I'm Not There. Page #4

to thank you in person.

Son? Can you hear me?

I'm Dr. Field.

And this here lady

pretty near saved your life.

Hello there.

I- I'm Mrs. Peacock.

My husband and I,

we're the ones that found you.

# Oh, the time will come up

when the winds will stop #

# And the breeze will cease

to be breathin' #

# Like the stillness in the wind #

# Before the hurricane begins #

# The hour that

the ship comes in #

# And the sea will split

and the ships will hit #

# And the sands on the shoreline #

# Will be shaken #

# And the tide will pound

and the waves will sound #

# And the mornin' will be a-breakin' #

And no formal training?

Remarkable.

# Sayin' we'll meet

all your demands #

# But we'll shout from the bow

"Your days are numbered" #

# And like Pharaoh's tribe #

# They'll be drownin' in the tide #

# And like Goliath #

# They'll be conquered #

- Just terrific!

- Fantastic!

That was a fine job.

- Thank you, thank you.

- That's just wonderful.

How about another helping?

- Woody?

- Yes, ma'am.

More wine, Woody?

Yes, sir. Thank you, sir.

Do you know

what your plans are from here?

My only real plan

is to become a singer,

a real singer on television,

either that or a kind of voice

of the people, you know?

Interesting.

Because I've been

writing me some songs,

songs about what's going on.

And I'm going

to take these songs,

and I'm going to head

straight to Hollywood.

Going to make it big just like Elvis Presley.

Well, Woody, I wouldn't be surprised

if you did just that.

- There you are, Woody.

- Thank you.

And don't you go rushing off anyplace

until you feel 100%, you hear?

Yes, ma'am.

Have to mother you while you still have

a roof over your head.

Who on earth?

- Are you expecting a call?

- No.

So, Hollywood?

- Hello?

- Not Tin Pan Alley?

Yes, it is. Who's calling?

Minnesota?

Well, how could...

Dr. Field, yes.

Would you hold on

just a moment, please?

Esther?

It's a juvenile center in Minnesota.

A what?

Something... Corrections.

You talk to 'em, Jack.

They think it's Woody.

What do they know about Woody?

They said they're looking for some...

a juvenile, but...

some state, you know, fugitive.

Certainly not Woody.

# Seen the arrow on the doorpost #

# Sayin' this land is condemned #

Now, I'm just one walker that's stood way up

and looked way down

across plenty o' sights

in all their veiled

and nakedest seasons.

Sighting it, hearing it,

seeing and feeling

and breathing it in.

Sucking down on it.

Rubbing it all

in the pores of my skin,

and the wind between my eyes

knocking honey in my comb.

Whoa.

# Blind Willie Mc Tell #

# See them big plantations burnin' #

# Hear the crackin' of the whips #

# Smell that sweet

magnolia bloomin' #

# See the ghost of slavery ships #

May I help you?

Flowers for Mr. Guthrie.

Room 300. Just set 'em inside.

Thank you, ma'am.

# Well, God is in His heaven #

# And we all want what's His #

# But power and greed

and corruptible seed #

# Seem to be all that there is #

# I'm gazin' out the window #

# Of the St. James Hotel #

# And I know no one

can sing the blues #

# Like Blind Willie Mc Tell #

I remember, uh,

Kennedy's funeral was on TV,

and we were sitting outside.

You could hear it.

I was pulling up

chunks of grass with my fist

and feeling like we were splitting apart.

And... And, yeah, I asked him

what did he think

made us so different?

And he said it was simple.

You know, I thought

that I could change things,

and he knew that no one could.

You know, look at Kennedy.

Then there was the fiasco

at the Civil Liberties Union,

where Jack received

the Civil Rights Award

and drank three vats of wine

for the trouble.

Thank you.

I wanna accept this

on behalf of, uh,

everybody that

went down to Cuba.

First of all,

because you're all young, you know?

And it's took me

a long time to get young,

and now I consider myself young.

And I'm proud of it.

It ain't old people's world out there.

I mean, you all

shouldn't even be here.

I mean... it's not like before.

There's no black or white,

no more left wing,

right wing, you know?

There's up wing

and there's down wing,

which is why I think that, you know,

this man who shot President Kennedy,

this Lee Oswald,

I think I saw something

that... that he felt... in me.

Hey, but I'm just saying...

You can boo, but booing's

got nothing to do with it!

They didn't understand me,

you know,

because they got mind blinders on.

All they see is the cause

and how they use people

for their cause.

And now they're trying

to use me for something.

The want me to... want me

to carry a picket sign

and have my picture taken,

be a good little n*gger, you know,

and not mess up their little game.

All they want from me

is finger-pointing songs.

I only got ten fingers.

Anybody who lent that kid a dime

was sitting in that room that night.

A week later, he issued

a formal apology.

It's a fierce, heavy feeling,

thinking that something's expected of you,

but you don't know exactly what it is.

Brings forth a weird kind of guilt.

Woody Guthrie was dead.

Little Richard

was becoming a preacher.

So, whether you were

a folk singer or a Christian,

rock and roll was the devil.

Me, I was in a ditch, up a cliff,

out of step, ready to quit.

I wrote the kind of stuff

you write when you have no place to live

and you're wrapped up

in the fire pump.

I nearly killed myself

with pity and despair.

And then I wrote it.

It was like swimming in lava.

Skipping, kicking,

catching a nail with your foot,

seeing your victim

hanging from a tree.

The person who's coming out now

is a person who has, in a sense,

changed the face

of American folk music...

Ladies and gentlemen,

the person

who's coming out now...

...is a legend in his time.

And his name is Jude Quinn!

# Well, I try my best

to be just like I am #

# But everybody wants you

to be just like them #

# They say sing while you slave

but I just get bored #

# Well, I ain't gonna work

on Maggie's farm no more #

I want that volume down now!

I can't turn the volume down!

- I can't even hear the words!

- Hey, man...

Hey what's wrong?

Man, what are you going to do?

What are you going to do up there?

I'm going to cut

the goddamn... lead!

Sorry for everything I've done,

and, uh, I hope

to remedy it soon.

- Sh*t!

- Crap!

Garbage! J'accusel

Ah, it's just like

he's trying to conform

to some sort of popular taste

with this incredibly

corny group behind him,

but he's just... he's just prostituting himself.

He's... He's just

changed completely.

He's changed from what he was.

He's not the same

as he was at first.

Nothing but a fake neurotic

crawling through the gutter.

If that is the way

he walks through a gutter,

I would rather walk with my head up

through a gutter than like him,

crawling through the bloody gutter,

just making a pile out of it!

That's what he is doing!

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes