Neil Young Journeys (2011) Movie Script
Everybody ready?
MAN: Ready.
Stage right, flying away.
Nah. Sounds good.
I'm going to go...
Can you go back
by the school?
The trees are
gone in front of it,
and the golf course
across the road
is being converted
to a subdivision.
Yeah, okay.
I'll go back by the school
or go down by
the school road and go,
and then go out
to the main drag,
and then go down
towards the house.
This is Omemee.
This is a little...
This is a town
in North Ontario.
That's the mill that...
That used to be
the mill down there,
where I used to
catch fish and...
When I was just
five years old or whatever.
That's where I was
one of the town's
premier fishermen.
We used to have a wagon.
And I would carry...
Take my wagon down,
and fill it full of fish
and take all the fish home.
Turtles, fish, you name it,
I had them in my wagon,
and I pulled my wagon
through town.
It was pretty cool.
One of my biggest memories
is the place called
Skinny Reel's,
which is not there anymore,
but it's a place where
there were little
wooden boxes of daisies,
on the sidewalk,
all these colored daisies.
And I'd, you know...
I'd just look at them.
This is George Street, here.
This is...
The school used to
be right down here.
Now it's a park
or something.
But it was a big
three-story school
with a large fire escape
up the side of it.
There was this tube
for the kids to get out
if it caught on fire.
I don't know how it
would ever catch on fire.
It was brick.
So we'd get... Climb up
inside the fire escape,
all the way to the top,
and then ride down the tube
and come shooting out
the bottom.
That was a lot of fun.
This house here,
this is
the reverend's house.
This is where
the reverend used to be.
And right here, over here,
across the street,
is the Coronation Hall.
This is the Village of Omemee
Coronation Hall.
This is where my dad...
There's a hall in there,
holds about 100 people,
a stage and everything.
My dad appeared there
in a minstrel show.
And he was the only white guy.
He was the white guy.
Had a,
kind of a beige jacket.
And everybody else
was in blackface.
All these, you know,
Irish Canadians in blackface.
And there's a picture of me
with my cowboy outfit on,
standing right here.
I think I killed a turtle
right in front of the place
by sticking
a firecracker up its ass
and lighting it.
As children, you know,
young people will do.
So, my environmental roots
are not that deep.
And my green roots.
But this is a new version.
The old church is behind it.
Hey, buddy.
Yeah, thank you.
And this writer
who was a friend of my dad's,
with his three daughters,
they lived in that house.
But they were
all too old for me.
I don't know
where Bob's going.
I think he's
taking me somewhere.
That's my brother, Bob,
up there in that old Cadillac.
Oh, no,
I know where he's going now.
This is right...
Now, this is...
My dad, of course,
was very famous in Canada
'cause he was a great writer.
And this is the school
they named after my dad,
right here.
This is
Scott Young Public School.
And I was here with my dad
and everybody else
when they dedicated
the school to him
and opened it up.
It's a pretty cool school,
actually.
It's made out of stone.
And it's nice.
Now,
there used to be an arena,
a rink around here somewhere.
I'm a little confused
as to where everything is.
It just seems to be in
a different place now
than it was before.
That's probably
because I was so small.
Everything looked different.
Just taking our way,
winding our way back
through the countryside,
following my brother here,
who's taking us on a...
He's the scout.
So, he'll take us
and go all the way
to Massey Hall, I think.
Or just get a shot of the car
going to Massey Hall.
You never know.
We just passed
Goof Whitney's house.
Goof was older than me,
and he used to give me, like,
he'd give me a nickel
to go up and say, you know,
"You have a fat ass,"
or something to an old lady.
You know... So l...
You know,
he'd give me a nickel,
I'd do anything.
And he also convinced me
that eating tar
was a good idea.
I should try it.
It's a lot like chocolate.
Said it's harsh at first,
but it turns into chocolate.
So I tried eating
some tar off the road.
That was the beginning of
mu close relationship
with cars, I think.
When I do my listening,
I only listen in cars.
I don't give a shit
if I'm listening on
a speaker this big.
I can tell
if I like the music
by listening to it
in a car.
This is beautiful.
Really, this whole,
this is so peaceful out here.
When I come up here,
I just start thinking about...
And it feels so good,
you know,
just to sit there at the lake
and let the sun hit you,
and watch the loons
and listen to
the honkers flying around,
Look at the perch
and the sunfish in the water,
see the fishermen out there
in their little boats.
