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Famous Last Words was moved to JustForFun.Famous Last Words; main trope is being dewicked and redirected to Last Words
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* IronicEcho: "Something must be done" was David Guest's CatchPhrase in life. It ended up becoming his FamousLastWords.
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* IronicEcho: "Something must be done" was David Guest's CatchPhrase in life. It ended up becoming his FamousLastWords.last words.
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Deleted line(s) 52 (click to see context) :
* SpoiledSweet: It's said that David Guest felt bad for being more privileged than other people.
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[[quoteright:340:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/johnny_longstaff_pack_shot.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:340:"My name is Johnny Longstaff, I want to go to Spain."]]
--> "Will there be young lads somewhere,
--> Whose hearts are just as true?
--> When our old world has faded
--> Will theirs be almost new?"
''The Ballad of Johnny Longstaf'' is a play ([[GenreBusting sort of]]) by Teesside trio The Young'uns (Sean Cooney, Michael Hughes and David Eagle) that first opened in 2018.
This piece of folk theatre tells the story of [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Johnny Longstaff]] - a man who was born in 1919 and went from begging on the streets to fighting in the UsefulNotes/SpanishCivilWar. The show consists of narrations from the three, newspaper articles projected on stage, actual sound bites from the real Johnny (from an interview he did in the 1980s) and sixteen original songs.
You can listen to the soundtrack [[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kWvN9y38-4tZLDUbvIXIXHf7DF4czFpQs here]].
!!Tropes:
* AintTooProudToBeg: In the very first song "Any Bread?" Johnny and his siblings literally begged adults for bread.
* AwardBaitSong: "Ta-Ra to Tooting" marks the first truly serious song, romantically looking back on the group of young men who sailed off to Spain to fight.
* {{Bathos}}: "Lewis Clive" alternates between comedy, tragedy and [[BreadEggsBreadedEggs both at the same time]].
* BigBrotherInstinct: "Cable Street" says that Johnny felt very protective of the refugee Jews who had fled Nazi Germany.
* BittersweetEnding: Granted Johnny died and carried some scars from his rough upbringing but by all accounts his later years were good and peaceful.
* CerebusSyndrome:
** The show overall is light-hearted enough in the first act, but of course takes a more emotional turn in the second - once they cover Johnny getting to Spain.
** The songs "David Guest" and "Lewis Clive" start out light-hearted enough - talking about the fun antics that the respective men got up to. Then the final verses turn bittersweet as they cover the men's deaths.
* ComingOfAgeStory: The show covers Johnny's teenage years begging on the street and his twenties fighting in the war.
* CueTheSun: "Ta-ra to Tooting" describes the sun rising as they sailed out to sea.
* TheDeadHaveNames:
** "Ta-ra to Tooting" lists all the boys that went off to Spain.
** "David Guest" and "Lewis Clive" highlight two of Johnny's deceased war comrades.
* DrivesLikeCrazy: Johnny in later years. He justified it by saying he learned to drive while in a tank fighting in Spain.
* FireAndBrimstoneHell: "Lewis Clive" alludes to hell being fiery and full of Fascists.
* FireForgedFriends: It's said that Johnny and a group of other homeless youths all banded together and tried to feed each other.
--> "In the north we were poor, but we were poor together."
* FormerTeenRebel: Johnny himself. The song "Cable Street" describes his role in [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Cable_Street the Battle of Cable Street]].
* GreekChorus: The Young'uns themselves function as this, helping Johnny narrate his life.
* GrinOfAudacity: Johnny at the end of "Robson's Song", ignoring all the reasons Mr Robson said not to go and fight.
--> "My name is Johnny Longstaff. I want to go to Spain."
* GrowingUpSucks: "Any Bread?" covers Johnny's formative years, suffering through the Great Depression at the age of ten. He also left school at fourteen to work in a factory.
* IronicEcho: "Something must be done" was David Guest's CatchPhrase in life. It ended up becoming his FamousLastWords.
* KitchenSinkDrama: The first act focuses on Johnny's poverty during the Great Depression.
