Jeg må starte med at erkende, at jeg ikke har denne plade i min samling. Det er selvfølgelig fordi, jeg ikke interesserer mig for opera. Derfor er det begrænset, hvor meget jeg kan finde frem til af interesante ting om pladen.
Det her med Ça Ira ikke noget nyt projekt. Den havde sin premiere i oktober 2002, men selve planlægningen går endnu
længere tilbage. Hvad jeg ved af, startede det første spæde arbejde med operaen helt tilbage, da Waters arbejdede på
KAOS
Det første jeg kendte til projektet, var da uddrag af
denne opera, blev sendt live i et alenlangt og røvsygt TV-show, der skulle fejre 10 nye medlemslande i EU.
Afslutningen
på showet var så fra Malta der sendte lidt af denne opera som Waters altså er med til at lave.
Jeg skriver "med til at
lave" fordi jeg ikke helt er klar over hvor meget han laver. Som jeg har forstået det er det Waters der skriver både
tekst og musik, men da han ikke har forstand på dét, tror jeg nok han får en del hjælp. Ret mig gerne hvis jeg tager
fejl. Da Pink Floyd lavede "The Wall" fik Waters hjælp fra Michael Kamen og det er også ham der har hjulpet denne gang.
Desværre er Kamen jo død, november 2003, på et tidspunkt hvor Ça Ira ikke var færdig!
Som sagt har Waters aldrig selv har lavet opera
før. (På den anden side spillede Gilmour jo også et nummer fra en Bizet-opera under sin Meltdown optræden - men det
var jo allerede skrevet)
Jeg har så også læst at ihvertfald nogle af teksterne er skrevet af en der hedder Etienne
Roda-Gil. Rettere hed Etienne Roda-Gil - han er også død.
Lidt franskundervisning:
"Ça va" er fransk og betyder "Det går"
, og er gramatisk set i nutid. Det bruges også dagligt som et "Hej" eller "Dav".
Sætter man det i "fremtid"
bliver det til "Ça Ira" altså "Det vil komme til at gå". Hvilket vel var meget beroligende ord under
en borgerkrig ??
Jeg har heller ikke styr på meget med live optrædende med denne opera. I starten af 2008 spillede Ça Ira i Brasilien og senere i Holland. Det flotte billede øverst på siden er fra en opførelse i Polen. Her er de franske medaljer blevet lavet om til Sovjet medaljer.
Teksten til det her opera udspil fra Waters, har jeg stjålet et sted på nettet og du kan læse dem herunder
Ud over
dét kan jeg tilbyde teksten på den oprindelig sang fra den franske revulotion. For som sagt handler operaen om den
franske revulotion. Navnet Ça Ira var titlen på en meget populær sang under den franske revulotion.
Den har jeg
fundet frem her og oversat til dansk. Det skal ikke koste dig ekstra.
Mere finder du dog ikke her på pinkfloydhyldest.dk for det er altså ikke lige opera der er min stærke side.
Så hvis du vil
vide mere, kan du evt. besøge braindamage.
Ah! ça ira, ça ira, ça ira, Le peuple en ce jour sans cesse repète: Ah! ça ira, ça ira, ça ira, Malgré les mutins tout réussira! Nos ennemis confus en restent là, et nous allons chanter Alleluya! Ah! ça ira, ça ira, ça ira, Quand Boileau jadis du clergé parla Comme un prophète, il a prédit cela, En chantant ma chansonnette, Avec plaisir on dira: Ah! ça ira, ça ira, ça ira, ça ira, Malgré les mutins tout réussira. Ah! ça ira, ça ira, ça ira, Pierrot et Margot chantent à la guinguette, Ah! ça ira, ça ira, ça ira, Réjouissons-nous, le bon temps viendra. Le peuple français jadis "a quia" L'aristocratie dit: "Mea culpa." Ah! ça ira, ça ira, ça ira, Le clergé regrette le bien qu'il a. Par justice la nation l'aura, Par le prudent LaFayette Tout trouble s'apaisera, Ah! ça ira, ça ira, ça ira, Malgré les mutins tout réussira. Ah! ça ira, ça ira, ça ira, Petits comme grands sont soldats dans l'âme, Ah! ça ira, ça ira, ça ira, Pendant la guerre aucun ne trahira. Avec coeur tout bon Français combattra, S'il voit du louche, hardiment il parlera. Ah! ça ira, ça ira, ça ira, Lafayette dit: "Vienne qui voudra." Le patriotisme leur répondra Sans craindre ni feu ni flamme, Les Français toujours vaincront, Ah! ça ira, ça ira, ça ira, ça ira, Malgré les mutins tout réussira. Ah! ça ira, ça ira, ça ira, Les aristocrates à la lanterne! Ah! ça ira, ça ira, ça ira, Les aristocrates, on les pendra! Le despotisme expirera, La liberté triomphera, Ah! ça ira, ça ira, ça ira, Nous n'avions plus ni nobles, ni prêtres, Ah! ça ira, ça ira, ça ira, L'égalité partout régnera. L'esclave autrichien le suivra, Ah! ça ira, ça ira, ça ira, Et leur infernale clique Au diable s'envolera. |
Ah! Det vil gå, det vil gå, det vil gå, Folket vil denne dag blive ustandseligt synge: Ah! Det vil gå, det vil gå, det vil gå, Trods forrædere vil alt lykkes Vore forvirrede fjender er stadig dér og vi vil synge "Halleluja!" Ah! Det vil gå, det vil gå, det vil gå, Da Boileau engang talte om præsteskabet som en profet forudså han dette : Ved at synge min lille sang, med glæde, vil man sige: Ah! Det vil gå, det vil gå, det vil gå, Trods forræderne vil alt lykkes Ah! Det vil gå, det vil gå, det vil gå Pjerrot og Kolumbine sang på scenen: Ah! Det vil gå, det vil gå, det vil gå Lad os glæde os - de gode tider kommer Det franske folk var engang pøbbel Aristokraterne siger "Vi er skyldige" Ah! Det vil gå, det vil gå, det vil gå Den gejstlige fortryder nu de goder han har. Ved retfærdighed vil nationen opnå alt, Ved den vise LaFayette vil alle problemer tie, Ah! Det vil gå, det vil gå, det vil gå Trods forrædere vil alt lykkes Ah! Det vil gå, det