Original subtitles

[THEME MUSIC PLAYING]

NARRATOR: You unlock this door with the key of imagination.

Beyond it is another dimension…

A dimension of sound,

A dimension of sight, a dimension of mind.

You're moving into a land of both shadow and substance,

of things and ideas.

You've just crossed over into the Twilight Zone.

[BIRDS CHIRPING]

[SUDDEN BRAKING]

[SIGHS]

Hey! Anybody home?

Hey!

[CHUCKLING]

Man, don't ever sneak up on a man like that.

I'll tell you one thing, Daddy.

You sure got a swinging shop.

You got everything to cut a record but Jenny Lind.

I'm Floyd Burney.

Floyd Burney, you know.

What have you got for me?

Come on, Dad, come on.

They told me at the highway

you're the music man for this piece of nowhere.

I know this is the place. Let's get with it.

Look, Dad, don't hold out on me.

You got a good folk song, I'll pay you top dollar,

but it's got to be authentic.

I got enough jokers back home writing phonies.

No. No songs.

No song… Ahh, they got to you already.

Who was it, that Harlan trio?

No, the Pole River Boys, right?

Dad, I'm telling you,

they're gonna steal you blind.

Now, anything you got is only PD…

You know, public domain.

What I'm trying to tell you is, Dad,

you ain't got no rights, catch?

Now, me, that's different, Dad.

See, me… I pay cash on the line.

Now.

No.

Nobody comes here.

I ain't got nothing they would want.

Tell you what.

Suppose… just suppose now

I was to buy one of your, uh…

One of your little treasures here.

No.

Yeah, sure, and then we,

you know, we talk a little bit,

get to know one another, and first thing you know,

you loosen up, right, Dad?

[FEMALE VOICE HUMMING MELODIOUSLY WITH GUITAR]

[HUMMING CONTINUES]

Ha, ha. Oh, yeah.

Yeah, this must be the place.

What, what did you hear?

Mm-hmm. Same thing as you did, Dad.

All right, now, how much, how much?

Come on, Chucky, you're missing the beat.

Now, how much?

[HUMMING CONTINUES]

Whatever it is, take it out of there, huh?

[HUMMING CONTINUES]

[BIRDS CHIRPING]

[HUMMING CONTINUES, SLIGHTLY LOUDER]

[HUMMING CONTINUES]

NARRATOR: Mr. Floyd Burney, a gentleman songster

in search of song,

is about to answer the age-old question

of whether a man can be in two places at the same time.

As far as his folk song is concerned,

we can assure Mr. Burney

he'll find everything he's looking for,

although the lyrics may not be all to his liking,

but that's sometimes the case

when the words and music are recorded in the Twilight Zone.

[FEMALE VOICE HUMMING]

[SOFT MELODY PLAYING ON STRING INSTRUMENT]

[HUMMING, STRING INSTRUMENT CONTINUE]

[BIRD CAWING LOUDLY]

[BIRD SQUAWKING]

[MUSIC STOPS]

[SILENCE]

[PLAYING MELODY HEARD BEFORE]

What's your name, honey?

Mary… Mary Rachel.

Oh, yeah.

That's a lovely name.

Lovely name, lovely song.

[STRUMMING]

How's it go again?

[STRUMMING]

That song is secret.

It belongs to somebody.

It can't belong to anybody.

Nobody can buy it. It's public domain.

Who got to you?

They made me promise not to sing it anymore.

Oh, they did, huh?

Uh, who was that made you promise not to sing it again?

The Rayford Brothers.

Rayfords.

Rayford… Yeah, yeah, I know them.

Sure, they work out of Chattanooga.

The older guy's the short one, plays vibes…

No, no… no, no.

That's the Ray Tones.

Rayford… The Rayfords?

I must go.

Wait a minute.

Come right over there. That's good.

Let me hear a little bit of it, maybe just one chorus?

Just sit down here.

That's good.

Know how to play one of these?

