Scene 1: Ruth's radio show

RUTH: Hello, Ruth Streeting here once again with "Streeting's Street", where you get the word straight from the street. This is the show that dishes the dirt on the dirt. Strictly no rock star bullshit on my show. I don't review pop anymore, I talk about anything I like … or anything I hate. Talking of which, remember that clapped-out 60's hell-raiser Ray High? Rumor has it the sad old lush can't do it anymore … I mean "make records".

I'm an English boy
I was brought up right
Hold me down
And I will bite
I know no fear
I serve with joy
I'm proud to be here
An English boy

I feel like a stray dog
Blurred like a movie
You say you've come to arrest me
But you're just trying to test me
I'm bored with your prejudice
Spreading like a fever
Your promises to train me
Are just attempts to restrain me

I am an English boy
Precisely made
You can pin me down
I am not afraid
I show no fear
I will serve with joy
Proud to be here
An English boy

Use me like a headline
Cut pieces to pieces
I'm black on the tube line
Red on the touch-line
Freezing up the future
Stopping every stop-watch
You say we're moving like an oil slick
Thicker than a house brick

I'm an English boy
I was brought up right
If you raise your dress
Then I will bite
My voice is clear
I got perfect poise
Good to be down here
With all the English boys

And I don't know where I am now
Or where I'm gonna go
I keep going round and round on the Circle Line
Like some demented kind of commuter
Trying to avoid paying for my ticket
I'm a lost soul
I read about myself in the newspapers
I'm a pig
I'm a thug
I've got nowhere to go but down

RUTH: I hear his manager, Rastus Knight, is pulling what's left of his hair out. The only thing Ray's writing these days are large checks to his booze merchants. He's a serious recluse now. Hasn't seen daylight or another woman since his old lady walked out two years ago. Poor little sausage, brooding in that twenty-two room glass mansion. Life's a bitch, and so am I.

Feel like I'm kicking at a dead man
Kicking in the chorus
I'm broken by hatred
While politicians just ignore us
You never gave me any value
You didn't give me any reason
There's no tools, and no toys
For any English boy

I'm an English boy
I was brought up right
Hold me down
And I will bite
Know no fear
I will serve with joy
Proud to be here
An English boy, yeah!

I'm an English boy, yeah!
I'm an English boy
I'm an English boy
No tools, no toys for any English boys
English boy
English boy

Scene 2: Rastus and Ray

RAY: Look, I need something more than playing empty halls for you and your fucking Freemason cronies.

RASTUS: What you need Ray is a kick up the bloody ass. I'm runnin' out of your money. If you must be introspective, at least do it in public. Millions want to share in your loneliness and your misery. You'll have to put out something new. Soon you'll have no choice. You'll have to try.

RAY: The press slaughtered me, Rastus. I need to be back in control of my own existence. Until then, leave off.

RASTUS: What are you up to Ray, eh? What keeps you amused? How do you stand this solitude after all that bloody fun? What are you now? You're mature.

RAY: Mature?! I'm not mature, I'm … I'm just derelict! Look, inside I'm the same as I ever was.

Scene 3: A scene from "Gridlife"

CROWD: We demand a universal Grid! We demand a universal Grid! We demand a universal Grid! We demand a universal Grid!

Scene 4: Ray speaking into a tape recorder

RAY: ID - Ray High, Gridlife Chronicles. November the tenth, 1992. I'm working on my own in here, going over some old music I did in 1970. It's got something, something special. I could really dream then. It ain't such a bad dream either.

Scene 5: Walking to a club

RAY: I've been completely degraded by chasing publicity. Degraded! Yeah, I'll never go back. I know too much. I know how it's done. I can't discover it all over again, make it seem new.

RASTUS: You're great, Ray. You know that, man. Here, hold up. This is the place.

RAY: What? Can't go in here. That bloody cow Ruth Streeting uses this club. She hates my guts.

RASTUS: It's her job to hate your guts. She's a journalist. It's nothing personal. Oh sod it, I forgot, of course she won't be here. She's in the States. Oh c'mon, let's go in anyway. We've got to get back in the mainstream sometime. Come on, you own shares in the place.