vil gå, det vil gå Lille som stor er soldat i sjælen Ah! Det vil gå, det vil gå, det vil gå Under krigen vil ingen dessertere. Med hjertet vil alle gode franskmænd slås, hvis han ser en dessertør, frisk vil han sige Ah! Det vil gå, det vil gå, det vil gå Lafayette siger, "Lad dem der vil komme med" og patrioismen vil svare dem uden frygt for ild eller flamme, vil franskmændene altid sejre. Ah! Det vil gå, det vil gå, det vil gå Trods forrædere vil alt lykkes Ah! Det vil gå, det vil gå, det vil gå Aristokraterne op i lygtepælene! Ah! Det vil gå, det vil gå, det vil gå Aristokraterne, vi klynger dem op! Tyraniet vil dø, Friheden vil triumfere Ah! Det vil gå, det vil gå, det vil gå Vi vil ikke længere have adelige eller pavelige Det vil gå, det vil gå, det vil gå Ligheden vil regere overalt og den østriske slave vil følge den. Ah! Det vil gå, det vil gå, det vil gå Og den infernalske klikke sender vi til djævlen. |
[1] THE GATHERING STORM
(instrumental)
[2] OVERTURE
(instrumental)
ACT ONE
Scene 1
"A Garden in Vienna, 1765"
[3] RINGMASTER
Within our humble sawdust ring
The players are
arraigned
The powerful and puny
The saintly and deranged
The Honest Bird, a future queen
All innocent and green
Sparring
all the livelong day
Make ready for our play
So gentles all, who
will hold sway
To a garden in Vienna, let us make our way...
[4] MARIE THERESE
Madame Antoine, Madame Antoine
It's getting
dark outside
It's time to come in
MADAME ANTOINE
Oh Mother!
MARIE THERESE
Madame Antoine, it's time to come in
MADAME ANTOINE
Yes, yes mother, I'm coming
One day...
One day
I'll be queen
Live on peaches and cream
Wear satin and lace
And
laugh in the faces
Of the teachers and priests
And the boys will all
fawn
Fawn before me like beasts
MARIE THERESE
Madame Antoine, it's time to come in
HONEST BIRD
Little princess, so sure you are right
But your
endless day is their endless night
You can preen in the limelight
In
your diamonds in pearls
But the children go hungry
In that other
world
MARIE THERESE
Madame Antoine, it's time to come in
MADAME ANTOINE
Little sparrow fly back to wherever you're
from
You could never imagine the plane I live on
The intricate steps
of the tumblers and clowns
Are above and beyond you cock robin
So
just you pipe down
Scene 2
"Kings, Sticks and Birds"
[5] RINGMASTER
Ladies and Gentlemen
Imagine a bird on song in a
tree
An ordinary bird like you or like me
Imagine some ruffian
happening by
And beating him within an inch of his life
CHORUS
Ahh!
RINGMASTER
Then a priest from some denomination
Witnessing this
abomination
Blesses not the bird but the beast
The Unknown Soldier
appears on the field
And takes the bird's feathers to put on his
shield
Then a powerful judge from the high court
Decrees that the
birds really ought
Not be allowed to sing in the trees
But then one
day
Some of the priests and soldiers and judges
Putting aside some
old worn grudges
Changes their minds and the birds sang again
It was
the Revolution
The Revolution is a story of birds
Of sticks and
stones and bushes and bones
RINGMASTER & CHORUS
A story of now, a story of then
A story
of woman, a story of men
RINGMASTER
A story of everything to come
Of everything under the
sun
[6] MARIE MARIANNE
Honest bird, simple bird
Just longing to be
spreading the word
Feeling the rain, feeling the sun
But your time
has not come
Your song is not heard
Honest bird
MALE CHORUS
Singing is forbidden in the fig tree
Singing is
forbidden in the olive tree
Singing is forbidden in the pear tree
No
singing in the olive or the fig or the pear tree
MALE CHORUS & CHILDREN
No more singing in the fig tree
No
more singing in the pear tree
Someone’s hanging in the olive
There's
someone hanging in the olive tree
Singing in the fig tree, that's
forbidden
Singing in the pear tee, that’s forbidden
Singing in the
olive, that's forbidden
Someone's hanging in the olive
tree
Someone's hanging in the olive tree
MARIE MARIANNE
You come to earth, you have no choice
Could be a
seamstress or serving girl
Or butcher's boy
Could be a dead
beat
Or one of the elite
Maybe the bird ill find his voice
And
make a choice
From all the wheat and all the chaff
It's the
knowledge that you glean
Makes you what you'll be
And the knowledge
that you lack
A rod for your own back
Leaves you in
purgatory
Honest bird, simple bird
[7] Make your choice, find your
voice
REVOLUTIONARY PRIEST
Make your choice, find your voice
CHORUS
I want to be King, Queen, Courtesan, Dauphin
I want to be
Cardinal, Capitaine, King of Kings
I want to be God
SOLO BOY
I want to be the King
SOLO GIRL
I want to be the Queen
SOLO GIRL
I want to be the Courtesan
SOLO BOY
I want to be the Dauphin
SOLO BOY
I want to be the Cardinal
SOLO BOY
I want to be the Capitaine
CHORUS
I want to be the King of Kings
I want to be God
SOLO BOY
I am a great big pig
SOLO BOY
I am the King of France
SOLO BOY
His wife likes to dance
SOLO BOY
I am the Church of Rome
I stand behind the throne
SOLO BOY
I am the public purse; they think I'm bottomless
SOLO BOY
I am the public accounts; I admit I'm a bit of a mess
solo girl
I am the American war and they say I'm rather greedy
SOLO GIRL
I am the national debt; I’m big but needy
SOLO BOY
I am a noble
SOLO BOY
I am the clergy
SOLO BOY
I am the ordinary man
SOLO GIRL
I am hungry
SOLO GIRL
I am starving!