Very cool.
Caesarea, township of Scugog.
So, you know, like,
my brother is going at a pace
that's absolutely perfect.
You know what I mean?
There's nothing about the pace
that's rushed,
and yet he's going
to beautiful places
and he's just going
and there's...
He's not going too slow,
he's not going too fast.
These trees.
Yeah, there was
a huge weeping willow tree,
which is where that stump is.
Seeing the house
after it had burned down,
and looking through
the window
and seeing the floor
with the holes in it
and everything
burned and everything...
This is pretty well...
It was right here.
I would say
it was on this lawn.
This lawn was...
My mother's pride and joy,
I think, was this lawn.
The house across the street
used to be the Knoph's place.
K-N-O-P-H.
Yeah. Something like that.
That was the greens keeper
and his couple of
daughters he had there.
Yeah, that's right, yeah.
We're back here.
I haven't been in
here in a long time.
I don't know...
I remember,
I used to have
a pup tent.
Yeah.
So, I lived in
this pup tent out here
during the summer,
and my dad would call
out of the back door
to wake me up,
and I'd have to stick
my hand out of the tent
to let him know
that I was awake.
And I slept on a cot
in a little pup tent
so I could be out
closer to my chickens.
I think that's why
I was out there.
There's garbage back there.
This is the property line
with our neighbors.
Every once in a while,
a fox would get into these,
that chicken house.
Yeah.
I remember coming out here
and sitting on top
of the chicken house
with a shotgun
when I was a kid,
waiting for the fox
to show up.
It didn't show up.
No.
Cool.
Yeah.
MAN: Oh, man.
Fuck.
It's all gone.
It's in my head.
That's why
you don't have to worry
when you lose friends.
still in your head,
still in your heart.
Well, we didn't get
off at Yonge Street.
This is Bayview.
We're in
a different area now.
Crossed over.
We're pretty close.
Certainly doesn't look
anything like it did before,
but I can smell it.
There it is.
On the left,
middle of the next block.
MAN 1: Stand by, house lights.
Stand by, house music forward.
MAN 2: That's for all
the living work.
This is good.
MAN: I agree.
MAN: Ready.
Stage right, flying away.
Nah. Sounds good.
I'm going to go...
Can you go back
by the school?
The trees are
gone in front of it,
and the golf course
across the road
is being converted
to a subdivision.
Yeah, okay.
I'll go back by the school
or go down by
the school road and go,
and then go out
to the main drag,
and then go down
towards the house.
This is Omemee.
This is a little...
This is a town
in North Ontario.
That's the mill that...
That used to be
the mill down there,
where I used to
catch fish and...
When I was just
five years old or whatever.
That's where I was
one of the town's
premier fishermen.
We used to have a wagon.
And I would carry...
Take my wagon down,
and fill it full of fish
and take all the fish home.
Turtles, fish, you name it,
I had them in my wagon,
and I pulled my wagon
through town.
It was pretty cool.
One of my biggest memories
is the place called
Skinny Reel's,
which is not there anymore,
but it's a place where
there were little
wooden boxes of daisies,
on the sidewalk,
all these colored daisies.
And I'd, you know...
I'd just look at them.
This is George Street, here.
This is...
The school used to
be right down here.
Now it's a park
or something.
But it was a big
three-story school
with a large fire escape
up the side of it.
There was this tube
for the kids to get out
if it caught on fire.
I don't know how it
would ever catch on fire.
It was brick.
So we'd get... Climb up
inside the fire escape,
all the way to the top,
and then ride down the tube
and come shooting out
the bottom.
That was a lot of fun.
This house here,
this is
the reverend's house.
This is where
the reverend used to be.
And right here, over here,
across the street,
is the Coronation Hall.
This is the Village of Omemee
Coronation Hall.
This is where my dad...
There's a hall in there,
holds about 100 people,
a stage and everything.
My dad appeared there
in a minstrel show.
And he was the only white guy.
He was the white guy.
Had a,
kind of a beige jacket.
And everybody else
was in blackface.
All these, you know,
Irish Canadians in blackface.
And there's a picture of me
with my cowboy outfit on,
standing right here.
I think I killed a turtle
right in front of the place
by sticking
a firecracker up its ass
and lighting it.
As children, you know,
young people will do.