RAY: That cow wrote that I'm ugly.

RASTUS: Well, you are ugly.

RAY: I'm not.

RASTUS: Yes you are.

RAY: No, I'm not!

RASTUS: Well, you are, actually.

RAY: Oh bollocks. Oh, let's go in.

(instrumental)

Scene 6: In the club

MAN IN CLUB: Are you Harold Pinter?

WOMAN IN CLUB: Noel Coward, I think. [singing in mock-operatic voice] "Let's get pretentious, put on an act. Let's get portentious and embroider the facts." (laughs)

Let's get pretentious
Put on an act
Let's be portentious
And embroider facts
Exaggerate it
Dress up the bland
Let's over-rate it
Let the critics be damned

Let's get sensuous
Put on some airs
Let's drink Kahluas
And sit bored on the stairs
Let's get excited
When we say hello
Let's be delighted
Though it's nobody we know

I don't know much
But I know what I like
I don't know much
But so-and-so said such-and-such
I don't know much
But I know what I like
I don't know much

Let's find a market
For sparkling wit
Let's make a target
Of anyone with a hit
Let's keep some secrets
Let's make them up
Put them together
Then break them up

I don't know much
But I know what I like
I don't know much
So-and-so said such-and-such
I don't know much
But I know what I like
I don't know much

RAY: Oh God, this place is crawling with journalists. I hate the fucking lot of 'em.

RASTUS: Oh Ray, you've got to play the game, eh? I mean, you've got to believe.

RAY: You know what I think?

RASTUS: What?

RAY: If you've got beauty or talent you're going get caught up in some kind of prostitution. Well, it's inevitable. That's all it was, my life on the road: prostitution. We're all cunts after all. Get me another drink.

RASTUS: As you know Ray, I find all this fascinating. Pity Ruth Streeting's missin' it.

RAY: Oh, she'll get it, she'll get it, all right. But my way. Don't you worry. My story'll get told.

I don't know much
But I know what I like
I don't know much
Now so-and-so said such-and-such
I don't know much
But I know what I like
I don't know much

Let's get pretentious
Put on an act
Let's be portentious
And embroider the facts
Exaggerate it
Dress up the bland
Let's over-rate it
Let the critics be damned

Scene 7: In another part of the same club

RASTUS: Ruth, wow. Hey, you look wonderful in black leather.

RUTH: It's not leather you twerp, it's rubber.

RASTUS: Hey watch it, you call me a "twerp" again and I might have to get me bicycle pump out.

RUTH: Talking of flat tires, how's Ray?

RASTUS: I can't get anything out of him. He must have some dough stashed away, and he's up to something, but fuck knows what it is. You know, he still reads his fan mail, but he doesn't reply to it anymore. I don't know what'll fire him up.

RUTH: Bet I could fire him up.

RASTUS: Yeah?

RUTH: Yeah, I could do it. You say he still reads his fan mail?

RASTUS: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, if you can do something Ruth, we could shift millions, you know that? And I'll cut you in. I would.

RUTH: I might have an idea. But it'd be dangerous … especially for Ray.

Scene 8: A scene from "Gridlife"

SPINNER: My name is Spinner. Athena, the controller of the Life Experience Grid, is neglecting her job. She makes experience programs. These implement virtual reality systems. The programs are fed to anyone wearing Gridlife suits. They are for refuge from pollution or radiation during Grid-sleep curfews. The programs replace life.

(instrumental)

Scene 9: A scene from "Gridlife": An advertisement for "The Grid"

ATHENA: You are safe from harm on The Grid. You are safe from harm.

You are safe from harm on The Grid.
You are safe from harm.

This is the dream that I wake up dreaming
Lovin' my lover under dawn-pink skies
A perfect design that I wake up scheming
What I recall when I first open my eyes

ATHENA: You will receive life programs that precisely suit your needs and desires. Our planet is challenged. Decent people need to be protected. So, enjoy the present while we hope for the future. Slip on to the Life Experience Grid today.