CHILDREN'S CHORUS
The cake needs re-carving!
TROUBLEMAKER
I'm a ravening wolf
MALE CHORUS
I'm a, I'm a, I'm a ravening wolf
FEMALE CHORUS
I'm a, I'm a, I'm a heart of thorns
MALE CHORUS
It's the end of the shield of divine law
TROUBLEMAKER
I'm the oak tree
CHILDREN'S CHORUS
I am the oak tree and I am the columbine
I am
the pig searching for truffles
CHORUS
And I am the peacock whose feathers are ruffled
[8] TROUBLEMAKER
Let us break all the shields
And soil the
ermine
Take the oak and the olive tree
Make their philosophy our
own
The pigs eat the acorns
The rich eat the pork
The poor eat
the olives and spit out the stones
REVOLUTIONARY PRIEST
We only ask a little tax from the
nobility
The spat out stone will grow in time into an olive tree
We
will smoke our pork over a fire of basilic
TROUBLEMAKER
And we will plant the laurel tree
REVOLUTIONARY PRIEST
To make
TROUBLEMAKER
To make
REVOLUTIONARY PRIEST
A wreath
TROUBLEMAKER
A wreath
A wreath to crown the République
REVOLUTIONARY PRIEST
We will smoke our pork upon the pyre of
privilege
The flames of castles burning will dance from ridge to
ridge
We'll break all the shields
Spit out all the stones
Make
the oak and the olive trees' philosophy our own
The pigs eat the
acorns
The rich eat the pork
The poor eat the olives and spit out
the stones
CHORUS
We will smoke the pork on a fire of basilic
We will plant
the laurel tree to make our laurel wreaths
To crown, to crown, to crown
the République!
Scene 3
"The Grievances of the People"
[9] RINGMASTER
The sparrow, bedraggled, looks up through the
rain
And dreams of a little more grain
The peacock, plump in his
place in the sun
Ignores the sound of the distant guns
Their thunder
falls upon deaf ears
The peacock never sniffs the air
He fails to
see that a starvation diet brings
The scent of riot on the
breeze
The King; The State; La France
Each of the above must with
regret cut off all payment
The cupboard is bare
The State of France
lies in disrepair
REVOLUTIONARY PRIEST
The Bishops hide the grain; to the attics it's
sent
If everyone is hungry, tell me, who can be content?
SOLO BOY
Altogether now!
CHILDREN'S CHORUS
We hand out pamphlets, we join a club
We shout
out slogans that we make up
We thumb our noses, at those above
We
hand out pamphlets, we join a club
TROUBLEMAKER
We join a club, a safety net
But it's more like a
gin trap that's been carefully set
REVOLUTIONARY PRIEST
We write what we can on the cow's flayed
hide
Our grievances are noted and then brushed to one side
But the
pain we feel keeps us alive
TROUBLEMAKER
Bushes and bones and sticks and stones
CHORUS
Now, then, women and men
REVOLUTIONARY PRIEST
In Manosque the bishops get what they
deserve
Stoned to death and we retrieve the grain from their
reserves
FEMALE CHORUS
We plunder all the bakeries
CHORUS
Searching for our courage in...
MALE CHORUS
Searching for our courage in...
REVOLUTIONARY PRIEST
Searching for our courage in...
RINGMASTER & MARIE MARIANNE
...this folly
Scene 4
"France in Disarray"
[10] RINGMASTER
The winger of eight-eight and nine
Was aching
cold, it chilled the very soul
They came from the country in twos and
threes
A trickle, a river, a torrent, a sea,
Driven by hunger,
driven by pain
SERGEANT
Company...Halt!...
RINGMASTER
A hundred thousand reached the barricade
SERGEANT
Present... Fire!...
RINGMASTER
Three hundred dead, shot down like rats
Three hundred
lives, snuffed out like that
Have a care if you treat your people like
vermin
You could end up with bloodstained ermine
But soft
As ever
in the ebb and flow
Sweet reason, deft and incorrupt
Adoring of the
human kind illuminates man's plight
Should be embrace
The brute and
base
Tilt blindly at the carousel
Or note, at least, the other
voice
And entertain the choice
Between the darkness and the
light?