Well, let's just try, huh?

Let me get that out of your way.

That's good, fingers, good.

Now, Mary Rachel,

I want you to play this to me

and sing it for me

just as if you and I were

the only two people in the world, okay?

[SINGS PREVIOUS MELODY]

♪ He said ♪

♪ Come wander with me, love ♪

♪ Come wander with me ♪

♪ Away from this sad world ♪

♪ Come wander with me ♪

♪ He came from the sunset ♪

♪ He came from the sea ♪

♪ He came from my sorrow ♪

♪ And can love ♪

♪ Only me ♪

I've got to go now.

They'll be looking for me.

Wait!

I must go.

When will I see you again?

I mean, tonight?

You can't ever see me again.

I'm bespoke.

Bespoke?

What is that supposed to mean, bespoke?

You're bespoke, I'm Floyd Burney… So what?

Let me make it plain to you, honey,

so you'll understand.

Now, I need that song.

I don't know what act those Rayfords got,

but that song was meant for me, and I need it.

Do you understand?

What do you want for it?

But it belongs to somebody else.

Then I'll buy it.

What do you want, 50 bucks?

A hundred?

Well, what do you want, a percentage?

It can't be bought, not that way.

Huh. Honey, anything can be bought.

It's a buyer's market with a price tag on everything.

All you got to know is just how to find the tag.

Mary Rachel, I won't hurt your song.

All I'll do is transpose it.

Here, sit down, listen.

I'll just change the key a little, that's all.

♪ Come wander with me, love ♪

♪ Come wander with me ♪

♪ Away from this sad world ♪

♪ Come wander with me♪♪

[HUMMING]

[HUMMING]

Would you really take me away?

Oh… far from this sad world, Mary Rachel.

And you'd love only me?

Only you, Mary Rachel, only you.

[WOMAN SINGING SAME MELODY]

♪ Oh, where is the wanderer ♪

♪ Who wandered this way? ♪

♪ He's past all his wandering ♪

♪ And will never go away ♪♪

MARY RACHEL [ON TAPE]: ♪ Come wander with me, love ♪

♪ Come wander with me ♪

♪ Away from this sad world ♪

♪ Come wander with me ♪

♪ He sang of a sweet love ♪

♪ Of dreams that would be ♪

♪ But I was sworn to another ♪

♪ And could never be free ♪♪

Yeah. Yeah, I'm gonna really run with this one.

Do you still love me?

Sure, sure I do, honey,

but, uh, we're wasting time.

When will you take me away?

Just as soon as we finish

listening to the playback.

Now, you tell me the story

any way you want.

It's the story of my love.

I love you. I've always loved you.

Yeah, I tell you what, honey.

I'll think of something.

I bet I could run this thing

right to the top as a straight vocal.

[TURNS RECORDER ON]

[MARY RACHEL SINGING SAME MELODY]

♪ The Rayfords were brothers ♪

♪ Four men tall and bold ♪

♪ And for one I was chosen ♪

♪ With my love still untold ♪

♪ They heard of the wanderer ♪

♪ They heard he loved me ♪

♪ They heard… ♪

[SHUTS RECORDER OFF]

You know, that's a great bit.

The thing the Rayfords got going for them there.

Sure, put your own name in a song.

Every play, you get a free plug.

[RUSTLING]

Uh, who's that?

Billy Rayford.

Yeah? How's he know to come here?

He always comes here.

Honey, don't you have to go home

and pick up a few things?

We got a long way to go.

But you said you'd buy me things…

Bells and bonnets and bright beads.

Yeah, sure, honey. I tell you what.

You wait here, and I'll go talk to this cat.

No, not this time.

What do you mean, not this time? Honey, relax.

You're with me, Floyd Burney.

So, you're one of the Rayford Brothers, huh?

I know you.

You're the singing man, ain't you?

Yeah! Yeah, that's me, Floyd Burney.

Yeah, I sing a little.