This is the tune that you're always hearing
What you'll remember when you've broken the ties
We're dancing together as the sun is appearing
Again and again you awake in surprise

MAN IN AD: Phew. That was some life. I wanted it to go on forever.

WOMAN IN AD: Me too. I enjoyed it.

MAN IN AD: Yes. And in the next program we'll get the balance we need to continue our evolution …

Early morning dreams

Scene 10: A scene from "Gridlife"

SPINNER: Athena controls newspapers, TV stations and all media, including the Grid. You're all consumers. And I belive you need truth to develop morality and decency. The Grid always provides facts, but facts don't always reveal the truth.

Early morning dreams are the best kind of dreams

You feel so tender - you feel so wet
You feel so secure - so deep in love and yet
The feeling is fleeting
You're a fugitive, safe at last
Your heart is beating
Will you relive the recent past?

Early morning dreams come true
I've proved it now that I'm here with you
You, here by my side
I'm siding with you
Early morning dreams come true

Early morning dreams …

Scene 11: Ray writes a letter

RAY: Dear Rosalind. Thank you for your letter. It seems really odd that you've written to me at this moment. I need someone to talk to now more than ever. Your dream sounds wonderful. You want to be a star? It could happen. I'm working on a dream project myself. It's something I've been involved with for years. When I saw the stunning photo in your letter, I was reminded of the things I had to go through to get noticed when I was your age. We both share complicated problems. If I try to help you, will you swear to keep it secret? Yours sincerely, Ray High.

RAY: (to himself) She'll find out what being a star really feels like.

Early morning dreams come true

Scene 12: In a swimming pool

RAY: She sent me a Polaroid of herself.

RASTUS: What? That Rosalind?

RAY: Yeah. On her mother's grave.

RASTUS: (laughs)

RAY: It wasn't meant to be funny. It was erotic.

RASTUS: What, you though a photo of a girl lying on her mother's grave was erotic?

RAY: Well, she was naked. Stark fucking naked.

RASTUS: Well … was she gorgeous or what?

RAY: Yeah. But the weird thing was she had witch's teats.

RASTUS: Witch's whats?

RAY: Witch's teats. They're two little extra nipples below her tits.

RASTUS: Only four nipples? Poor underprivileged kid.

RAY: She says … she says she can sing and dance. She's dancing topless now in San Francisco.

RASTUS: With four nipples I could get a double fee.

(Rastus laughs)

Scene 13: Ruth's radio show

RUTH: Well, would you believe that after my mention of Ray High last week, he's been seen out and about in the big city. Until now, Ray's been locked away struggling with a follow-up to his last mega-excess. But rumor was he couldn't even open a bottle without a drink inside him. There was talk of a nervous breakdown. He's even got up the nose of his sexy manager. Poor old Rastus Knight now has a challenged coke habit. I've always had a soft spot for Rastus, and I've often seen him looking at it. While I was away in 'Frisco, I hear Ray went into my club and sat at my table. Why thanks Ray, that put an end to happy hour. Why my place anyway, Ray? Nobody there who's anybody cares two filofaxes about peace and love. I heard about you Mr. Stinking-Rich / Has-Been / Rodent / Drinking-Vintage-Krug-As-Though-It-Was-Two-Bob-A-Bottle. I'll be watching out for you.

Free ride to the house of life …
Free ride

I work hard at my job
I save and I save
I know what I deserve
After all that I gave
You know I want that thing
You know I want that thing

Put aside a little money
Almost every day
When I think that I'm close
It just gets further away
You know I want that thing
I want that thing

Free ride to the house of life
I want that thing
Free ride to the house of life
I want that thing
Free ride to the house of life
I want that thing
Free ride to the house of life
I want that thing
Free ride
I want it, I want it, I want it
Free ride

I don't know if it's truth
Don't know if it's lies
I just can't be aloof
To what you advertise
You know I want that thing
I want that thing
C'mon boys

I can't wait
Any longer to choose
Can't get my own
Gonna have to take yours from youse
I want that thing
I really want that thing

I want it, I want it
I really, really, really want it

Free ride
I want that thing
Free ride
I want that thing
Free ride to the house of life
I want that thing
Free ride to the house of life
I want that thing
Free ride

Scene 14: A scene from "Gridlife"

SPINNER: I've planned an alternative. I will secretly commandeer one of the Gridlife studios and stage a live rock concert for every single person wearing Grid suits. That's fifty percent of the world's population. The result will be amazing. Everyone who experiences the concert will slip out of their suit and come to the show. They will be drawn to it. This will produce the biggest live concert audience in history.