[11] MARIE MARIANNE
To laugh is to know how to live
To see is to
know everything
To read is to hold the key that you need
The key you
need to set you free
RINGMASTER
All the world can see that in this great
library
There's a good medicine against tyranny
And the movement of
the heavens
Though it may last forever
sees no right, no wrong, no
weak, no strong
And the star you see in the sky and the moon and the
sun
Shine on prince and pauper alike and favour no one
SOLO GIRL & CHILDREN'S CHORUS
The politics of the Rights of
Man
Is the sharing of apples with an even hand
TO plant a tree were
birds my sit
But who in France will nurture it
[12] REVOLUTIONARY PRIEST
Slaves, Landlords, Bigots at your
door
Aristocrats, Democrats, survivors of the North American
war
Some with heart, some without hate
Some with faith in the human
race
And so the loan sharks
Selling dreams in honeyed tones like
skylarks
And rats who speak like cats of sacred rights
The sacred
rights of the family
MARIE MARIANNE
And al those brave souls both brave enough and crazy
enough
To spill their blood for truth alone
That one or two ideas
survive, always survive
Writ in blood on paving stones
RINGMASTER
Writ in blood
MARIE MARIANNE
On paving stones
CHILDREN'S CHORUS
And the noble class who rule
Having been to all
the best schools
Have thought it through and are good enough
To
explain what is best for us
It came to them in a dream
In a blinding
flash of light
Equality, fraternity and not just in the
afterlife
And they promise us reading
And they promise us
reading
CHILDREN'S CHORUS & FEMALE CHORUS
If we kneel before the
King
If we kneel before the King
SOLO CHILD
So this is the State of France
RINGMASTER, REVOLUTIONARY PRIEST & MARIE MARIANNE
And on the
street corners
The broadsheets all carry the usual story
A people
dying to believe in some benign authority
To lead them down a road
that’s paved with glory
To lead them down a road that’s paved with
glory
Scene 5
"The Fall of the Bastille"
[13] RINGMASTER
Birds flock, when winter settles in
The Harlequin
with dunce's cap and silver horn
All mournful, mocking eye and painted
tear,
Has seen it all before
The sparrows hurl in the face of glazed
imperium,
Then stunned, affronted, fall
Then, picking up perch
braggart on the wire and
Launch towards the south, towards the land of
fire
[14] REVOLUTIONARY PRIEST
To freeze in the dead of night
To burn
in divine law
Deep in the crucible brine
The sorrow and the rage
entwine
And coil and climb towards the light
The quill is poised
above the page
Words like falling rain slake the thirst and dowse the
flames
Cooling in the crucible and idea forms
A nugget of belief in
the hearts of the poor
That maybe in the dawn's new light
They have
a right to the law
[15] RINGMASTER
So to the streets in the pouring rain
The
dispossessed and the drunk and the lame
Gathered in bands and took the
law into their own hands
Like the daring young man on the flying
trapeze
Like birds flying into a storm
They took the great
leap
And launched themselves into the void
CHORUS
We broke into the arsenal, Les Invalides
Found cannonball
and powder, everything we need
We marched on the Bastille
The home
of tyranny
Killed the jailer
And set two madmen free
RINGMASTER
When you have an army of your own
You get to
choose
Who will live
Who will die
Who will win
Who will
lose
TROUBLEMAKER
A piece of prison stone
Is all I have to call my
own
Insight to see the other side
Strength and weakness, love and
pride
Is all I have to leave my child
If my child survives
He'll
judge men by their deeds and not their smiles
He'll keep his taste of
good red wine
His pride, his friends, his lust for life
These are
the things that will avail him
If my child survives...
Curtain
ACT TWO
Scene 1
"Dances and Marches"
[16] RINGMASTER
Versailles the leaves fall
It's that time of the
year
Her Majesty is bored with all
This endless calling for
reform
But the sound of young men marching
Is like music to her
ear
The sound of young men marching
Is like music to her ear
But
she dreams of young men dancing
QUEEN
Dancing, dancing...
RINGMASTER
And the dream of young men dancing
Hangs like birdsong
in the air
[17] Now Hear Ye!
Her Majesty invites the regiments
To a Grand
Ball
Versailles in October
The Queen is having a fling
She invites all
the regiments
Loyal to the King
Wining and dining and making eyes at
them all
Smiling in the limelight
The Queen is having a ball
OFFICER
The Queen is smiling
The Queen is laughing
She makes
eyes at one and all
CHORUS
She’s having a ball
[18] RINGMASTER
Flushed with wine Marie Antoinette
Casts down her
red, white and blue rosette
An impetuous and dangerous vignette
OFFICER
And then with her harming little shoe
She grinds the
precious symbol underfoot
what a lark, what a hoot
The regiments all
follow suit
The regiments
CHORUS
The regiments
OFFICER
The regiments
CHORUS
The regiments
OFFICER & CHORUS
The regiments all follow suit
REVOLUTIONARY PRIEST
Red, white and blue and they all follow
suit
CHILDREN'S CHORUS
Red, white and blue and they all follow suit
REVOLUTIONARY PRIEST
In Paris there is nothing to eat
CHORUS
Not a crust, not a crumb
Not a grain of wheat
REVOLUTIONARY PRIEST
They think that starving may weaken the man in
the street
CHORUS
Not a chance, they're used to the heat
REVOLUTIONARY PRIEST
In Versailles they drink wine and dine on
freshly baked bread
CHORUS
The peacock sprawls upon his bed
REVOLUTIONARY PRIEST
We choke on the bones of swallowed pride
instead
CHORUS
Soon they'll see what a feast they've made
REVOLUTIONARY PRIEST
A bitter feast
REVOLUTIONARY PRIEST & CHORUS
For the Parisians
CHORUS
...for the Parisians
RINGMASTER
These hags, these shrews, these courtesans
These
animals we call women
Have marched hear through the pouring rain
TO
bring the baker home again
CHORUS
Louis protests; he cries
KING
Veto, veto! I'll give you all bread if you just let me go!
RINGMASTER
These fishwives with their babies, these animals called
ladies
Will carry back home to Paris
The King, The Queen, and The
Dauphin
REVOLUTIONARY PRIEST
Versailles has loomed to the regiments' final
bow
CHORUS
Versailles bloomed
REVOLUTIONARY PRIEST
All fawning before
REVOLUTIONARY PRIEST & CHILDREN'S CHORUS
The Austrian cow!
