A Love Song for Bobby Long Quotes
A headstrong young woman returns to New Orleans after the death of her estranged mother.
Lawson Pines: Some people reach a place in time where they've gone as far as they can. A place where wives and jobs collide with desire. That which is unknowable and those who remain out of sight. See what it is invisible and you will see what to write. That's how Bobby used to put it. It was the invisible people he wanted to live with. The ones that we walk past everday, the ones we sometimes become. The ones in books who live only in someones mind's eye. He was a man who was destined to go through life and not around it. A man who was sure the shortest path to Heaven was straight through Hell. But the truth of his handicap lay only in a mind both exalted and crippled by too many stories and the path he chose to become one. Bobby Long's tragic flaw was his romance with all that he saw. And I guess if people want to believe in some form of justice, then Bobby Long got his for a song.
Lawson Pines: That girl looks so much like Lorraine. Remember the first time you took me to see her sing was my first time in New Orleans.
[pause]
Lawson Pines: I was so taken.
Bobby Long: Well... you were kind of. You were kind of sheltered. Choked by that silver spoon.
Lawson Pines: I thought she was so beautiful.
Bobby Long: She was.
[pause]
Lawson Pines: I was so taken.
Bobby Long: Well... you were kind of. You were kind of sheltered. Choked by that silver spoon.
Lawson Pines: I thought she was so beautiful.
Bobby Long: She was.
Lawson Pines: Autumn comes slowly in New Orleans. The grass remains a stubborn green, but the heat gives way to a gentle warmth. Pursy did begin to catch on in school. She was surprised. We weren't. Winter arrived before we realized the sunlit hours of summer had waned. So now the wine began to outlast the day and that was more than anyone could've asked for.
Bobby Long: Now just exactly who is Plato and who is Socrates in this equation? Cause fuck, I'll just stay out.
Lawson Pines: You are Socrates, of course. You are the teacher.
Bobby Long: Goddamn right I am.
Pursy Will: I wish you'd all just shut up. Cause if it's gonna be like this, I ain't learning nothing.
Bobby Long: Girl, your English is fucking atrocious!
Lawson Pines: You are Socrates, of course. You are the teacher.
Bobby Long: Goddamn right I am.
Pursy Will: I wish you'd all just shut up. Cause if it's gonna be like this, I ain't learning nothing.
Bobby Long: Girl, your English is fucking atrocious!
Lawson Pines: It was our home that night. All of ours. We both knew we should tell her the truth, but every day felt like the wrong day. And Christmas is as good a day as any to believe in fairy tales. That night reminded Bobby and me of a time in our lives we'd both chosen to forget until she'd arrived. It felt good to remember, if just for a little while.
Cecil: Your mama thought you were golden so we named you after yellow flowers and corn. This is you here...
[cuts some purslane from garden]
Cecil: ...pretty, golden purslane.
Pursy Will: Purslane's really a weed, you know. A neighbor told me when I was 9 and I ran over his tomato plants. He said all gardeners hate purslane.
Cecil: Yeah, and dandelions. Doesn't stop kids from making wishes on 'em.
[cuts some purslane from garden]
Cecil: ...pretty, golden purslane.
Pursy Will: Purslane's really a weed, you know. A neighbor told me when I was 9 and I ran over his tomato plants. He said all gardeners hate purslane.
Cecil: Yeah, and dandelions. Doesn't stop kids from making wishes on 'em.
Bobby Long: [singing] Mother, go make my bed, / Make it long and narrow. / My true love died for me yesterday, / I shall die for him tomorrow. She was buried in a church house yard, / And he was buried there beside her. And from his grave grew roses red, / From hers grew green briar. They grew and they grew so very high, / Till they could grow no higher; And at the top grew a true lovers' knot, / Twined with green briar.
Bobby Long: Lawson is not in love with you.
Georgianna: Bobby, I don't think thats any of your damn business.
Bobby Long: I've seen him with a woman that he can't get enough of. A woman that's crawled into every molecule of his being. That consumed his every thought and turned him into a creature of devotion and obsession. I have the scars of that love on my face, have ya told her about that? Have you told her about the difference between true love and a warm bed to pass the time away?