Scene 15: Ray writes a letter

RAY: Dear Rosalind, An answer to all your questions: firstly, I'm afraid it wouldn't help you to feel secure. In fact, it would defeat you. Insecurity is the principal driving force we performers share. Secondly, like you, something awful happened to me as a child, but I learned from it. The only power available to you lies in your submission. Isn't that what the photo was all about? Remember, you don't have to bury the past or the pain. You can use it.

I breathe
My throat clenches
Clutching to exclude
A dozen different stenches
In Falmouth Bay
A blue whale rolls
Gonna drown from the swill
From city sewer holes
Summers longer
Deltas gashed
Ancient trees
Uprooted, smashed
Time is generous - more, take more
Time is generous - more, take more
Time is generous - more, take more
I must outrun the dinosaur

RAY: As to your question about how this will affect your career, the great artist is just like a child, and intuitively understands the need to submit to the audience. Do you begin to see the secret?

A silent temple
Marble-hard
Decays and softens
Battle-scarred
A relic deaf
To bits and streams
In polo-necks
In perfect jeans
Obsessed with silence
Spiked by noise
I hold my son
I plan his toys
Time expansive - more, take more
Time expansive - more, take more
Time expansive - more, take more
I must outlive the dinosaur

RAY: Lastly, you must be prepared to test yourself. Why not try the song I have enclosed? It's an outtake from a secret project I'm working on called "Gridlife". The tape you sent shows you can sing, so … sing.

Rising rivers
Drown new shoots
Words and breath
In death - cahoots
The strong survive
To wean more brutes
Who grow and seed
Extend their roots
Cowards, bombs
And scab recruits
Like mokeys trapped
In monkey suits
Time is plentiful - more, take more
Time is plentiful - more, take more
Time is plentiful - more, take more
I must outfight the dinosaur

Time is plentiful - more, take more …

More, take more
Take more
More
More

Scene 16: Ray writes a letter

RAY: Dear Rosalind, thanks for the new tape. You did my song very well. But, be careful. Celebrities believe their actions affect the behavior of their fans. It is a conceit the press reinforce. They suggest they entrust their precious readers into the hands of the performer. But it's really the performer who entrusts his audience to the press. You must serve the press as well as the audience. For me, a journalist called Ruth Streeting has become a symbol for the press and the establishment. They can't accept that a shit like me has value. I've always needed to make a crowd look away from the beautiful toward me. The more distasteful Ruth Streeting finds that need, the more driven I am to perform especially for her. Her disgust is the most powerful motivator of the artist in me. And as this is the last time I'm writing to you, I can tell you now something that I hardly belive has happened. I have fallen in love with her.

You shone a light for me to follow
Knowing I would
You graced me with a precious gift
That no-one else could
Touched by your presence I surrender, oh yeah
You gave me a lead and I was a follower
A quest to succeed, I am a discoverer

Oh flame, you set me on fire
Nothing can take me any higher
I'm fueled on emotion
And full of desiree
Flame, show me the way, uh huh

Now and then you see a soul and you fall in love
You can't do a thing about it
Now and then you see a soul and you fall in love
You can't do a thing about it
Now and then you see a soul and you fall in love
You can't do a thing about it
Now and then you see a soul and you fall in love
You can't do a thing about it

In you I saw someone that I recognized
Had no idea what was in your mind
I met your eyes and I was hypnotized
I let our lives become entwined

Now and then you see a soul and you fall in love
You can't do a thing about it
Now and then you see a soul and you fall in love
You can't do a thing about it

I feel so badly darlin' all the time
I have tortured you so long
But I am helpless in this pantomime
I am aware that I was wrong