CHORUS
Fawning on bended knee
REVOLUTIONARY PRIEST
The party's over
REVOLUTIONARY PRIEST & CHILDREN'S CHORUS
Take down the
marquee
CHORUS
Hang up your dancing shoes in the hanging tree
REVOLUTIONARY PRIEST
We'll take the baker back to Paris
REVOLUTIONARY PRIEST & CHILDREN'S CHORUS
Back to Paris
TROUBLEMAKER & MALE CHORUS
He'll make bread for the prince we
decree
REVOLUTIONARY PRIEST, CHILDREN'S CHORUS, & FEMALE CHORUS
The
shrews, the hags and the courtesans
TROUBLEMAKER & MALE CHORUS
The animals we call women
REVOLUTIONARY PRIEST, CHILDREN'S CHORUS, & FEMALE CHORUS
Will
take back the King to Paris
REVOLUTIONARY PRIEST & CHILDREN'S CHORUS
The crowd now seven
thousand strong
TROUBLEMAKER & MALE CHORUS
Bore the royal coach along
REVOLUTIONARY PRIEST & CHILDREN'S CHORUS
With trophies raised on
pikes above
TROUBLEMAKER & MALE CHORUS
The guardsman’s heads they had cut
off
TROUBLEMAKER
Adieu Versailles
MALE CHORUS
It rains, it pours, the crowd roars
REVOLUTIONARY PRIEST
Bonjour Paris
CHORUS
Adieu Versailles
COMPANY
Bonjour Paris, adieu Versailles
Scene 2
"The Letter"
[19] RINGMASTER
Imprisoned in the Tuilaries
The King makes
locks
To the sound of the ticking clocks
And the rain falling on his
window pane
Makes him think of his cousin Bourbon
Safe in his castle
in Spain
[20] KING
My Dear Cousin Bourbon of Spain
This letter I entrust
to a courier faithful and sure
Is to calm your fears and tell you
cousin dear
My heart is pure
This red cap I wear,
These lies
they've made me swear
Are repugnant to my soul
My very bones cry out
in pain
Cousin Bourbon of Spain
You know my feelings well
You've
heard what I've had to say
But now all my beliefs
Have been snatched
by these thieves
And cruelly torn away
But none of the scum who run
through the streets
Taking law from a bottle of wine
Could presume
to assume the fealty due
To me or to you from your subjects or
Mine
My dear cousin Bourbon n of Spain
Let's make a pact, let's
campaign
Let us whip back to their kennels again
These dogs who
speak of virtue
Help me, cousin
Help me cousin Bourbon of Spain
[21] RINGMASTER
The ship of state is all at sea
The King is
confused
'Tis hard enough to place one foot before the last
To tread
a path preordained by a law divine
But to pad all aimless on a shifting
sea
Each man an island free to choose his fate
God's death; what
dizzy, giddy, fall from grace...
Commerce, that barometer of
faith
Tolls warning of the coming storm
No coffee in the
marketplace
No peace on earth for rich or poor
Scene 3
"Silver, Sugar and Indigo"
[22] TROUBLEMAKER
How can you sleep?
How can you think?
How
can you live with no coffee to drink?
You'd better pray you don't have
a sweet tooth
The price of sugar is through the roof
Robespierre,
Brissot and Concordant all agree
We must set the blackbird free
But
sugar and silver and indigo
Make even the wisest man "idiot!"
[23] REVOLUTIONARY SLAVE
To the Windward Isles
REVOLUTIONARY SLAVE & CHORUS
It comes today
REVOLUTIONARY SLAVE
The wind of change blows this way
REVOLUTIONARY SLAVE & CHORUS
Blows this way
REVOLUTIONARY SLAVE
In Sante Domingo and elsewhere
To slaves of
sugar and despair
REVOLUTIONARY SLAVE & CHORUS
Silver, sugar, indigo
Silver,
sugar, indigo
Silver, sugar, indigo
Silver, sugar, indigo
Silver,
sugar, indigo
Silver, sugar, indigo
Silver, sugar, indigo
Silver,
sugar, indigo
Make even the wisest man "idiot!"
Make even the wisest
man "idiot!"
REVOLUTIONARY SLAVE
Bring freedom to the
REVOLUTIONARY SLAVE & CHORUS
Colonies
Act on principle
REVOLUTIONARY SLAVE
Equality, fraternity and
REVOLUTIONARY SLAVE & CHORUS
Liberty
REVOLUTIONARY SLAVE
Are
REVOLUTIONARY SLAVE & CHORUS
Not just words after all
REVOLUTIONARY SLAVE
But
REVOLUTIONARY SLAVE & CHORUS
Sugar is sweet
REVOLUTIONARY SLAVE
And
REVOLUTIONARY SLAVE & CHORUS
Coffee is strong
Hope goes down
with the sun
REVOLUTIONARY SLAVE
And
REVOLUTIONARY SLAVE & CHORUS
The sun goes down behind
CONDORCET & MARIE MARIANNE
Mountains of silver
Valleys of
sugar
And shiploads of indigo
Make even the wisest man "idiot!"
REVOLUTIONARY SLAVE & CHORUS
Make even the wisest man
"idiot!"
MARIE MARIANNE
So come ye ships
Across the sea
Let's case into
the deep
This shame and misery
In Paris they condemn our
rage
Condorcet stands his ground and says:
CONDORCET
My friends if we believe in freedom
Then we must unlock
this cage
COMPANY
Vive Condorcet, hear him scold them,
The frigid
reactionary old men
Good God above it's over
Enough is
enough
Enough, enough, enough
To the Windward Isles
Revolution
has arrived
They will only free us when
They need us to fight for
them
CONDORCET & MARIE MARIANNE
Cast into the deep sea
This shame
and this misery
Silver, sugar and indigo
Make even the wisest man
"idiot!"
CHORUS
Make even the wisest man "idiot!"
COMPANY
"Idiot!"
Scene 4
"The Papal Edict"
[24] RINGMASTER
Trade wings, buffeting the sweet molasses
Smoke
of burning cane
Push, swelling East the spreading ripples of
unrest,
Back to Europe and the rain
The Holy See safe on Tiber's
shore
Surveys the flotsam on the tide
Ignores the cries of drowning
men and
Passes on the other side
[25] TROUBLEMAKER
In Paris there's a rumble under the ground
It's
the sound of the printing press
And like a volcano when it blows
It
spews out ideas like confetti, like snow
BOY
Read all about it!
Hold the front page!
The street's a
theatre
Each café...
CHORUS & CHILDREN
A stage!
