Daily Dialogue — November 11, 2014
Mr. Chalmers: Now that was the Def Penalty Kru with Murder Fo’ Life. Our next big act is Marcus Brewer……singing Roberta Flack’s beloved Killing Me Softly. He’ll be accompanied by Simon Cosgrove on the recorder.
Simon: Marcus, I can’t do this. -That lot’s going to shit all over us.
Marcus: But you said…
Simon: I’m sorry. Here’s your 5 quid back.
Mr. Chalmers: Any moment now. Come on, Marcus, you wally!
Will: Wait! Wait!
Mr. Chalmers: Excuse me. What is going on here?
Will: Nothing. Everything’s under control. I’m just his voice coach.
Marcus: What are you doing here?
Will: I heard you were about to commit social suicide, so I dropped by.
Marcus: My accompanist left!
Will: Brilliant. You don’t have to do it.
Marcus: I can’t do that.
Will: Yeah, you can. Just tell them: Artistic differences. You can’t work without him. He had a drug problem, it’s easy.
Marcus: My mum wants me to sing it. It’ll make her happy.
Will: Look, mate, nothing you do can make your mum happy, all right? Not in the long term. She has to do that for herself.
Mr. Chalmers: Get over here right now!
Will: Just bugger off, will you! What I’m saying is, the important thing is to make yourself feel happy.
Marcus: I’ve tried just making myself happy. She’s tried making herself happy. It doesn’t work. You need other people to make you happy.
Will: But that’s just it. If other people can make you happy then they can also make you unhappy. What, you think those people out there are going to make you happy? Hang on. Wait. Marcus, don’t. Marcus! Bollocks.
Kids in Audience: Come on, Britney! Yeah, give us a song, then.
Marcus: This is for my mum. I heard he sang a good song, I heard he had a style, And so I came to see him to listen for a while. And there he was this young boy, a stranger to my eyes
Kids in Audience: You’re rubbish, mate!
Marcus: Strumming my pain with his fingers, Singing my life with his words
Audience: (Booing, cat-calling)
Marcus: Killing me softly with his song, Killing me softly
Kid in Audience: Who the hell is that?
Marcus: Telling my whole life with his words, Killing me softly with his song
Marcus and Will: I felt all flushed with fever embarrassed by the crowd, I felt he found my letters and read each one out loud. I prayed that he would finish but he just kept right on, strumming my pain with his fingers, singing my life with his words, killing me softly
Kid in Audience: Give it a rest.
Marcus and Will: Killing me softly with his song, telling my whole life with his words killing me softly, with his song.
Will: He sang as if he knew me
Marcus: Will.
Will: In all my dark despair
Marcus: We’re finished.
Will: And then he looked right through me as if I wasn’t there
Marcus: Will, come on. Will, we’re finished.
Will (voiceover): So there I was, killing them softly with my song. Or rather, being killed. And not that softly, either. I was singing with my eyes closed. Was I frightened? I was petrified. This was definitely not island living.
Will: Killing me softly, With his song. Thank you, Finsbury. I’d like to introduce one or two members of the band. Marcus Brewer on vocals and tambourine. And that’s about it. Let’s get off quick. Get off.
— About a Boy (2002), screenplay by Peter Hedges and Chris Weitz & Paul Weitz, novel by Nick Hornby
The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Embarrassing Moment. Today’s suggestion by James Schramm.
Trivia: In the novel, the music that Will introduces Marcus to — and so in turn bonds with Ellie over — is not rap, but the band Nirvana. The book is actually set during the 1993–1994 period, and the story climaxes with the kids learning of and being affected by Nirvana lead singer Kurt Cobain’s 4/5/94 suicide (which within the context of the story has additional significance for Marcus). The title of the story is itself a pun on the Nirvana song “About A Girl”.
Dialogue On Dialogue: Commentary by James: “I love this scene because it is Will who is embarrassed for Marcus and ultimately himself but he can’t let Marcus go down in flames. Will finally overcomes his fears because Marcus was willing to commit social suicide for his mother. It is a very powerful scene.”
If you have any suggestions for this theme, please post in comments.