So, my environmental roots
are not that deep.
And my green roots.
But this is a new version.
The old church is behind it.
Hey, buddy.
Yeah, thank you.
And this writer
who was a friend of my dad's,
with his three daughters,
they lived in that house.
But they were
all too old for me.
I don't know
where Bob's going.
I think he's
taking me somewhere.
That's my brother, Bob,
up there in that old Cadillac.
Oh, no,
I know where he's going now.
This is right...
Now, this is...
My dad, of course,
was very famous in Canada
'cause he was a great writer.
And this is the school
they named after my dad,
right here.
This is
Scott Young Public School.
And I was here with my dad
and everybody else
when they dedicated
the school to him
and opened it up.
It's a pretty cool school,
actually.
It's made out of stone.
And it's nice.
Now,
there used to be an arena,
a rink around here somewhere.
I'm a little confused
as to where everything is.
It just seems to be in
a different place now
than it was before.
That's probably
because I was so small.
Everything looked different.
Just taking our way,
winding our way back
through the countryside,
following my brother here,
who's taking us on a...
He's the scout.
So, he'll take us
and go all the way
to Massey Hall, I think.
Or just get a shot of the car
going to Massey Hall.
You never know.
We just passed
Goof Whitney's house.
Goof was older than me,
and he used to give me, like,
he'd give me a nickel
to go up and say, you know,
"You have a fat ass,"
or something to an old lady.
You know... So l...
You know,
he'd give me a nickel,
I'd do anything.
And he also convinced me
that eating tar
was a good idea.
I should try it.
It's a lot like chocolate.
Said it's harsh at first,
but it turns into chocolate.
So I tried eating
some tar off the road.
That was the beginning of
mu close relationship
with cars, I think.
When I do my listening,
I only listen in cars.
I don't give a shit
if I'm listening on
a speaker this big.
I can tell
if I like the music
by listening to it
in a car.
This is beautiful.
Really, this whole,
this is so peaceful out here.
When I come up here,
I just start thinking about...
And it feels so good,
you know,
just to sit there at the lake
and let the sun hit you,
and watch the loons
and listen to
the honkers flying around,
Look at the perch
and the sunfish in the water,
see the fishermen out there
in their little boats.
Very cool.
Caesarea, township of Scugog.
So, you know, like,
my brother is going at a pace
that's absolutely perfect.
You know what I mean?
There's nothing about the pace
that's rushed,
and yet he's going
to beautiful places
and he's just going
and there's...
He's not going too slow,
he's not going too fast.
These trees.
Yeah, there was
a huge weeping willow tree,
which is where that stump is.
Seeing the house
after it had burned down,
and looking through
the window
and seeing the floor
with the holes in it
and everything
burned and everything...
This is pretty well...
It was right here.
I would say
it was on this lawn.
This lawn was...
My mother's pride and joy,
I think, was this lawn.
The house across the street
used to be the Knoph's place.
K-N-O-P-H.
Yeah. Something like that.
That was the greens keeper
and his couple of
daughters he had there.
Yeah, that's right, yeah.
We're back here.
I haven't been in
here in a long time.
I don't know...
I remember,
I used to have
a pup tent.
Yeah.
So, I lived in
this pup tent out here
during the summer,
and my dad would call
out of the back door
to wake me up,
and I'd have to stick
my hand out of the tent
to let him know
that I was awake.
And I slept on a cot
in a little pup tent
so I could be out
closer to my chickens.
I think that's why
I was out there.
There's garbage back there.
This is the property line
with our neighbors.
Every once in a while,
a fox would get into these,
that chicken house.
Yeah.
I remember coming out here
and sitting on top
of the chicken house
with a shotgun
when I was a kid,
waiting for the fox
to show up.
It didn't show up.
No.
Cool.
Yeah.
MAN: Oh, man.
Fuck.
It's all gone.
It's in my head.
That's why
you don't have to worry
when you lose friends.
still in your head,
still in your heart.
Well, we didn't get
off at Yonge Street.
This is Bayview.
We're in
a different area now.
Crossed over.
We're pretty close.
Certainly doesn't look
anything like it did before,
but I can smell it.
There it is.
On the left,
middle of the next block.
MAN 1: Stand by, house lights.
Stand by, house music forward.
MAN 2: That's for all
the living work.
This is good.
MAN: I agree.