RINGMASTER
But under every café awning
There appears this papal
warning
TROUBLEMAKER
His Holiness the Pope, I fear
Believes the Rights of
Man to be a bad idea
REVOLUTIONARY PRIEST
The pope does not want the rights of Man
COMPANY
The pope does not want the rights of Man
REVOLUTIONARY PRIEST
He finds them too profane
COMPANY
He finds them too profane
REVOLUTIONARY PRIEST
When a man bites the apple
COMPANY
When a man bites the apple
REVOLUTIONARY PRIEST
He gets a taste for liberty
COMPANY
He gets a taste for liberty
REVOLUTIONARY PRIEST
He gets... a taste of liberty
MALE CHORUS
He gets... a taste of liberty
ALTAR BOY
The Pope declares that it's a sin
MALE CHORUS
The pope declares that it's a sin
TROUBLEMAKER
So let us raid the apple tree
Although the Pope does
not agree
He blesses us with sleight of hand
He doesn’t want the
Rights of Man
ALTAR BOY
The Pope declares that it's a sin
MALE CHORUS
The Pope declares that it's a sin
REVOLUTIONARY PRIEST
The Pope declares that it's... a sin
People
are sharing the apples
The Pope says Bless You but it's still a sin
COMPANY
The Pope says Bless You but it's still a sin
REVOLUTIONARY PRIEST
The Pope gives his blessing with sleight of
hand
COMPANY
The Pope gives his blessing with sleight of hand
REVOLUTIONARY PRIEST
He doesn't want the
REVOLUTIONARY PRIEST & MALE CHORUS
Rights... of Man
ALTAR BOY
The Pope declares that it's a sin
MALE CHORUS
The Pope declares that it's a sin
TROUBLEMAKER
But the Pop can change his mind like that
Like
trying on a different hat
Turning on the stars above and politics and
God and love
Turning like an apple that shrivels on the sand
And
when the core is rotten
No one tastes the Rights of Man
REVOLUTIONARY PRIEST
You never taste the Rights of Man...
CHORUS
He does not want the Rights of Man
The Pope does not want
the Rights of Man
He's made his stand
He washes his hands
The
Pope does not... want the Rights of Man
REVOLUTIONARY PRIEST
Nothing but a prayer to hope for
Nothing but
a little wine to dream
Nothing for this hunger but a handful of
grain
The horizon always the same
REVOLUTIONARY PRIEST & TROUBLEMAKER
Rooted in this earth
Like
our parents dead and gone
Like the trees which are our emblem
The
horizon just goes on and on
We'll change it with a forest
REVOLUTIONARY PRIEST, TROUBLEMAKER & CHORUS
The olive and the
oak tree
Will be our flags
Curtain
[Disk 2]
ACT THREE
Scene 1
"The Fugitive King"
[1] RINGMASTER
And high above,
Homing in the restless
sky,
Rooks, melancholy, proclaim a schism between
God, sacred, and
the Crown, profane
Between the heavens and the King
The dark horizon
cracks a crooked grin,
Admitting one small grain of change
Then two,
then four, then bit by bit,
Then tock by tick
All the old
presumptions hove in rings
KING
The King is afraid that his kingdom is slipping away
QUEEN
The Queen pines for the good times at Versailles
KING
He works on his locks to the sound of the ticking of clocks
QUEEN
The children play in a garden that's ringed with steel
KING
They wanted to visit St. Cloud to be able to
KING & QUEEN
Breathe in the air
OFFICER
The National Guard forbad them to leave
[2] KING & QUEEN
But the Marquis of Boulli had a trump card up
his sleeve
RINGMASTER
The Marquis of Boulli a good General
And fiercely
loyal to the crown
With his army in the East
Hatched a plan to see
the King released
QUEEN
The Queen assuming the title Baroness Korrf
Her papers
signed by the King of course
Set forth before the break of day
To
join up with Boulli in Alsace Lorraine
OFFICER
From the shadows King Louis disguised as a humble
valet
Sneaks out to make his getaway
With a small entourage of
course
OFFICER & CHORUS
Just a few hundred light horse
TROUBLEMAKER
Well let him go, let him run, with his Austrian
whore
TROUBLEMAKER & MALE CHORUS
Let him go to Prussia
OFFICER & MALE CHORUS
Let him go to Austria
Let him go and
die there
TROUBLEMAKER & MALE CHORUS
Let him go
OFFICER & MALE CHORUS
Let him go
TROUBLEMAKER, OFFICER & MALE CHORUS
Let him rot wit his Austrian
Queen
CHORUS
That the Republic at last can come into being
But wait,
fate would intervene
OFFICER
A keen-eyed postmaster by chance
OFFICER & CHORUS
Recognized the King and Queen and
CHORUS
Rode ahead to raise the alarm
RINGMASTER
In Parliament the moderates have their say
CONDORCET
The King has not fled
He was kidnapped instead
And
spirited away
OFFICER
To suggest that the King would run is a damnable lie
CONDORCET
It sticks in our throats and conflicts with our national
pride
OFFICER
But the Austrian court
And Brunswick of course
Say
they'll declare war
If the King's not restored
TROUBLEMAKER (mimicking Brunswick)
You must leave the King
alone
Or all of Paris will be torn down
Down to the very last
stone
TROUBLEMAKER & OFFICER
Paris will be pulverized
Down to the
very last bone
QUEEN
When the carriage returned
The acrid smoke of bridges
burned
Hung heavy like a stifled sigh
And they say the Queen had a
tear in here eye
OFFICER
When through the carriage window
Louis turned to face his
peers
A loyal friend, the Comte de Dampierre
Doffed his cap with
elegance
In deference to the King
A brave and foolish thing to
do
In light o f the prevailing mood
CHORUS
A few drops in her eye
A nice touch, a good try
Too
little, too late
For a last roll of the die
RINGMASTER & CHORUS
The crowd in a gesture less than
elegant
Brutally remove his head
RINGMASTER
Brutally remove his head
CHORUS
Brutally remove his head
[3] CHILDREN'S CHORUS
To take your hat off
Is the gesture of a
toff
But even his lordship needs a head
To take his hat off of
So
Dampierre lost his life
By being somewhat too polite
In face of all
the pain and fear that festered
For more than a thousand years
SERGEANT (off stage)
By the left, Quick March!
