"Tell me it's not true
Say it's just a story."
The musical begins with its final scene: Mrs. Johnstone standing over the dead bodies of her two sons. In this song, she laments their deaths and begs for it to be just a "story." This dramatic opening sets up the main events of the plot, as the audience comes to see how this tragedy came into being. By beginning at the end, Russell establishes the stakes of the narrative, showing how the story ends and then going back to reveal why.
"So did y’hear the story of the Johnstone twins?
As like each other as two new pins,
Of one womb born, on the self same day,
How one was kept and one given away?
An’ did you never hear how the Johnstones died,
Never knowing that they shared one name,
Till the day they died?"
This passage occurs immediately after Mrs. Johnstone's opening lines, as the narrator sings during the overture. He explains the backstory of the two boys, revealing how their intertwined fates ended in devastation. At the same time, he highlights a central element of their story, namely that they were unaware that they were twin brothers until the day they both died. This song is central to the musical, as it offers a broad overview of the events of the story while drawing attention to the fact that the two boys were separated at birth only to come together at the end of their lives in the most awful manner.
“They say that if either twin learns that he was once a pair, that they shall both immediately die. It means, Mrs. Johnstone, that these brothers shall grow up, unaware of the other’s existence. They shall be raised apart and never, ever told what was once the truth. You won’t tell anyone about this, Mrs. Johnstone, because if you do, you will kill them.”
This passage occurs after Mrs. Johnstone agrees to give Mrs. Lyons one of her twins. Mrs. Lyons states superstitiously that if the boys ever meet again they will cause each other's deaths. While she does end up being right, her motivations are far from pure. She says this because she does not want Mrs. Johnstone in Eddie's life, as she feels insecure about Eddie becoming attached to her. While she raises this concern again and again throughout the play, it is unclear how much of a direct role she plays in the terrible events that transpire.
"But you know that if you cross your fingers
And if you count from one to ten
You can get up off the ground again
It doesn't matter
And the whole thing's just a game"
In this moment, some children in Mickey's neighborhood are playing a game in which they shoot each other with toy guns and pretend to die. They sing this song to describe how this violence is theatrical, as they can simply get up again. These lyrics are eerie, as they show the kids playing a game that foreshadows the later events of the story. While they can pretend to be dead in that particular moment, when they engage in violence as adults the guns are real and the consequences are permanent.
"Ey, we were born on the same day... that means we can be blood brothers. Do you wanna be my blood brother, Eddie?"
In this scene, Mickey and Eddie meet for the first time. They are struck by the strange fact that they are born on the same day while also feeling an instant kinship. This is the first moment in which the musical's title appears in dialogue. Mickey asking Eddie to be his blood brother is another instance of ominous foreshadowing. It both highlights their unbreakable connection to each other, while also suggesting that they will shed each other's blood again years later. It is also surprising in that it shows them finding each other, despite their mothers' attempts to keep them apart.
"Oh a bright new day,
We're moving away."
This lyric is sung by Mrs. Johnstone, who hopes for a "brighter" future for her family. She feels this way for a number of reasons. Her life in the inner city of Liverpool has been characterized by financial hardships and personal struggles. She had to give up one of her twins and was unable to prevent her son Sammy from constantly getting into trouble with the law. She desperately wants things to be different and thinks this move will give them the chance to start over. These lines are unfortunate in that the viewer already knows the move will make no difference in saving her children from a terrible end.
"Wherever I go you'll be just behind me. I know that now... always, forever and ever like, like a shadow... unless I can... make you go... But won't you so..."
These lines are spoken by Mrs. Lyons as she begins her descent into insanity. She confronts Mrs. Johnstone after discovering that she has moved to a neighborhood nearby. Vengeful and paranoid, Mrs. Lyons grabs a kitchen knife and lunges at Mrs. Johnstone. Mrs. Johnstone dodges the attack and kicks her out. This is another pivotal scene, as it shows Mrs. Lyons' deteriorating mind and growing capacity for violence. It also prefigures her eventual betrayal of Eddie, as she goads Mickey into shooting him years later.
"Erm... well, the er thing is... Linda, I've erm... Linda, for Christ's sake will you go out with me?"
"Yeh."
This exchange between Mickey and Linda occurs after Eddie encourages Mickey to tell her how he really feels. Despite Mickey's awkwardness, Linda agrees to go out with him, as she has been interested in him for a long time. Mickey and Linda clearly have strong feelings for one another that Eddie correctly saw beneath their reserved demeanors. The two end up getting married. This conversation is a brief moment of happiness before their relationship takes a turn for the worse.
"Mickey. Don't shoot Eddie. He's your brother. You had a twin brother. I couldn't keep both you. His mother couldn't have kids. I agreed to give one of you away!"
In one of the musical's penultimate moments, Mrs. Johnstone reveals to Mickey that Eddie is his brother. She hopes that this will prevent Mickey from killing him, but this only enrages him, causing him to carelessly gesture with the gun in his hand and shoot Eddie. In this terrible moment, she finally tells them the truth about their connection to each other, but it is too late to save either of them.
"And do we blame superstition for what came to pass?
Or could it be what we, the English, have come to know as class?
So did y’hear the story of the Johnstone twins?
As like each other as two new pins,
How one was kept and one given away
How they were born, and they died, on the self-same day?"
The play ends where it began, with the narrator asking the audience if they know the story of the Johnstone twins. The viewers now know both the how and why of what happened, but the narrator asks if it truly was the curse Mrs. Lyons mentioned that doomed the brothers or if it was the class divide between them. He wonders if it was truly fate or if Mickey was driven to violence by the bad hand that life dealt him. On this moment of irresolution, the play soberly concludes, and the audience is left to ponder this question.
