DRAMATIS PERSONAE
God
Ian Brown
Shaun Ryder
Archangel Gabriel
The Whore of Babylon
Jesus
Satan
The Soul Stars
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
War
Plague
Famine
Death
The Ghosts of Present, Past & Future
Elvis Presley
SONGS
BOLIVIA
TOMBSTONES
PSYCHEDELIA
JESUS COUNTRY HOME
TUMBLEWEED
BLUE STAR FIRE THUNDER
BABYLONIAN WAY
THE MAN & THE MUSIC
MOSES MOUNTAIN
MONKEY MESSIAH
WISDOM MINE
ATTITUDE
GROOVY SUPERNOVA
CLUB ARMAGEDDON
SHINY RIDERS
SOUL STARS
THE HEAVENLY UH-UH
PROLOGUE
Glastonbury, 1990 – Shaun Ryder & Kermit are hanging out taking drugs in the hold of the Happy Mondays tour bus
Kermit
What time you on?
Shaun Ryder
Dunno mate
Kermit
You don’t wanna have a look at the festival, then
Shaun Ryder
Fuck that – I aint going out there, Kermit, its mental
Kermit
It’s nice enough in here I suppose, a bit cramp’d like, but
Shaun Ryder
What’s that yer smoking
Kermit
Brother, this is the real deal, innit – proper Jamaican black
Shaun Ryder
Gizza draw
Kermit
Be careful with it, tho, its mixed with some really weird shit, man, its like having a nuclear war go off in yer head
Shaun Ryder
Sounds great
{takes the joint}
Cheers, nice one
{has a toot}
Wooah – what the fuck is that – Jesus Christ
Shaun Ryder passes out & begins to dream
SCENE 1
The world has been ripped apart by Nuclear War / Bolivia is the only country still untouched by the conflict / Enter God, flanked by the Archangel Gabriel & the Whore of Babylon / a chorus of angels
God
Hello
So, you wanna be a spaceman?
Blink once for yes, twice for no,
See, I told you so,
Friends feel the freedom, feel the flow
My one almighty funk-ass show
Ye painters, poets, know-it-alls
Club Armageddon Country Calls
From Casablanca to Ceylon
The cities fallen one-by-one
Plenty of worms & pachyderms
Were sinful, cutting short their terms
I’ve slain them by acidic rains
Now but one single place remains
Untouched by battles nuclear
The high lands of Bolivia
BOLIVIA
God
Heaven wonders who you are
Are you a bum or a superstar
Man can only go so far
Drop the bomb on Bolivia
Build a cave in a mountainside
Watch the planets slip & slide
Let the heavens be your guide
When they drop the bomb on Bolivia
Woe for Bolivia
Chorus
All the little people gonna take it away
Have faded away now, hear now, hear now
All the pretty people wanna take it away
Are faded away now, hear now, hear now
Chorus
Ooomcha, oomcha, oomcha, oomcha
Aaaaahh
Ooomcha, oomcha, oomcha, oomcha
Aayyyy
Jubiltah, Jubilate
Jubiltah, Jubilate
God
See the sunrise in your mind
Ultraviolet shines behind
Stare too long you might go blind
Drop the bomb on Bolivia
Take a walk thro’ a waterfall
Let the music heal your soul
Raise your glasses for them all
When they drop the bomb on Bolivia
Woeful oblivion
Chorus
All the little people gonna take it away
Have faded away now, hear now, hear now
All the crazy people wanna take it away
Are faded away now, hear now, hear now
Whore of Babylon
{ Ooomcha, oomcha, oomcha, oomcha…}
There’s a Jester’s Garden somewhere
In the wicked wizard wood
& in my lizard chamber
There’s a charlatan in danger
No-one knows where to run
From the big nuclear sun
Valhalla for vagrants
It’s taken us ages to find
The marvellous mellow one
Lo Dios en el Cielo
Marvellous mellow one
Whore of Babylon
No-one knows where she from
Archangel Gabriel
& the tasars set to stun
Whore of Babylon
They got a lazar
Whore of Babylon
A magic phase
Archangel Gabriel
It will amaze ya, blaze ya
Whore of Babylon & Archangel Gabriel
Fire blue
oo-oo-oo…
Archangel Gabriel
There’s a flame that burns for everyone
In the sun that shines so brightly
Lady Moon who I see nightly
Says it’s the Marvellous Mellow One
It’s gonna blow ya to kingdom come
Archangel Gabriel
It’s the Marvellous Mellow
Whore of Babylon
Oo! what a fellow
God
Lo Dios en el Cielo
Marvellous Mellow One
Whore of Babylon & Archangel Gabriel
The Marvellous Mellow one
Bolivia is destroyed by a nuclear explosion
SCENE 2
Ian Brown is wandering through the smoke, flames & wreckage of a post nuclear blast train disaster – the chorus are bodies
TOMBSTONES
Ian Brown
Well, I remember I was riding my train
When we sent flying by this hurricane
All those wicked winds they twisted the tracks
We had a sense of lying flat on our backs, but I say
No tombstones no, I’m alive…
There are so many tombstones, well who were you
Did people tell ya what to do
Were you the captain of your crew
Or just a hermit with a view
Speaking lies or seeking truth
So many people me & you
Chorus comes alive
Chorus
So many, so many, so many, so many people
So many people
Chorus returns to inanimate corpses
Ian Brown
Well, I was ridin’ on & rootin’ on my country,
They got a good hidin’ off, good shootin’ off the enemy
We must-a used sling shots, man, & they used guns
Cos they slaughter’d all of us, yeah,
But see I’m still around to sing
No tombstones, no, I’m alive…
There were so many people you & I’m
The only one who did not die
All the tears that I must cry
Don’t got time to reason why
These things happen as they do
So many people me & you
Chorus comes alive
Chorus
So many, so many, so many, so many people
So many people
Life’s so rich, life’s so rare
Then life’s a bitch & she doesn’t care
This life o’ mine,
She keeps on changing from time to time
Now I’m gonna leave all my past behind
Chorus returns to inanimate corpses
SCENE 3
Shaun Ryder is wandering the deserts of New Mexico – he is trying to tune his transistor radio in
PSYCHEDELIA
Shaun Ryder
I’m gonna have a little dabble with Nostradamus special powder
There’s nuthin but cackling battle rattlin’ on my radio
Gonna write a little poetry poppin’ peyote in the morning
Let the Ayahuasca master magic me
Enter the Ghosts of Present, Past & Future
I can see those super-hallucinations
Coming on down the line
I can see they’re the ghosts of many people
Stuck in the stones of time
Time, times’ no friend of mine
It’s about time that we did away with the old songs
Show me the shepherds’ sign
You can take it on your own psychedelia
But you might not make it home…. tonight
I’m gonna have a little dabble with Nostradamus Special Powder
Thro crystals clear the seer clears away the clouds
I’m gonna dabble with a piece just a nibble & release the maze of future
Lets turn this tragic planet upside down
I reveal there’s a pre-fab new religion
Stuck in the standing stones
Stuck in the standing
Stones, stones rattle my bones
It’s about time that we did away with the old gods
Sat on their gun-running thrones
You can take it on your own psychedelia
But you might not make it home…. tonight
I’m gonna free my soul
I’m gonna free my soul
I said I’m gonna sell my soul
& play rock n roll ‘til I die
You can take it on your own psychedelia
But you might not make it home…. tonight
I’m gonna sell my soul
Cos it sure gonna make things better
Gonna play that rock n roll
I’m gonna bring it all together
Ai-ai-ai-iyi-ai-ai
Shaun Ryder finds a car & drives away
The Conchordia Folio 