CHILDREN'S CHORUS
Dampierre has lost his head
The King has lost
his grown
The carriage rolls through the streets
The crowd jeers,
the wheels squeak
Hey, hey, what goes around
Always comes around
MALE CHORUS
IN Germany and England
They celebrate our
liberty
Over there by and by
They'll have their 14th of July
In
Germany and England they fete our
MALE CHORUS & CHILDREN
Liberty
OFFICER
The National Assembly try to whitewash the King
MALE CHORUS
His brothers in law
Are camped on every
border
They fear to depose him
Would men war
MARIE MARIANNE, RINGMASTER, OFFICER & CHORUS
But feelings run
deep
And the man in the street
Hungry, weak but unbowed
Scents
the taste so sweet of peacock meat
As it wafts over the crowd
So
they march to the Camps du Mars
To demand Republic now
CHILDREN'S CHORUS
Republic here, now, today
The National
Assembly
Has got it wrong
SERGEANT
Present...
CHILDREN'S CHORUS
We sing in the Camps du Mars
SERGEANT
Take Aim...
CHILDREN'S CHORUS
We sing of what we want
SERGEANT
FIRE!
CHILDREN'S CHORUS
Repub--
[4] RINGMASTER
The echoes never fade from the fusillade
Lafayette
fired upon
An unarmed crowd, six thousand strong
The fragile ship of
State
Sinks beneath the waves
The crashing sea of blood
Drowns
out the sound of the parade
The tidied up the Camps du Mars
They
piled up the dead
The dead whose only crime had been
To dream of
freedom
The dead who'd never get to see
The King would be restored
instead
Scene 2
"The Commune De Paris"
[5] RINGMASTER
The Monarchy restored
The crown sits tilted and
uneasy now
The Girondins, one eye cocked nervous in the East,
Are
loath to bring it down
TROUBLEMAKER
But at the gates
Beyond the palsied grip of limp and
timid politics
The Marseillais are girded for the fray
With pike and
pick and bloodied stick
They'll plant the laurel tree
And their song
will be a fanfare for the Commune de Paris...
[6] MALE CHORUS
Vive la Commune De Paris
For the love of
God
IN the name of freedom
For the crippled and the poor
RINGMASTER
The bells ring out the tambourine beats
The rise and
fall of voices
The sound of marching feet
Signals the demise of the
Capet dynasty
TROUBLEMAKER
It's not whether now but when
The King and Queen
have only men
From Switzerland to defend the Tuileries
Remorseless
as a rising tide
The san culottes prepare to die
Vive la Commune de
Paris
CHORUS
Vive la Commune de Paris
Vive la Commune de Paris
Vive
la Commune de Paris
Vive la Commune de Paris
Vive la Commune de
Paris
Vive la Commune de Paris
Vive la Commune de Paris
Vive la
Commune de Paris
Vive la Commune de Paris
REVOLUTIONARY PRIEST
Vive la Commune de Paris in God's name
CHORUS
In God's name
REVOLUTIONARY PRIEST
Vive la Commune de Paris
For the
REVOLUTIONARY PRIEST & CHORUS
Halt and the maimed
REVOLUTIONARY PRIEST
Who have no Pope and no hope of paradise
CHORUS
No hope of paradise
REVOLUTIONARY PRIEST
And nothing to lose but their miserable earthly
lives...
CHORUS
Nothing to lose but their lives
REVOLUTIONARY PRIEST
Everyone under the sun has the power
To
change the way the world is arranged
MALE CHORUS
If you don't use it
The powers that be will abuse
it
Give up but half of our power
And you'll get shafted
CHORUS
Vi......ve la Commune de Paris
REVOLUTIONARY PRIEST & CHORUS
Vive la, vive la, viva la
Commune
Vive la, vive la, viva la Commune de Paris
[7] RINGMASTER
The National Assembly is confused
The Girondins
blow back and forth
Like flags and ashes scattered by the truth
BOY
Oi, Mister... What is a Girondid?
RINGMASTER
A Girondin is careful of the company he keeps
He looks
to find a sign before he leaps
TROUBLEMAKER
Like ranks of Marseillaise, six hundred
deep
Arraigned before the Tuileries
CHORUS
It's the end of monarchy
Vive la Commune de Paris!
RINGMASTER
The presence of the Prussians on the border
IS a
worrisome thing
The Brunswick manifesto
Serves only to stiffen the
sinews
And weaken the King
To depose him now
Fills the Girondid
hearts with fear
But the Prussians cross the border
And the order of
the day becomes clear
REVOLUTIONARY PRIEST & CHILDREN'S CHORUS
The monarchy is
over
No more days in clover
CHORUS
The monarchy, c'est fini
REVOLUTIONARY PRIEST & CHILDREN'S CHORUS
Brunswick is a liar;
just listen to our cannon fire
REVOLUTIONARY PRIEST
The National Assembly comes in line
With the
half and the maimed
And the dead and the dying
The monarchy, c'est
fini
Scene 3
"The Execution of Louis Capet"
[8] RINGMASTER
In the spring of ninety-two
The Austrians and the
Prussians too
Crossed the line
The war had come
The people went
to see the King
Reluctantly he let them in
RINGMASTER & CHORUS
And over tea they said that
He must
choose one hat
RINGMASTER
A crown in Koblenz with his friends
Or if he chose to
make amends
He might adopt
CHORUS
He might adopt
RINGMASTER & CHORUS
Their scarlet bonnet
RINGMASTER
Surprise, surprise, when left to choose
Too late he
chose "The Bonnet Rouge"
[9] MARIE MARIANNE
Adieu Louis for you it's over
Too many
carpenters and bookkeepers and gardeners
Gave their ordinary lives to
be free
On the battlefields of the Tuileries
REVOLUTIONARY PRIEST
To be King is a sacred trust
But you
betrayed us
Poor King Louis
We must take your life
Clean the
slate, start anew
Poor Louis, it's over for you
TROUBLEMAKER
The time for grief is not yet here
It’s to build a
world without tears
That we toll the funeral bell
And shed our
precious blood
Poor Louis and your precious blood as well
CHILDREN'S CHORUS
Poor King Louis, you'll soon be dead
Poor King
Louis, far from your bed
TROUBLEMAKER
Far from your bed
CHILDREN'S CHORUS
Life must always end to start anew
REVOLUTIONARY PRIEST
Poor King Louis
It's over for you!