Now and then you see a soul and you fall in love
You can't do a thing about it
Now and then you see a soul and you fall in love
You can't do a thing about it
Now and then you see a soul and you fall in love
You can't do a thing about it
Now and then you see a soul and you fall in love
You can't do a thing about it

For though you knew that I was twice your age
To make you laugh seemed youth enough
I thought we'd love and then you'd turn the page
I'd have to suffer your rebuff

And it was me who had the most to gain
Despite the fact that I now have lost
The only love that ever caused me pain
I feel like a double head was tossed

Now and then you see a soul and you fall in love
Now and then you see a soul and you fall in love
Now and then you see a soul and you fall in love

Now and then you see a soul and you fall in love
You can't do a thing about it

Scene 17: A call on Rastus' answering machine

RUTH: Rastus? It's Ruth. Uh, I've got something to show you. Look, it's a bit complicated. I've got Ray where I want him now - I'm gonna act. I'm gonna act soon. This is gonna be big, so you better be ready, OK? Um, but before I do anything else, we need to talk about my commission.

Um, I'll see you tomorrow. I might be a bit late, but I will be there this time. Uh, so, call me back tonight. Anyway … OK?

I stand beside you
I face the future
I'll admit it to you
I am afraid
I am afraid
As I stand beside you
I have denied you
I am afraid

I am not drunk now
I am not pilled down
My windows wound down
I am not brainwashed
I am not running
I am not hiding
My bet's still riding
I am afraid

I swing you high-o
I swing you low-a
I see your eye-o
I see you grow-a
I hear you crying
Your brother's dying
Be no more lying
I am afraid

Scene 18: Ruth's radio show

RUTH: Well, who'd have thought it? Thanks to my expose, all hell broke loose for Ray High as the "Porno Pen Pal" story burst upon us this week. It started harmlessly enough when pretty American fifteen-year-old Rosalind Nathan wrote to her pop hero, Ray High.

I am afraid
As I stand beside you
I have denied you
I am afraid
I stand beside you
I face the future
I'll admit to ya
I am afraid

By my religion
I stand here naked
I cannot fake it
With God as witness
My little children
Who wait for feedin'
I watch you bleedin'
I am afraid

I am afraid
As I stand beside you
I have denied you
I am afraid
I stand beside you
I face the future
I'll admit to ya
I am afraid

RUTH: High, one-time psychedelic flower child, now turned alcoholic vegetable, frantically encouraged a sordid series of what can only be described as letters. This steamy correspondence climaxed in this wide-eyed, innocent fourteen year-old's now infamous photo, with its suggestion of nakedness, underage necrophilia, and incest. High issued a series of what can only be described as "instructions" by return-of-post alledgedly inducting this vulnerable little waif into his so-called secrets of stardom. She opened her heart to him. She loved to sing. But he seized upon her gullibility to test out his weird theories. Why did he encourage her? What was he after? Was she pushed? I think we should be told. Now there's been a dramatic new development. Although Ray High's albums have been re-released this week, decent normal people will be more interested in young Rosalind. She's a brilliant songwriter, a brilliant singer, and with my help, has just released a brilliant new record. I predict a smash hit for this talented, sexy, nubile young singer so rudely abused by that slimeball, Ray High.

Scene 19: Ray arrives at Rastus' place

RAY: What the fuck are you doing here, Ruth? You've come to gloat, have you?

RUTH: I'm with Rastus.

RAY: Rastus? … You? … Rastus?

RUTH: Yeah. I'm staying here as his guest. He's worried about the scandal. Thinks it could be the end of you.

RAY: Ruth, what do you really want? What are you doing here?

