and this is, I've never seen anything like this in my life. Never, ever.

-I was going to say the...

-God's sake, there's curse all else to do.

Now you're talking about it, darling.

That's probably a hoax as well, only you can't take that.

Yes, I ain't seen nothing, darlin'.

I'll tell you something, you're very fit for your age,

-the way you run down there, love.

-Aye, nearly 80.

-Are you, pet?

-Yes!

-And my husband just died there...

-I'm so sorry.

..after 84, so that's why I'm out walking, and you can't even get home!

Oh, it's very annoying, love, isn't it?

I'm sure people like that don't think about people like us, love.

No, if they'd put them to work instead of feeding them

their brew and all that jazz, they'd be all right!

-Oh, tell me about it, darlin.

-Make them work for their money!

-The way I had to do!

-Aye!

HELICOPTER OVERHEAD

-That's a lovely view. It was worth the walk.

-Yeah...

The walk was nice, but the view isn't actually nice.

If you don't like Belfast, say you don't like Belfast.

Just come out with it. Is that what it is? You don't like Belfast?

-HE TUTS

-Turncoat.

-HE LAUGHS Ah, well.

-Where do you want go and live?

-America.

-Aw, cos it's the land of the free?

-Aye, the land of the free!

-Where do you want to go live in America?

-Detroit.

-Detroit.

-Want to go and watch the Red Wings play?

-Every weekend. Every weekend.

-What would you do when you got there?

-Work.

-As what?

-A chef.

-A chef.

Barman, more like. It's the only job an Irish man will get in America, these days, I imagine.

-Well, they still love the Irish barmen.

-Oh, you may go to Boston then.

Detroit, Detroit do have a few Irish bars though.

But you don't even have a job here like, you go to America

-and think you'll get a job there?

-If I had the money I would go.

This is like the famine, you know what I mean,

you go over there for work, cos there's none here.

See that? There's a plane taking off there.

That could be the plane that carries you to America.

That's not going nowhere, that's landing! You fool!

-HE LAUGHS

-That could be the plane brings you back two weeks later

-from America because you couldn't make it there!

-HE LAUGHS

That night in Smithfield, this is Smithfield as it was.

The incendiary devices went.

Eric Haugh was at this end of it, looking through.

And the devices went boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.

And so we just went up, he ran across the street

and the whole lot just went up like that, whowww.

Just collapsed all in, the burning embers.

Not only that there, you know,

by the time I got down,

a lot of the old traders were all around the market, you know.

I put my arms around one little lady,

you know, who had a little stall,

a little second-hand clothes stall,

and the tears dripping from there.

And I joined in.

The soul of Belfast was burned

on 27th of May 1974.

And it will never return.

These days are over. These days are over.

These days are over.

These days are over. Paul Morton.

Days are over.

All gone.

All gone.

That's me. That was our old shop.

People don't realise what was burnt in that shop.

The soul of Belfast gone.

Never to return. Never to return.

Never to return.

Oh, I'd love to be a cowboy. Out in the open ranch.

Riding all day, herding cattle all day.

Drinking the occasional whiskey at night. Be the days.

Ride into town with a bandit over your back. Collecting the bounty.

Riding out with your posse and shooting a load of poachers.

Get away from my cows!

You come for beef, you'll get lead!

-Aye, dreams.

-Mmm.

Never take a dream away from a man. You take away part of his soul.

But just that you mention that there, I've just the thing, when you say this.

"It was spring on an era many years after a lone Eagle had watched

"a buffalo herd. An upland prairie country road

"waved town the snow-capped Rocky Mountains,

"to spread out into the immense eastern void.

"Over the bleach white grass had come a faint tinge of green.

"The warm sod had begun to resume covering over the Earth.

"A flock of wild geese,

"late on their annual pilgrimage went swiftly towards the north land.

"On the ridges, held grazed, and down in the Hallows where murmuring

"streams roused, clouded with blue colour and melted snow."

"Deer nibbled at the new, tender shoots of grass."

Just like your dreams, you close your eyes, you see that.

When I read that there, it goes into my imagination.

Never give up on dreams, Robert. Never give up on dreams, son.

HE WHISPERS INAUDIBLY

"..the famed...expedition..."

Don't know what that sentence says.

Don't know what that says. Oh, "Louisiana.

"This..." ..don't know.

"This was dispatched under the command of 20-year-old...

"the command of a 20-year-old from a military family.

"Lieutenant..." don't know.

RAIN LASHES OUTSIDE

Hello, where are youse?

Ah, here, youse are leaving it a bit late.

-It's leaving soon.

-'It's delayed.'

-What?

-'It's delayed.'

-Delayed till when?

-"Till eight o'clock."

-Eight o'clock?

The plane is delayed?! It's not delayed!

THUNDER RUMBLES

Hello, Tony, this is your brother-in-law here, John, ringing from Belfast.

A large tsunami has just hit the north coast of Japan

and it's making its way to Hawaii within the next couple of hours.

I don't know why you're aware of this, but I rang James in

San Diego, to let him know, and he said he would be in touch with you.

Cos I'm concerned about not only your safety in Hawaii,

but mostly also for your safety of your relatives and friends,

if any of them are living in the north-east of Japan.

I think if I remember, Patrick telling me that most of your

family lived in the Tokyo area, now Tokyo is OK at the present time,

but the tsunami is supposed to hit Hawaii within the next hour so, so...

That's powerful, isn't it? Holy God.

200 to 300 bodies so far.

8.9 on the scale, like. Phew.

That really is where you sort of go with the Noah's Ark thing,

cos you think these boys need an ark right now.

Two by two, we stand tall, one by one, we all fall.

Ring, ring, God, please answer my call.

It's your child, I know we ain't spoke in a while,

I fear you're about to make it real, I mean 40 days day,

I mean torrential, but survival of life is essential.

Once again, there's moneylenders dwelling in your temple.

Charging taxes.

So I'll build your ark and not grant them access, cos the fact is,

the flood out of chaos comes order, because once again,

man-made land is submerged in water.

All our old ways die like lambs to the slaughter, as once again,

we all go in the little ark for to get out of the rain.

# The animals went in two by two, hurrah, hurrah

# The animals went in two by two, hurrah, hurrah

# The animals went in two by two, the elephant and the kangaroo

# And they all went into the ark for to get out of the rain. #

HE RAPS We've been pushing our luck, but was there to be pushed

chances less broad, once the odds reduced?

Connects the roots. Our collective necks caught in the noose.

We produce so much that we just can't use.

End of an era, got your message now, you're sending it clearer.

God strike down those only pretending to fear ya.

And yet, save genetics of those with moral favour and ethics.

And all our efforts to survive will not be in vain and every good man

alive well not be in pain and every good vague will not be contained.

We all must reform at the top of our game as we go into the ark

for to get OUT of the rain.

# For to get out of the rain

# For to get out of the rain

# For to get out of the rain

# For to get out of the rain. #

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd