 The piece begins with three patrons taking their first sip of Guinness in a London pub . To the accompaniment of Sammy Davis , Jr . ' s rendition of " The Rhythm of Life " from the 1969 film version of the 1966 Broadway musical Sweet Charity , a reverse @-@ motion sequence begins . The three men retreat from the bar and into the street , other patrons disappearing as they pass . As they move down the street , a reverse time @-@ lapse @-@ style sequence transforms their clothes to match a rapidly changing urban scene , which progresses through modern @-@ day London to the <unk> period . Electric lights transform into gas lamps and buildings begin to disappear frame by frame . A short cutaway sequence shows the city <unk> into the past , shrinking to a small Saxon settlement before disappearing entirely . Returning to the main sequence , the three men 's clothes and hairstyles are adjusted into Bronze Age equivalents as they pass through <unk> woodland . A close @-@ up of one of the characters shows his features quickly transformed into those of a <unk> . The trio are then frozen in an ice age glacier . 
