This Town

I had words come into my head. I have to go back and stand there

to get the feeling sometimes. Then I always step back.

Leave him alone.

I will never see him again! I swear by Almighty God.

My dad took delivery of all the ingredients needed to make bombs.

I will not be part of your plans to murder people.

You'll be needing this. There's going to be another wee bang.

Fiona, last night I wrote a poem

that could also be a song. It's about you.

They call this harmony.

You'll do the tune, and I'll sort of talk and growl.

And I need to think of a way of getting Jeannie back.

The acoustics in this place are amazing!

A recording studio made by God.

Your dad says God can help me.

Then my dad's your man.

He's my man.

Gregory, what are you doing back here?

It's going to be OK, Dad,

cos I'm a soldier,

and I have a plan.

You're in a lot of trouble, Bardy.

They have your name for the train station.

I need to give them a big fish

so they let you and your dad off the hook.

I'm not made for this kind of work!

Kieran Doherty was just 25 years old.

He died today of starvation.

Consider that.

Think how the body craves.

And how strong the resolve must be.

Kieran Doherty refused food for 73 days.

Consider that.

73 days...

..where every voice in your head is begging your soul to give in.

That is the spirit at large among our people.

That spirit of defiance...

..and outrage...

..and anger...

..can only be inspired by the most despotic injustice.

Innocents shot in the back,

shot walking to school.

Houses broken into in the night by soldiers.

Mothers humiliated, fathers dragged away to camps for no reason

other than their belief in justice and freedom.

And now our volunteers locked up like common criminals.

All that happening to people like us

just a few miles across a narrow stretch of sea.

Ordinary men and women...

..made giants and heroes by the infamy of occupation.

Bardon.

How we respond to our oppression

will be remembered forever in songs like the songs you sing, Bardy boy.

You speak very well, Eamonn.

I hope that the boy listens as well as you speak.

Right.

She's ready.

Let's go.

# Right proudly high over Dublin Town

# They hung out the flag of war

# The world did gaze with deep amaze

# At those fearless men but true

# Who bore the fight that freedom's light

# Might shine through the foggy dew. #

Jesus, I've a question.

I made that promise that I made in your name for a reason.

Not because I wanted to.

I did it to save a boy.

I imagine you'll know him.

Dante.

You know what he's like -

helpless, like a...

Well, he's not really like anything.

Anyway, I made the promise that I made in your name

to save him from a beating.

Now I need your permission...

..to break that promise.

How do you feel, Bardon?

I feel OK.

So why did you just forget to indicate?

The last thing we want is to be picked up for a traffic offence.

Do you want some music?

You like music.

# ..hangs up the phone

# When you're in love with a beautiful woman

# You go it alone... #

Tell me, how's your music thing going?

It's going OK.

You're doing music with Dante.

Yeah.

He is a strange boy.

Yeah. I'm talking for a reason.

To be calm, you have to think of other things.

It relaxes you.

I don't like this stuff on the radio.

RADIO OFF All right.

What do you like?

Our own stuff.

Tell me about the music you're making.

Ska. Two-tone.

Never heard of it.

It's a mix of things.

Black and white.

Are you telling me no Irish ballads?

A bit of everything...

..from Birmingham and Coventry.

We're mixing everything up.

What? So, you're going to be famous, are you, Bardon?

Yeah.

One way or another.

# I bought my baby a red radio

# He played it all day a-go-go a-go-go

# He liked to dance to it down in the streets

# He said he loved me but he loved the beat

# It's just the same old show # On my radio

# On my radio, on my radio, on my radio... #

What's happened to your promise to Jesus?

I had a very open conversation with him.

He knows ya.

And he likes ya.

He knows me through my dad, most probably.

Anyway, he said it's OK.

He said I only made the promise to stay away from ya to save ya.

And to break a bad promise for a good reason is OK.

So, I can see you again.

What do you think?

Jeannie, I don't want to talk, because I'm saving my voice.

Now that I am a singer as well as a poet, I've made a resolution

to only use 700 words a day, to save my vocal cords.

How many have you used today? 12.

Not counting since I met you.

So, don't talk, listen.

The main reason I needed to see you,

my dad fixes factory roofs.

I go with him sometimes.

He's working on a place in Coventry.

I was there today.

And it's fucking perfect!

Perfect for what?

For us to record in. To record my songs,

I need a place that is as much like Coventry Cathedral as possible.

Dante, this place is like a cathedral.

And it's empty for six months.

It's in Coventry, so Bardon's got no excuse for not turning up.

Come on, or we'll miss the bus.

When we get to the street,

we've had a volunteer disable the lampposts

directly outside the exchange.

Park in the darkness.

Kill your lights before you park.

Once we park, we get out and go our separate ways.

There's a phone box on the Alcester Road.

We checked. It's working.

You know the code word.

Yeah.

After you've made a call, go to your pub where people know you.

I don't go to any pubs. I'm still studying, you know? You are?

Still handing in my essays, like a good boy.

Then, that's good. That's OK.

Keep everything else in your life normal.

Yeah! Normal! Yeah!

Fuck!

TYRES SCREECH

Steady!

Jesus! You'll blow us all to hell!

Let's just drive through.

There's a fucking great hole in the road!

Well, find another way, then.

The exchange is on a dead end.

This is the only way in.

Well, that's real bad luck. Right?

Fucking awful bit of bad luck.

Right?

In this town they dig up the roads all the time.

I need to call command.

The fuck making a call!

This timer is set.

30 minutes, this van gets blown to hell.

Let's just find a police station and park outside.

I can't just pull a target out of the fucking air

without speaking to command!

They want no civilian casualties.

Wait! Who the fuck is that?

Dad, just tell me where to drive and I'll drive.

The boy sounds anxious.

No.

We go back and unload.

Terry, disable the timer.

Shit!

They dug a hole right where we wanted to go.

Awful, awful bad luck.

# Ba!

# Baah!

# Ba!

# Baaaaah! #

So what do you think?

You're right.

It's a cathedraaaal!

We can record everything here.

# Bo!