The Help is a 2011 comedy-drama film adaptation of Kathryn Stockett's novel of the same name, adapted for the screen and directed by Tate Taylor. The film is an ensemble piece about a young white woman, Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan, and her relationship with two black maids during Civil Rights era America (the early 1960s). Skeeter is a journalist who decides to write a controversial book from the point of view of the maids (referred to as "the help"), exposing the racism they are faced with as they work for white families.
The film is set in Jackson, Mississippi, and stars Emma Stone, Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer, Bryce Dallas Howard, Jessica Chastain, Sissy Spacek, Mike Vogel, Mary Steenburgen, and Allison Janney. Produced by DreamWorks Pictures and distributed by Touchstone Pictures, The Help opened to positive reviews and became a massive box office success with a gross of $211.6 million against its budget of $25,000,000. In February 2012, the film received four Academy Awards nominations including Best Picture and acting nods for Davis, Chastain, and a win for Supporting Actress for Spencer. On January 29, 2012, The Help won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture.
I just wanna say
I haven't been away
I am still right here
Where I always was
So one day, if you're bored
By all means call me
Because you can do
But only if you want to
I just wanna say
I haven't been away
I am still right here
Where I always was
So one day, when you're bored
By all means call me
Because you can do
Flicking through her horoscope
She's entranced by the message
Moved like an innocent child
She's not content to sell her dream
In a picture-frame of dispair
Looking for an alibi
She can depend on the rebel
To rise from the ashes and fly
Sensing that there's something wrong
She's in tune with the song of adventure
Rebel gives the alibi to a lonely girl
From high society
Victim of a color-packed magazine
Ringing out the chimes of dawn
Sensing that there's something wrong
So she's gonna fly, scheming for an alibi
Ringing out the chimes of dawn
Sensing that the chance has gone
So she's gonna fly, gotta run and hide
Gotta camouflage the story of the alibi
Tapping into real affection
Is hard for the lady
Lost on the innocent child
Looking for an alibi
She's immune to the moral conventions
Rebel gives the alibi to a lonely girl
From high society
Victim of a color-packed magazine
Ringing out the chimes of dawn
Sensing that there's something wrong
So she's gonna fly, scheming for an alibi
Ringing out the chimes of dawn
Sensing that the chance has gone
So she's gonna fly, gotta run and hide
Gotta camouflage the story of the alibi
Chorus
Chorus
Down on the Mississippi River in a knockdo* dive
I met a trumpet playin' character and Man alive!
When he began to rip, he really played it from the hip
And when I asked about his name, they told me, "That's
'The Lip'."
Yip yip yip yip
No one plays high notes like The Lip.
He's got a tone that's reminiscent of a boy named Bix
He plays so high that only dogs can hear him, just for
kicks.
And when I asked him does he read
He says, "I'll tell you, hon, I read a little bit but
not enough to hurt me none."
Yip yip yip yip.
No one plays high notes like The Lip.
I said The Lip.
She must mean Ray Anthony, huh?
I said The Lip.
No, man, she means Harry James.
I said The Lip.
You mean Louis Prima.
I said The Lip.
Noo, LIP-er-ace.
Yip yip yip yip
No one plays high notes like The Lip.
I never heard a trumpet player play a note so high
And I had to coax a lot before The Lip would tell me
Then he took out a little jar that's labeled 'High-note
Grease'
And he rubs a little every night on his mouthpiece
Yip yip yip yip
No one plays high notes like The Lip.
Listen here gal, are you kiddin' about all that 'high-
note grease'?
No, man, I swear, he had ten in his valise.
Wha', you mean he goes to the drugstore and gets them
from the medecine shelf?
No, some cat's told me he makes it himself.
Yip yip yip yip
Tell us the secret of The Lip.
Well..you take a buketful of steam
And a dozen rooster eggs
And you mix 'em up gently with a bushel full of
goldfish legs
And ya hang 'em on a sky hook in the midnight sun
Mmm and then you fry them until they're done.
Yip yip yip yip
[lyrics: Christopher]
THEY BLOCKED UP MY MOUTH
NO MORE LIFE
SOMEBODY MOST WANTS ME NOT TO SPEAK
NO MORE LIFE
I'M STANDING ON A VERGE OF MY ACTION DEED
NO MORE LIFE
IT'S TIME TO HANG UP MYSELF
NO MORE LIFE
DRIVEN FORWARD AND LAIN HEAVY ON DEPRESSIONS
I'VE COME AS FOR AS THE ROPE
I'LL STILL THINK OVER ALL
BEFORE I GET NECESSARY COURAGE
[Chorus:]
WITH THE LOOP ROUND MY NECK
IT'S TIME TO GET RID OF ALL
WITH THE LOOP ROUND MY NECK
IT'S TIME TO KILL MYSELF
UNKNOWN DRIVE
IN MY BRAIN
NO MORE LIFE
AND NO MORE PAIN
THE LOOP IS HOLDING TIGHTS MY NECK
NO MORE LIFE
BREAKING MY BACKBONE VIOLENTLY
NO MORE LIFE
IT'S SIMPLE, NOT EVEN DROP OF BLOOD
NO MORE LIFE
INSTINCT OF SELF-PRESERVATION, TOO LATE!
NO MORE LIFE
MEANINGLESS END
OTHERS ARE MY MURDERERS
I WAS CHEATED
I'M GUILTY! ARE THEY NOT?
[Chorus:]
UNKNOWN DRIVE...
[Lead: Martin]
and then you said that you loved him
like I said I loved her
And we both thought without them
we'd be going nowhere
and still your managers call me
in the dead of the night
telling me if I'd sign that
we could still be all right
why should we stick to their issues
their definitions of style
if the communities we´re offered
are not even worth a try
and when I called you up then
you just said you were busy
and I remembered too well
when I called you were dizzy
I didn't use my language
I changed it for another
you can examine me closely