Absolute Beginners

:02:44

I remember that hot, wonderful summer...

:02:47

when the teenage miracle
reached full bloom...

:02:50

and everyone in England stopped
what they were doing...

:02:52

to stare at what had happened.

:02:54

The Soho nights were cool in the heat...

:02:57

with light and music in the streets.

:02:59

And we couldn't believe
that this was really coming to us at last.

:03:04

Nobody knew exactly why.

:03:06

But after so many dreary years
of bombs and blitz and slow rebuilding...

:03:11

no sugar, no jam, nothing sweet anywhere...

:03:14

with the whole English world
dressed in gray, it seemed, forever.

:03:19

Suddenly life broke out
in warm colors again...

:03:21

so young and beautiful that a lot of people
couldn't stand to look at it.

:03:26

For the first time ever, kids were teenagers.

:03:30

We had loot, however come by.

:03:32

And loot's for spending.

:03:34

And where there's loot, trouble follows.

:03:40

During my last teenage year,
I kept myself by taking photographs.

:03:44

Naughty pictures for profit.

:03:46

And solid street pictures for love.

:03:49

So that when the blossom went off,
and the flower turned to plastic...

:03:53

me and my friends
could remember how it looked.

:03:56

Money for looks. Money for film.

:03:59

But most of all, money for Suzette.