Make me of clay, make me of steel
But whatever you do don't try to make me real
Make me your dream, a secretive deal
But don't ever scheme to try to make me real

Stop trying to make me real
I haven't got the kind of heart a lover can steal
Stop crying, I just can't feel
Any sympathy for someone trying to make me real

Make me of shit in a two-tenner deal
Make me of pornography in a pedophile wheel
Whatever I do, whatever I feel
By your double standard I will never be real

Stop trying to make me real
I haven't got the kind of heart a lover can steal
Stop crying, I just can't feel
Any sympathy for someone trying to make me real

Make me real

Why can't you settle for a fantasy?
You're so convinced that I'm the man to see
I can't live up to
What you give up to
I fail to see the perfect man in me

Make me from your magazine - a listed ideal
Dress me in the doll's house your knickers conceal
Make me your brother-lover beau-ideal
But you will soon discover, lover, can't be real

Stop trying to make me real
I haven't got the kind of heart a lover can steal
Stop crying, I just can't feel
Any sympathy for someone trying to make me real

Stop trying to make me real
I haven't got the kind of heart a lover can steal
Stop crying, I just can't feel
Any sympathy for someone trying to make me real

Don't try to make me real, oh no
I got no sympathy
No sympathy for someone trying to make me real

Stop trying to make me real
I haven't got the kind of heart a lover can steal
Stop crying, I just can't feel
Any sympathy for someone trying to make me real

Scene 20: Ruth, Rastus, and a whip in the bedroom

RUTH: Oh Rastus you bastard! Why so bloody hard? Ray might hear us - he'd be jealous.

RASTUS: Why would he be jealous?!

RUTH: Because he loves me! He said so in one of his letters to Rosalind.

RASTUS: Turn over. Here, what are these marks?

RUTH: Do you like them? One person in a million has these.

RASTUS: Yeah, I know. Witch's teats.

RUTH: Oh Rastus you fantastic bastard. Harder! Harder!

Your love is so predictable
I can rely on you to blow my brain
You always know which trick to pull
I can predict you'll drive me wild - insane

Your love is so predictable, oh yes it is
Your love is so predictable, oh yes it is
Your love is so predictable
Your love is so predictable, yeah

Your body's so delectable
I know for sure I'm gonna be amazed
You get me so erectable
I predict your gonna leave me raised

Your love is so predictable, oh yes it is
Your love is so predictable, oh yes it is
Your love is so predictable, you can guarantee
Your love is so predictable, predictable

Your love is always so theatrical
My performance better make you rave
Or I will have to hear the cat-you-call
I know how bad you can misbehave, baby

Now listen to this!

Most lovers' lovin' is heart-a-beatin', it
Depends on tension to keep intact
This lover's lovin' is hard to beat, it
Will a-lend pretentions to the matter-of-fact

Your love is so predictable
You take this Taurus boy by the horn
But you know how to trick the bull
I can predict you're gonna leave me torn

Your love is so, so theatrical
My performance better make you rave
Or I will have to hear the cat-you-call
I know how bad you misbehave

Your love is so

Scene 21: Rastus and Ruth

ANNOUNCER ON RADIO: Number one this week, Roz Nathan with "Flame".

RUTH: There you go Rastus. It's Rosalind on the radio. I can't wait to see Ray's face.

RASTUS: Yeah, well I can't wait to see Rosalind's fuckin' face. Of course, I won't, will I? Because it's you, isn't it, eh? You! You were Rosalind, that picture was of you. You dirty cow. You couldn't have been older than, what, fourteen? No wonder Ray started writing to you.

RUTH: How did you find out? Oh, of course, the witch's teats. Me and a couple of girls at school took it, we were about twelve. Ray believes Rosalind's uncle Charlie took it … by force.

RASTUS: I knew you were smart Ruth, but not that smart.

RUTH: It worked anyway, his old records are selling like mad.

RASTUS: So, uh, he write wrote your song, then?

RUTH: That would be telling.

You shone a light for me to follow
Knowing I would
You graced me with a precious gift
That no-one else could
Touched by your presence I surrender, oh yeah
You gave me a lead and I was a follower
A quest to succeed, I am a discoverer

Flame, you set me on fire
Nothing can take me any higher
I'm fueled on emotion
And full of desire
Flame, show me the way

You gave me a lead and I was a follower
A quest to succeed, I am a discoverer
Oh, hold out the flame and feel the power

Flame, you set me on fire
Nothing can take me any higher
I'm fueled on emotion
And full of desire
Flame

Oh flame, you set me on fire

Scene 22: Rastus' place

RUTH: I'm not gonna turn my back on Rosalind now. You manipulated her! Careful what you say, I'll print it.

