Coordinates: 53°20′N 08°00′W / 53.333°N 8°W / 53.333; -8
Ireland (pronounced [ˈaɪrlənd] ( listen); Irish: Éire [ˈeːɾʲə] ( listen); Ulster Scots: Airlann or Airlan) is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth. To its east is the larger island of Great Britain, from which it is separated by the Irish Sea.
Politically, Ireland is divided between the Republic of Ireland, which covers just under five-sixths of the island, and Northern Ireland, a part of the United Kingdom, which covers the remainder and is located in the northeast of the island. The population of Ireland is approximately 6.4 million. Just under 4.6 million live in the Republic of Ireland and just under 1.8 million live in Northern Ireland.
Relatively low-lying mountains surrounding a central plain epitomise Ireland's geography with several navigable rivers extending inland. The island has lush vegetation, a product of its mild but changeable oceanic climate, which avoids extremes in temperature. Thick woodlands covered the island until the 17th century. Today, it is one of the most deforested areas in Europe. There are twenty-six extant mammal species native to Ireland.
Plot
The story of a pious introvert whose religious conviction begins to crumble under the weight of a cruel and strange existence, Buddy Boy is a study of faith, obsession, alienation and madness. The film's title character, Francis, lives with his invalid, abusive mother in a dingy tenement apartment, and has suffered a life of unrelenting misfortune and brutality. Over time, he has withdrawn from the world and into himself, silently observing others rather than interacting with them. His only solace has been his Catholicism, but he has begun to question his faith in a loving God who could countenance so much evil and pain. When he discovers he can see into the apartment of a beautiful, mysterious woman from his own back stairs, Francis cannot stop watching her, even after he meets her and they become romantically involved. Unable or unwilling to believe that she could actually love him, he becomes ever more obsessive in his voyeurism. And it is what Francis sees - or thinks he sees - that leads ultimately to his undoing.
Keywords: actress-playing-male-role, alcoholism, atheism, cannibalism, catholic, catholic-priest, confession-booth, hallucination, independent-film, masturbation
Drivin' in my Saab
On my way to Ireland
It's been a long time
It's been a long time
Drivin' with my friends
On my way to Ireland
It's been a long time
It's been a long time
So when I was out
In the desert
And a cowboy
Tried to lasso me
He said your red
And made of clay
A virgin portrait
I let him wake me
But decided not to stay
Next in New York
I fell out with a dragon
Of the white collar kind
But just as ferocious
I remembered Macha
Running faster than the horses
Then an encounter with
A voice that caressed me
Wasn't it you who
Held off a surrender
To one spoiled nun
Who taught you the names
Of the mountains
On the moon
And then a Jesuit
Proceded to arrange your soul
While I prayed
There is a land that I can go to
When I have time to rest.
All the people I love are there
And those who love me best.
[Chorus]
Then I heard the wind
Calling from over the sea
Saying, "Ireland, Ireland,
When will you be free?"
"Ireland, Ireland,
When will you be free?"
This land I go to when I'm tired
And need to see and walk in green.
The people who can laugh and drink
And see things others have not seen.
[Chorus]
There is another side to this pure land,
A side of blood and guilt and pain
A side of enemy and friend
And sorrow at the hearth side stain.
[Chorus]
There is a land that I can go to
When I have time to rest.
All the people I love are there
And those who love me best.
[Chorus]
"Ireland, Ireland,
When will you be free?"