Lawson Pines: Oh cool it man. Don't go after her, I never said I was going anywhere.
Bobby Long: I only speak the truth. The woman deserves to know the truth. And you, you're free to do as you please.
Lawson Pines: Am I, really? Finally free huh?
Bobby Long: I wanna say something on this occasion where I celebrate my love and frienships with one another. Friend, my enemy, I call you out. You, you, you there with a bad thorn in your side. You there, my friend, with a winning air. Who pawned the lie on me when he looked brassly at my shyest secret. With my whole heart under your hammer. That though I loved him for his faults as much as for his good. My friend were an enemy upon stilts with his head in a cunning cloud.
Lawson Pines: Bravo, man. Now why dont you come out and fucking say what you really mean. Does every word out of your mouth have to be in character? Or is that the idea? Just to be anyone but who you really are. You want to tell me that your disappointed in me? Cause maybe im disappointed in you. You know I never asked to write your damn book. Your redemption and my penance, right? Havent I paid? Nine fucking years. I'm sorry. I am sorry all right. I am so fucking sorry.
Bobby Long: It's Dylan Thomas. That's an easy one.
Georgianna: Bobby, I don't think thats any of your damn business.
Bobby Long: I've seen him with a woman that he can't get enough of. A woman that's crawled into every molecule of his being. That consumed his every thought and turned him into a creature of devotion and obsession. I have the scars of that love on my face, have ya told her about that? Have you told her about the difference between true love and a warm bed to pass the time away?
Lawson Pines: Oh cool it man. Don't go after her, I never said I was going anywhere.
Bobby Long: I only speak the truth. The woman deserves to know the truth. And you, you're free to do as you please.
Lawson Pines: Am I, really? Finally free huh?
Bobby Long: I wanna say something on this occasion where I celebrate my love and frienships with one another. Friend, my enemy, I call you out. You, you, you there with a bad thorn in your side. You there, my friend, with a winning air. Who pawned the lie on me when he looked brassly at my shyest secret. With my whole heart under your hammer. That though I loved him for his faults as much as for his good. My friend were an enemy upon stilts with his head in a cunning cloud.
Lawson Pines: Bravo, man. Now why dont you come out and fucking say what you really mean. Does every word out of your mouth have to be in character? Or is that the idea? Just to be anyone but who you really are. You want to tell me that your disappointed in me? Cause maybe im disappointed in you. You know I never asked to write your damn book. Your redemption and my penance, right? Havent I paid? Nine fucking years. I'm sorry. I am sorry all right. I am so fucking sorry.
Bobby Long: It's Dylan Thomas. That's an easy one.
Bobby Long: Someone should have told those Creole people we got something called winter in Louisiana
Pursy Will: Well, y'all might've improved on their oversight with this cool new invention called HEAT.
Bobby Long: Pursy, where'd you put the vodka?
Pursy Will: You told me to hide it.
Bobby Long: I did. But where did you hide it?
Pursy Will: I'm not supposed to tell you, remember?
Bobby Long: Goddamn, you don't do anything else I tell you to do. Now where is it?
Pursy Will: Lawson! Bobby's trying to get me to tell him where the vodka is again.
[Lawson enters]
Lawson Pines: Pursy, it is Christmas.
Pursy Will: Oh whatever. It's under the back stairs.
Pursy Will: Well, y'all might've improved on their oversight with this cool new invention called HEAT.
Bobby Long: Pursy, where'd you put the vodka?
Pursy Will: You told me to hide it.
Bobby Long: I did. But where did you hide it?
Pursy Will: I'm not supposed to tell you, remember?
Bobby Long: Goddamn, you don't do anything else I tell you to do. Now where is it?
Pursy Will: Lawson! Bobby's trying to get me to tell him where the vodka is again.
[Lawson enters]
Lawson Pines: Pursy, it is Christmas.
Pursy Will: Oh whatever. It's under the back stairs.