RAY: I don't give a smorgasboard about that load of old bollocks you churn out.

RASTUS: Now, now, Ray. Don't get introspective. We've got the headlines, we're back in calculator country!

RAY: I helped her deal with her problem!

RUTH: She doesn't have a problem. Do you?

RAY: She knows I do. If she were here now, we could ask her, couldn't we Rastus?

RASTUS: Well, we could, yeah, if she was here.

RAY: Are you saying nothing I wrote helped her?

RUTH: No, you just helped her become a fucking star.

Scene 23: A scene from "Gridlife"

SPINNER: You will each hear your own song, each your own note, your own vibration in the cosmos. All of you will know one another through the other songs. You will blend and get in harmony. As you blend, your song will change. And at the end, your music will turn into a sound so complete, that it will show us that we all are one. Free. We are in tune.

Scene 24: Ray and Ruth

RAY: I know what you've been up to.

RUTH: All right, but I know what your game is too. The words of Rosalind's song say it all, really, don't they? What a worry you are, Raymond Highsmith.

(instrumental)

RAY: Ruth, you don't get it, do you? I knew all the time.

You can fake it
Hold my hand
If you fake it
I will understand

I don't care if you fake it
I don't give a damn
I don't care if you fake it
Don't you understand

You might laugh at me later
But why not smile at me now
Don't ever feel like a traitor
You're not letting me down

Fake it, fake it
I can take it
Love's just an end, it's the means we feel
Fake it, fake it
I can make it
Why not pretend that your love is real
Why not fake it?

I'm going to ask you to act it
Don't let me see if you're bored
If you use the right tactic
You will hear me applaud

I don't mind what you're thinking
I'll just guess what you feel
Don't regret you've been drinking
To make your pleasure look real

Fake it, fake it
I can take it
I don't believe in eternity
Fake it, fake it
Help me make it
I've taken leave of all dignity
Why not fake it?

(spoken):
I am prepared to put up with this because I love you so much. And I know that you probably don't love me in the same way, but if you care for me at all then take me in your arms.

Fabricate the way you feel
I'll just pretend that it's all for real
Fake it anyway, yeah!

Fake it, fake it
I can take it
I don't believe in eternity
Fake it, fake it
Help me make it
I've taken leave of all dignity
Fake it, fake it
I can take it
Love's just an end, it's the means we feel
Fake it, fake it
I can make it
Why not pretend that your love is real
Why not fake it?

Why not pretend that your love is real

You can fake it
Hold my hand
If you fake it
I will understand

Scene 25: Rastus and Ruth

RASTUS: There you go, Ruth. There's your cut. Five percent. That's sixty grand. Back to my place.

RUTH: Sixty-thousand pounds. Not much for what I dreamed up.

RASTUS: Well, it's fifteen grand a nipple. (laughs) It's not bad.

RUTH: Five percent of what he's getting … he's a rich boy, isn't he?

RASTUS: Don't worry, there'll be more. It worked, that's all that matters. He's in his element. This is just the beginning. Tours, TV, toot and tarts. Back where we belong: on top. And no more letters. At least he's finished with all that.

Now and then you see a soul and you fall in love
You can't do a thing about it
Now and then you see a soul and you fall in love
You can't do a thing about it
Now and then you see a soul and you fall in love
You can't do a thing about it
Now and then you see a soul and you fall in love
You can't do a thing about it
Now and then you see a soul and you fall in love
You can't do a thing about it
Now and then you see a soul and you fall in love
You can't do a thing about it
Now and then you see a soul and you fall in love
You can't do a thing about it
Now and then you see a soul and you fall in love
You can't do a thing about it

Scene 26: Ray writes a letter

RAY: Dear Lily. Thank you for the pictures. You look really nice. I am back in the studio again. The press seem to have finished with me for now. Because of the Roz Nathan affair, my old albums are back in the charts. I'm getting hundreds of letters and photographs now, and for that I am very thankful.

