The Making of Alan Parker's Film 'The Commitments'

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Tell us about the early days, Jimmy.

How did it all begin?

Well, Terry, I was always in the music

business, but more on the sales side.

F*** off.

# Don't want your kisses

# That's for sure

# I die each time

# I hear this sound:

# Here he comes

# That's Cathy's clown

# Here he comes

# That's Cathy's clown

# Dearest

# Darlin'

# I have to write to say

that I won't be home

# Any more

# Cos something happened

# To me

# While I was drivin' home

# And I'm not the same

# Any more

# Oh, I was only

# Twenty-four hours from Tulsa

# Only

# One day away from your arms

# I saw a welcoming light

# And I had to stop for the night

# Said to the man at the railroad station

# I want a ticket

# Just for one

# He said:
Well, if you insist

# Where you wanna go, miss?

# Oh-oh

# Destination anywhere

- Jimmy! Jimmy! You got the video?

- Yeah. Mississippi Burning, wasn't it?

Have you got any Hothouse Flowers?

# And this old world ain't got

no back door

# Because I saw her today

# I saw her face

# It was a face I loved

# And I knew

# I had to run away-ay

# And get down on my knees and pray-ay

# That they'd go away

# But still they begin

# Those needles and pins, yeah

# Because of all my pride

# The tears I gotta hide

# Right now - yeah!

# Needles and pins, yeah

# Needles and pins, yeah

# Needles and pins

# Needles and pins,

yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

# Yeah-yeah!

# Ye-e-e-eah!

We'll take a short break here,

but we'll be back,

so stay in the groove.

- Imelda, you're lookin' deadly!

- What are you doin' here?

- Friend of the band's.

- You're sure no friend o' me sister's!

The fella she's marrying

hardly knows her.

Cheeky bastard!

- You'll be next.

- Why me? I'm not bleedin' pregnant!

- Imelda.

- See yeh, Jimmy.

F*** off!

Well, I'm three months gone.

It's a bit tight.

- Oh, I can feel it!

- You can feel it already?

That's great! Can you feel it?

- Why d'yeh want me to manage yis?

- Cos you know all about music, Jimmy.

You had Frankie Goes To Hollywood's

album before anyone else.

- You were first to realise they were shite.

- What's shite is what yous were playin'.

- We have to play that at weddings.

- What d'yeh call yourselves?

- And And And.

- And And f***in' And?

Ray is thinkin' of an exclamation mark

after the second And.

- He says it'll look deadly on the posters.

- Yeh don't like it?

- D'yeh think it should go at the end?

- I think it should go up his arse.

We're not married to it.

Aah, no.

Dance, yeh bastard!

# I've looked at the ocean

# Tried hard to imagine

# The way you felt the day you sailed

# From Wester Ross to Nova Scotia!

# We should have helped you

# We should have told you

- Look at that eejit!

- That eejit's singin' somethin' like music.

Jimmy, we need direction.

If I'm the manager, Ray's not in the band.

- Why not?

- I don't like him. I never have.

- I hate him, to be honest with yeh.

- But he owns the synth.

No one uses synths any more.

It's back to basics.

Just as well, cos we've f***-all else.

# ..railtrack

# From Miami to...

Jaysis!

- What the f*** is tha'?

- It's me hanky.

- Here yeh are, Imelda.

- Thanks.

What are yous lookin' at?

Nothin'.

- I'll have this washed for yeh, Jimmy.

- That's OK.

Wash it? I'd f***in' frame it!

What does she see in him? He looks like

he models f***in' knittin' patterns!

- Mothers love him.

- Why? He's a prick!

He's a prick with a job.

That band, Free Beer.

They always pull a big crowd.

- I like A Flock of Budgies.

- That's a stupid name.

It's better than bleedin' yours:

Cosmic Lino.

It has to be ''The'' something. All the best

Sixties bands were ''The'' somethings.

- We could be The Northsiders.

- Or The Liffey Lads?

How about The F***in' Eejits?

What kind of music are we

goin' to be playin', Jimmy?

- You're workin' class, right?

- Yeah, if there was any work.

Your music should be about

where you're from.

It should speak

the language of the streets.

It should be about struggle and sex.

And I don't mean mushy shite about

I'll love you till the end o' time.

I mean ridin', f***in', tongues,

gooters, boxes. The works!

Jaysis! What kind of music says all that?

Soul.

Soul?

Soul! We're goin' to be

playing Dublin soul.

Dublin soul.

F***in' deadly!

Dublin soul, wha'?

Jimmy!

Dublin soul!

# In a window pane

# Do you remember

# How sweet it used to be?

# When we was together

# Everything was so... grand

# Now

# Now that we've parted

# You know there's one thing

# That I just can't stand

# I can't stand the rain

- Are you Mr Rabbitte?

- Yeah.

- I've come about the ad.

- What ad?

The one in the paper.

''Have you got soul? If so...''

Yeh have the wrong Rabbitte!

Can I have me paper back?

F*** off!

Jimmy, I've more things to be doin'

than ironing shirts for you every day!

- What's this?

- What's what?

''Have you got soul? If so, the world's

hardest-working band is looking for you.''

''Contact J Rabbitte. Rednecks and

southsiders need not apply.''

- World's hardest-working band(!)

- Was that someone about it?

- Where are you goin'? Finish your dinner.

- Out.

- Can I borrow your hairdryer?

- Go and shite!

- And leave my aftershave alone.

- Who was that at the door?

Some snotty-nosed fella

with a mouth organ.

- Yeh put an ad in the paper?

- I'm puttin' a band together.

D'yeh need a singer?

# Wise men say

# Only fools rush in

# But I can't help

# Falling in love

# With you

- # Like the river flows...

- Elvis is not soul.

Elvis is God!

I never pictured God

with a fat gut in a corset

singing ''My Way'' at Caesar's Palace!

Don't upset your father.

- Who are your influences?

- Uh... Barry Manilow.

- Who are your influences?

- Joan Baez... Joni Mitchell...

Wings...

Bachman Turner Overdrive?

Spandau Ballet. Soft Cell.

Sinad O'Connor.

# It's a nice trip to a candy shop...

Hi, I've come about the audition.

Led Zeppelin.

Uh...

Billy and The Bollix.

U2?

# Well, the black folks are starvin'

# And the white trash is carpin'

# And the KKK's all over the TV

# Blood on the mirror,

and there was blood on your face!

# Look so good

# I've really done my best

# Powder, paint and lipstick

# The latest Paris dress

# Poppa, rumba, rumba,

hey, Poppa Joe, coconuts

# Poppa Joe, hey, Poppa Joe

# Yeah, hey... Poppa Joe

# Why didn't you tell me

you were bored!

# Why didn't you tell me

you were bored!

# And still I dream he'll come to me

# That we will live the years together

# But there are dreams that cannot be

# In the haze of a drunken hour

- # But heaven knows I'm miserable now

- Yeah, I know how yeh feel.

# Elvis was a Cajun

# He had a Cajun heart

# Had to move down to Memphis

- # Cos that's where he got his start

- F***in' blasphemy! Elvis wasn't a Cajun!

# All that time in Graceland

and in Vegas, where he got huge

What d'yeh play?

I used to play football at school.

I mean what instrument?

I don't.

So what are yeh doin' here?

Well, I saw everybody else linin' up,

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