* MadeOfIron: When Johnny lost his boot laces upon arriving in Spain, he proceeded to march barefoot with the rest of the army.
* MemeticBadass:[[invoked]] In-universe. The song about Lewis Clive certainly makes him out to be one - even in the afterlife.
* NightmarishFactory: Downplayed. The factory Johnny worked in was rough - the song claiming he still has scars from working there. He was injured in an accident there and was fired and replaced while in hospital.
* OlderThanTheyLook: Johnny is described as looking like twelve at age seventeen. He claimed he was nearly twenty and invoked [[YoungerThanTheyLook the other trope]].
* OopNorth: Johnny was born in Stockton-on-Tees, which is in Durham.
* ThePollyanna: Seems to be the case for Johnny and his peers. During "Hostel Strike" they worked hard, dreaming of better days.
* PatterSong: "Hostel Strike" - which is very rapid and fast-paced.
* PostModernism: Three people narrating and singing about a man's life, interspersed with real audio clips of the man - who will sometimes scold David Eagle for saying rude things.
* PosthumousCharacter: Johnny himself died in the year 2000. As he narrates portions of what happened, this makes him a PosthumousNarrator too - [[ZigZaggedTrope although he was of course alive when they were recorded.]]
* RageBreakingPoint: "Hostel Strike" covers Johnny and his friends finally rebelling against the awful conditions they had in the hostel.
* ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight: It was actually illegal for the boys to go fight in Spain, but they did so anyway because they believed in the cause.
* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism: On the idealistic side. Despite having grown up in rough circumstances and experienced horrors in his youth, Johnny looks back fondly on a lot of his memories. Even the genuinely sad ones are portrayed as bittersweet.
* SpoiledSweet: It's said that David Guest felt bad for being more privileged than other people.
* TwinkleSmile: Lewis Clive is described as having a "shining smile".
* VocalDissonance: "Any Bread?", "Carrying the Coffin", "Robson's Song", and "Hostel Strike" are quite jolly and upbeat, despite covering Johnny's poverty.
* WarIsGlorious: Despite indulging WarIsHell as well, some of the songs do highlight the bravery and badassery of the men who fought - particularly Lewis Clive rescuing a drowning man and then going back to fetch his gun from the river.
* WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue: The last part of the show briefly covers Johnny's later years.
[[caption-width-right:340:"My name is Johnny Longstaff, I want to go to Spain."]]
--> "Will there be young lads somewhere,
--> Whose hearts are just as true?
--> When our old world has faded
--> Will theirs be almost new?"
''The Ballad of Johnny Longstaf'' is a play ([[GenreBusting sort of]]) by Teesside trio The Young'uns (Sean Cooney, Michael Hughes and David Eagle) that first opened in 2018.
This piece of folk theatre tells the story of [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Johnny Longstaff]] - a man who was born in 1919 and went from begging on the streets to fighting in the UsefulNotes/SpanishCivilWar. The show consists of narrations from the three, newspaper articles projected on stage, actual sound bites from the real Johnny (from an interview he did in the 1980s) and sixteen original songs.
You can listen to the soundtrack [[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kWvN9y38-4tZLDUbvIXIXHf7DF4czFpQs here]].
!!Tropes:
* AintTooProudToBeg: In the very first song "Any Bread?" Johnny and his siblings literally begged adults for bread.
* AwardBaitSong: "Ta-Ra to Tooting" marks the first truly serious song, romantically looking back on the group of young men who sailed off to Spain to fight.
* {{Bathos}}: "Lewis Clive" alternates between comedy, tragedy and [[BreadEggsBreadedEggs both at the same time]].
* BigBrotherInstinct: "Cable Street" says that Johnny felt very protective of the refugee Jews who had fled Nazi Germany.
* BittersweetEnding: Granted Johnny died and carried some scars from his rough upbringing but by all accounts his later years were good and peaceful.
* CerebusSyndrome:
** The show overall is light-hearted enough in the first act, but of course takes a more emotional turn in the second - once they cover Johnny getting to Spain.