Now and then you see a soul and you fall in love
You can't do a thing about it
Now and then you see a soul and you fall in love
You can't do a thing about it
Now and then you see a soul and you fall in love
You can't do a thing about it
Now and then you see a soul and you fall in love
You can't do a thing about it

Now and then you see a soul and you fall in love
You can't do a thing about it
Now and then you see a soul and you fall in love
You can't do a thing about it
Now and then you see a soul and you fall in love
You can't do a thing about it
Now and then you see a soul and you fall in love
You can't do a thing about it

Scene 27: In the recording studio

RASTUS: Hey hey! This is gonna be great. What a team.

RUTH: Shut up, Rastus. Ray, love, are you ready? I know this is difficult for you, but you do have such a wonderful dream to share. We must bring it to the world.

RASTUS: Yeah!

RUTH: It's a great vision.

RASTUS: Yeah!

RUTH: We must try and start again, it could save the planet.

RASTUS: Yeah!

RUTH: Shut up, Rastus. So, when you're ready, sweetheart.

For though you knew that I was twice your age
To make you laugh seemed youth enough
I thought we'd love and then you'd turn the page
I'd have to suffer your rebuff

And it was me who had the most to gain
Despite the fact that I now have lost
The only love that ever caused me pain
I feel like a double head was tossed

Now and then you see a soul and you fall in love
Now and then you see a soul and you fall in love
Now and then you see a soul and you fall in love

Now and then you see a soul and you fall in love
You can't do a thing about it

Scene 28: A scene from "Gridlife"

SPINNER: Music and vibrations are the basis of everything. They pervade everything. Human consciousness is reflected by them. Atoms are vibrations between positive and negative forces. Some very subtle, some complex, but, it's all music. Soon, we will switch in the whole world. Every person wearing an experience suit will share this adventure with us.

Scene 29: In the recording studio

RAY: The crowd rush in. Three circles closing fast to form a perfect cushion as he lands. As Spinner hits the crowd and the long, sustained final chord suddenly ends …

RUTH: Ray, I've cut all this. Go straight to twenty-eight.

(instrumental)

I was an English boy
I was brought up right
You could hold me down
And I would bite
I knew no fear
I served with joy
I was proud to be here
An English boy

You spray like a tomcat
Piss like a stray dog
Swear like a sailor
Speaking in gang-tongues
Kicking in chorus
Stabbing to order
Slashing like a blind man
Lost like a soldier

I was an English boy
Precisely made
You could pin me down
I was not afraid
I showed no fear
And I served with joy
I was so proud to be here
An English boy

Blurred like a movie
Grey under streetlights
Grey in the sunshine
So black on the tube line
White on the touch-line
Moving like a fever
Spreading like oil slick
Thicker than a house brick

I was an English boy
I was brought up right
If you raised your dress
Then I would bite
My voice was clear
I had perfect poise
Was good to be down here
With all the English boys

And I don't know where I am now
Or where I'm gonna go
I keep going round and round on the Circle Line
Like some demented kind of commuter
Trying to avoid paying for my ticket
I'm a lost soul
I read about myself in the newspapers
I'm a pig
I'm a thug
I've got nowhere to go but down

Stand up when I'm taking to you boy
Stand up when I'm taking to you boy
Stand up! …

Slow like a prejudice
Broken like hatred
Kicking at a dead man
Cut pieces to pieces
Marking your territory
Freezing the future
Stopping the stopwatch
I am despairing

I was an English boy
I was brought up right
You could hold me down
And I would bite
I knew no fear
And I served with joy
I was proud to be here
An English boy

I was an English boy, yes I was
I was an English boy …

Scene 30: Ray addresses the audience

RAY: "Gridlife" was a vision, a real vision. Not a fiction, not a fairy tale, a glimpse of the future. Today, twenty years later, the apocalypse it foresaw is nearer. But, whatever you read in the newspapers, we still don't have any alternative reality. It's all games now: all lies and deceit. What happened to the truth? What happened to the dream? What happened to all that lovely hippy shit?