"Ireland, Ireland,
They say mother earth is breathing
With each wave that finds the shore
Her soul rises in the evening
For to open twilights door
Her eyes are the stars in heaven
Watching o'er us all the while
And her heart it is in Ireland
Deep within the Emerald Isle
We are forty against hundreds
In someone else's bloody war
We know not why were fighting
Or what we're dying for
They will storm us in the morning
When the sunlight turns to sky
Death is waiting for its dance now
Fate has sentenced us to die
Ireland I am coming home
I can see your rolling fields of green
And fences made of stone
I am reaching out won't you take my hand
I'm coming home Ireland
Oh the captain he lay bleeding
I can hear him calling me
These men are yours now for the leading
Show them to their destiny
As I look up all around me
I see the ragged tired and torn
I tell them to make ready
'Cause we're not waiting for the morn
Ireland I am coming home
I can see your rolling fields of green
And fences made of stone
I am reaching out won't you take my hand
I'm coming home Ireland
Now the fog is deep and heavy
As we forge the dark and fear
We can hear their horses breathing
As in silence we draw near
There are no words to be spoken
Just a look to say good-bye I draw a breath and night is broken
As I scream our battle cry
Ireland I am coming home
I can see your rolling fields of green
And fences made of stone
I am reaching out won't you take my hand
I'm coming home Ireland
Yes I am home Ireland
They say mother earth is breathing
With each wave that finds the shore
Her soul rises in the evening
For to open twilights door
Her eyes are the stars in heaven
Watching o'er us all the while
And her heart it is in Ireland
Deep within the Emerald Isle
We are forty against hundreds
In someone else's bloody war
We know not why were fighting
Or what we're dying for
They will storm us in the morning
When the sunlight turns to sky
Death is waiting for its dance now
Fate has sentenced us to die
Ireland I am coming home
I can see your rolling fields of green
And fences made of stone
I am reaching out won't you take my hand
I'm coming home Ireland
Oh the captain he lay bleeding
I can hear him calling me
These men are yours now for the leading
Show them to their destiny
As I look up all around me
I see the ragged tired and torn
I tell them to make ready
'Cause we're not waiting for the morn
Ireland I am coming home
I can see your rolling fields of green
And fences made of stone
I am reaching out won't you take my hand
I'm coming home Ireland
Now the fog is deep and heavy
As we forge the dark and fear
We can hear their horses breathing
As in silence we draw near
There are no words to be spoken
Just a look to say good-bye I draw a breath and night is broken
As I scream our battle cry
Ireland I am coming home
I can see your rolling fields of green
And fences made of stone
I am reaching out won't you take my hand
I'm coming home Ireland
Yes I am home Ireland
When the morning mist is rising
And the Hudson nearly blue
With the branches all a' blowing
And the sun comes sifting through
I stare with homesick wonder
For my thoughts all turn to you
And my memory fills with deeper greens and blues
And Ireland is always in the news
I called your struggle useless
And my home a battlefield
And I cursed the hope of moving
I left you all behind me
Crying that your fate was sealed
But the anger not the love here I did lose
And Ireland is always in the news
But now I'm having nightmares
For the picture will not fade
Of one hundred black umbrellas
Shining in a great parade
I guess I had it coming
It's a cold hard price I paid
For yes I did choose
To find my brother's funeral in the news
So don't you get your hopes up
But I think I'm coming home
For maybe there'll be freedom
With one more shoulder to that stone
I may end up a martyr
But I will not end alone
Oh your are a family that I can't refuse
Oh Ireland you're dying in the news
ireland is at war with herself
hopeless that i couldn't help
when ireland is at war with herself
my heart was strong but i was wrong
to think that i could save her
her head was mixed in politics
and i fell out of favor
there was no trial
no mercy mild
and now i am forever exiled
ireland is at war with herself
all the time i spent in ireland
she never gave a hint of discontent
we used to run through the fields hand in hand
i was her little boy i was her somewhat bigger man
i pledged my loyalty
i was her patriot
i was her everything that she'd soon forget
ireland is at war with herself
hopeless cause i couldn't help
If I could trace the ocean's face, ride the waves full of grace
The joyful sound of happiness
The white winged dove I caress
Dream beneath the wings of love in the floodlight of the Moon above
I kneel before the heavenly waters
I will go where
Wherever you may be
Beautiful and rising
To me
And I will go running
Heady and free
I will go with you
Wherever you may be
I will go where no man treads, where magic dreams and jewelled streams
Hold the key that I believe is wealth to me
Slip into a stranger's hands
The ancient wonder of the land
I love from birth to heavenly waters
I will go where
Wherever you may be
Beautiful and rising
To me
I will go running
Heady and free
I will go with you
Wherever you may be
These things
These pathways worn
These moments
Held...
The winter now is here and the years steal so swift away
Just like a thief in the night who comes but to flee
The berries are full bright and the small birds sing out to me
Oh but the cold wind blows hard over Knocknashee.
By summer's radiant star and by love's own sweetest decree
None but the harsh moon could steal your beauty from me
Came autumn's falling leaves and love's wild uncertainty
When like a vision you flitted from Knocknashee.
I turned from God, I scorned all religion
And somehow you came between heaven and me
Oh how glad I could trade my very soul
My dear savior never to see, for to gain you I'd loose all eternity.