** The songs "David Guest" and "Lewis Clive" start out light-hearted enough - talking about the fun antics that the respective men got up to. Then the final verses turn bittersweet as they cover the men's deaths.
* ComingOfAgeStory: The show covers Johnny's teenage years begging on the street and his twenties fighting in the war.
* CueTheSun: "Ta-ra to Tooting" describes the sun rising as they sailed out to sea.
* TheDeadHaveNames:
** "Ta-ra to Tooting" lists all the boys that went off to Spain.
** "David Guest" and "Lewis Clive" highlight two of Johnny's deceased war comrades.
* DrivesLikeCrazy: Johnny in later years. He justified it by saying he learned to drive while in a tank fighting in Spain.
* FireAndBrimstoneHell: "Lewis Clive" alludes to hell being fiery and full of Fascists.
* FireForgedFriends: It's said that Johnny and a group of other homeless youths all banded together and tried to feed each other.
--> "In the north we were poor, but we were poor together."
* FormerTeenRebel: Johnny himself. The song "Cable Street" describes his role in [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Cable_Street the Battle of Cable Street]].
* GreekChorus: The Young'uns themselves function as this, helping Johnny narrate his life.
* GrinOfAudacity: Johnny at the end of "Robson's Song", ignoring all the reasons Mr Robson said not to go and fight.
--> "My name is Johnny Longstaff. I want to go to Spain."
* GrowingUpSucks: "Any Bread?" covers Johnny's formative years, suffering through the Great Depression at the age of ten. He also left school at fourteen to work in a factory.
* IronicEcho: "Something must be done" was David Guest's CatchPhrase in life. It ended up becoming his FamousLastWords.
* KitchenSinkDrama: The first act focuses on Johnny's poverty during the Great Depression.
* MadeOfIron: When Johnny lost his boot laces upon arriving in Spain, he proceeded to march barefoot with the rest of the army.
* MemeticBadass:[[invoked]] In-universe. The song about Lewis Clive certainly makes him out to be one - even in the afterlife.
* NightmarishFactory: Downplayed. The factory Johnny worked in was rough - the song claiming he still has scars from working there. He was injured in an accident there and was fired and replaced while in hospital.
* OlderThanTheyLook: Johnny is described as looking like twelve at age seventeen. He claimed he was nearly twenty and invoked [[YoungerThanTheyLook the other trope]].
* OopNorth: Johnny was born in Stockton-on-Tees, which is in Durham.
* ThePollyanna: Seems to be the case for Johnny and his peers. During "Hostel Strike" they worked hard, dreaming of better days.
* PatterSong: "Hostel Strike" - which is very rapid and fast-paced.
* PostModernism: Three people narrating and singing about a man's life, interspersed with real audio clips of the man - who will sometimes scold David Eagle for saying rude things.
* PosthumousCharacter: Johnny himself died in the year 2000. As he narrates portions of what happened, this makes him a PosthumousNarrator too - [[ZigZaggedTrope although he was of course alive when they were recorded.]]
* RageBreakingPoint: "Hostel Strike" covers Johnny and his friends finally rebelling against the awful conditions they had in the hostel.
* ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight: It was actually illegal for the boys to go fight in Spain, but they did so anyway because they believed in the cause.
* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism: On the idealistic side. Despite having grown up in rough circumstances and experienced horrors in his youth, Johnny looks back fondly on a lot of his memories. Even the genuinely sad ones are portrayed as bittersweet.
* SpoiledSweet: It's said that David Guest felt bad for being more privileged than other people.
* TwinkleSmile: Lewis Clive is described as having a "shining smile".
* VocalDissonance: "Any Bread?", "Carrying the Coffin", "Robson's Song", and "Hostel Strike" are quite jolly and upbeat, despite covering Johnny's poverty.
* WarIsGlorious: Despite indulging WarIsHell as well, some of the songs do highlight the bravery and badassery of the men who fought - particularly Lewis Clive rescuing a drowning man and then going back to fetch his gun from the river.
* WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue: The last part of the show briefly covers Johnny's later years.