[COCKING GUN]

Hear you're the one who's after Mary Rachel.

Mary Rachel?

Don't lie.

I seen you, and folks heard you

sugar-talking about taking her to Norfolk.

Norfolk?

What do I want to take anybody to Norfolk for?

I'm gonna take you back to my brothers.

They know how to deal with your kind.

Now, listen, Dad, I want to tell you something.

Now, I got agents, and I got business managers,

and I got publicity people,

and they know where I am every minute.

Billy?

MARY RACHEL: ♪ You killed Billy Rayford ♪

♪ Bespoke unto me ♪

♪ Struck him down in his anger ♪

♪ 'Neath an old willow tree ♪

♪ By the lake where our love dwelled ♪

♪ 'Neath an old willow tree ♪

♪ You killed Billy Rayford ♪

♪ 'Neath an old willow tree ♪♪

[DULL CRASH]

All right, how did you know,

and how did that verse get on the tape?

It's always happened that way.

"Always"? This some kind of a con game?

How many other guys you hook into this?

No one else. Only you.

It's always been you.

[BARKING]

Man, we gotta split!

If you run, they'll catch you. You know that.

What do you want me to do, lay down and play dead?

Maybe if you didn't run this time…

If I hid you, maybe it could be different.

Hide me? Where?

I'd find someplace.

We could always be together.

Yeah, stay out here, huh?

Uh-uh, ain't no way, baby, forget it.

Not for old Floyd Burney.

I come too far too fast to get buried out here in Sticksville.

We're gonna split… Come on.

[BARKING]

Come on, which way?

If you run, they'll catch you.

We gotta get out of here before that kid's brothers find him.

It's too late. They've already found him.

MARY: ♪ They sought out their brother ♪

♪ And found him alone ♪

♪ They wept by the lakeside ♪

♪ For a boy hardly grown ♪

No… No!

♪ They wept by the lakeside ♪

♪ And vowed he must die ♪

♪ The wandering stranger… ♪

Stop it! Stop it!

I don't want to hear any more!

But it's our song.

It belongs to us, and we belong to it.

Then take it back.

I don't want it. Take it back!

I can't. It's been used.

[BARKING]

They're coming.

Come on.

Come on, get up.

Don't run.

Stay with me this time.

This time, stay with me.

[GROWLS]

Don't run, don't run.

I'll always love you.

Don't run, don't run.

[BARKING]

Help me.

You got to help me, old man.

You got to hide me!

I'll pay you.

I'll pay you anything.

It's too late.

I'm Floyd Burney, the Rock-a-Billy Boy!

They don't want me. They want somebody else.

I don't even sing that kind of song.

I'm with the big beat.

Listen, I'll show you.

This is my stuff… Listen.

♪ My baby's like a honey tree sweet as can be ♪

♪ She don't go with other cats ♪

♪ She only digs me ♪

Where you going?

Where you going, old man?

Where are you going, old man?

[GRUNT]

[BARKING]

[BARKING GROWS LOUDER]

[MUSIC BOX PLAYS]

[ANOTHER MUSIC BOX STARTS]

[SEVERAL PLAYING DISCORDANTLY AT ONCE]

[CACOPHONY OF INSTRUMENTS]

[DEAFENING NOISE]

[DEAFENING NOISE]

[GUNSHOT]

NARRATOR: In retrospect, it may be said of Mr. Floyd Burney

that he achieved that final dream

of the performer: eternal top-name billing…

Not on the fleeting billboards of the entertainment world,

but forever recorded

among the folk songs of the Twilight Zone.

PRESENTER: And now, Mr. Serling.

We go wild next time

with some science fiction ingredients

that should do a sizable job of shocking.

Ms. Hazel Court and Mr. Mark Richman

lend their talents to a piece called "The Fear."

If you've ever wondered what nature of beast

might come out of the sky in an interplanetary invasion,

watch The Twilight Zone next time.

You'll get your answer in most visual terms.