But once when Passions warn, never more will it return
Love looses fashion like some old tired melody
The heart that gives to free will sorely rejected me
Oh how I loved you and lost you in Knocknashee
And I'll go down, go down to the dark wood
And find that sweet hollow where once you lay with me
And I will face my final pain where the heart will not weary be
And I will sleep the long sleep now in Knocknashee
Rained down by wine, circled ‘round by smoke
Your rosy cheeks take on a glow
You think I don't understand
But I understand
Sunny dreams born leap into the air
Then fade into smoke
You won't tell me where
But I know where
‘Cause in Ireland you say
Oh, the air they breathe is clean
So I pray, I pray, I pray
For the rain
Make me green
People that you love, they could always leave
They could leave the room
Even when you're tugging at their sleeve
But the trouble is
They leave if you don't dare believe
When I said I was leaving baby
Had you already gone there?
To in Ireland you say
The air they breathe is clean
So I pray, I pray, I pray
For the rain
Make me green
Green enough to be your heaven
Green enough to be your sea
Greener than the rolling hills
Could you ever see that in me?
Rained down by wine, circled ‘round by smoke
All you talk about is where you would go
When you look at me,
Do you love this world yet?
Or do you see how much better it could get?
In Ireland you say
The air they breathe is clean
So I pray, I pray, I pray
For the rain
In Ireland you say
The air they breathe is clean
So I pray, I pray, I pray
For the rain
It seemed like everything we heard and hoped might be true
We got a ride right away and she took us to the dunes
And we fell asleep to the sounds of a carnival
From a village further down the beach
We woke up the next morning on a bed of tiny flowers,
Packed the tent and went to get somethin' to eat
We bought a cheap jar of peanut butter and a loaf of fresh white bread,
We made sandwiches on the beach; life doesn't get any better than this
We walked in for free to the first castle that we found
It was empty, it was late, it became our campground
And we spotted a tent and we met another camper
And he told us his sad story--
Well he had been dumped by a girl that he loved and he told us not to worry
You can camp anywhere, no one's gonna care; why would they?
"It's not like this at home," we told him, "you know"
He said your home's so far away
We went west all the way 'til the land ran out
We slept at an empty house in the middle of a tiny town
We met a man at a crossroads who said it was his dream to someday come to Bloomington
We thought it was funny because for you and me, it was our dream to be here in Ireland
He was a big fan of John Melloncamp;
we told him everything we knew about him
We invited him to come and stay at our house;
when we got to our stop he didn't want us to get out
We stayed the night at the house of a guy from Albany
He was glad to meet Americans; he made us spaghetti
We met a man who said he was a doctor and he took us on some of his house calls
He taught us the best way to get a donkey to come to you
is not to pay them any attention at all
And I crawled to the edge and peeked over my head and looked down to the sea
It was two thousand feet to the water below; it looked so blue, it looked so deep
And don't ever let 'em tell you that it rains in Ireland
Well if they tell you that you can be sure they've never been
'Cause the sun is always shinin' and the hills are always green
And people are always smilin' and offerin' you drinks
We'd set up our tent on the cliffs right by the sea
Almost every night and the waves rocked us to sleep
The postman from Wales and his friend from England
Bought us fries at the westernmost pub
We sat with them and two others we'd met
And we all watched the postman get drunk
And at first the Burren might seem like a waste land of broken stones
Look in the cracks and you'll see there's a secret there that grows
And Galway City really feels a lot like home
We went through Connemara and up to Sligo
And at the Slieve League we wouldn't see anything;
We decided that we should turn back
The mist was so thick that we couldn't find our feet
And the trail was called Deadman's Pass
On one side it was three thousand feet down to the ocean
The other was two thousand feet to the ground
And anyway our time was running out
And we crossed the country in less than a day
Our last ride to Dublin asked us the same things
They asked if we had any kin from Ireland;
They were surprised when we said no
When I said I didn't drink and hadn't tried the Guinness yet
They were the first ones to say, "way to go"
And as our ferry was leaving the Emerald Isle behind
We were already making our plans to come back sometime
And don't ever let 'em tell you that it rains in Ireland
Well if they tell you that you can be sure they've never been
'Cause the sun is always shinin' and the hills are always green
I am going to Ireland on a ship I'm going far awayI am
going to Ireland one of these days
I am going to jump right in
And take a swim in my river in my Ireland
How can we know where we are going
When we don't know where we have been
We learn history from textbooks in school
Written by the rich and the men that rule
While our grandparents sit in nursing homes
And our history is lost and we are lost and lost we'll
roam
How can we know where we are going
When we don't know where we have been
Lover won't you come to my window tonight
Sing me that song in summer moonlight
Because I don't know much about love and romance
My parents were victims of circumstance
How can we know where we are going
When we don't know where we have been
I am going to Ireland on a ship I'm going far away
I am going to Ireland one of these days
I am going to jump right in