QUEEN
It's always the terror you can rely on
To eat its way into
your heart
Like rust and there to spy on
The blood, the blade, the
speeches made
That mingle in your very entrails
Scene 4
"Marie Antoinette - The Last Night on Earth"
[10] RINGMASTER
The widow now bereft, abhorred
Counts numbered
fays the summer long
In Temple Prison with her spawn
On pretext of
'unnatural acts'
With jests and jibes and guile and facts
The 'sans
culottes' prune the tree
Now a sister to the dispossessed
The halt,
like maimed and all the rest
Like a leaf on a pitiless sea
Shorn of
family and rank
Humbled in the dank air
She mingles with the dancers
macabre
And the ghostly dancers twirl
In that dread minuet
And
beggar the illusions of that little Austrian Girl
[11] QUEEN
Adieu my good and tender sister
I am condemned to
die
My only regret is to abandon my children
My children, my God,
how it tears me to leave them
My love for them was always first and
last
My God, I miss my children so
REVOLUTIONARY PRIEST
Madame Antoine, if we could only turn back the
clock
TO that garden in Vienna
MARIE THERESE & FEMALE CHORUS
Madame Antoine, Madame
Antoine,
Mother is calling, darkness is falling
QUEEN
Monsieur, I know thee not
REVOLUTIONARY PRIEST
The oak tree without and the peach tree
within
Your mother was calling
The darkness was falling
QUEEN
MY little cock robin pray kneel here beside me
The dance is
about to begin
REVOLUTIONARY PRIEST
Courage Madame, in this great rebirth
Like
wind-fallen fruit we return to the earth
QUEEN
I saw but a priest
REVOLUTIONARY PRIEST
I am but a man
Madame, please take my
hand
QUEEN
Monsieur, please take my hand
Scene 5
"Liberty"
[12] TROUBLEMAKER
We want to get rid of the Guillotine
And
abolish pain somehow
But to make a world free of tears
We build
these scaffolds now
OFFICER
Come dry your tears and pray explain
How can we abolish
pain?
If we don't build these scaffolds now
These instruments of
injustice
These tools of execution
REVOLUTIONARY PRIEST
We've given to the Guillotine
More blood
than you have ever seen
What end could justify these means?
OFFICER
We've given more of our blood
MALE CHORUS
We've given
REVOLUTIONARY PRIEST
We've given more of our blood
MALE CHORUS
We've given
OFFICER
We've given more of our blood
MALE CHORUS
More of our blood
CHORUS
We've given, we've given
More blood than we could turn to
love
REVOLUTIONARY PRIEST & OFFICER
Than we could ever hope to turn
to
REVOLUTIONARY PRIEST
Love
REVOLUTIONARY PRIEST & OFFICER
More blood, than we could
Ever
hope could turn to love
CHORUS
We've given, we've given
More blood, than we could turn to
love
REVOLUTIONARY PRIEST
Come angles of mercy
Come doves of
peace
Shine a light on all these warring clubs and cliques
OFFICER
The jackal and hyena who prowl these city streets
Would
turn in their own mother for a little extra meat
REVOLUTIONARY PRIEST
From the piles of dead the Republic comes to
life
Her mutilated body reeling like a drunken fishwife
Gives birth
to the future
OFFICER
Gives birth on the street
REVOLUTIONARY PRIEST, OFFICER & CHORUS
Impure and exultant she
gives birth to the dream
RINGMASTER & MARIE MARIANNE
When the dream
REVOLUTIONARY PRIEST
When the dream
RINGMASTER & MARIE MARIANNE
Is understood
REVOLUTIONARY PRIEST
Is understood
RINGMASTER, REVOLUTIONARY PRIEST & MARIE MARIANNE
That no man
should live in chains
That the great and the small are equal after
all
[13] RINGMASTER
And in the bushes where they survive
The winder
hail and the slaughter
The birds were attacked by the dogs and the
rats
Hiding round every corner
REVOLUTIONARY PRIEST
When you're a rat caught in a trap with not
even cheese you get mean
CHILDREN'S CHORUS
But we are not rats
OFFICER
When you're a rabid dog you need to spread your disease
CHILDREN'S CHORUS
But we are not dogs
REVOLUTIONARY PRIEST & OFFICER
When you're a man and they say
you should be an angel
CHILDREN'S CHORUS
We're not even human
REVOLUTIONARY PRIEST
When you're less than nothing
OFFICER & MALE CHORUS
Less than nothing
REVOLUTIONARY PRIEST, OFFICER & CHILDREN'S CHORUS
Less than
nothing as sure as the sparrows sing
MARIE MARIANNE
If wishes give us power to make it all come
right
If we could walk through mirrors
IF we could touch the
light
We'd shrug off our illusions and what was left would be
Te
strength and bravery
To feel what we feel
And be what we'd be...
REVOLUTIONARY PRIEST
Of all the woman none can hold a light to
liberty
REVOLUTIONARY PRIEST & CHORUS
With wings to fly and eyes to
see
TROUBLEMAKER & CHORUS
She's the one who loves us
The one that
we adore
When you're laughing with the sun out
Or lying wounded in a
dug out
REVOLUTIONARY PRIEST
With wings to fly and eyes to see
Freedom is
her name
OFFICER
She makes a fearsome ally
If you stand up with no
shame
REVOLUTIONARY PRIEST
But liberty is nothing if you love her on your
knees
OFFICER & MALE CHORUS
And liberty can't hear you when you're
hanging from an olive tree!
RINGMASTER
If we don't founder in pursuit luxury
In forgetfulness
of others needs
And in the depths of our own believes
MARIE MARIANNE
If we don't hide in that solitary dream
Safe in
our shells
In respect for the powers that be
And in fear of our
selves
CHILDREN'S CHORUS
If wishes could come true
If mirrors could be
seen through
No more mystery
Only the strength and bravery
To
help one another
To see what its like to be...
Happy!
No bird
needs to be afraid
To leave his nest and to parade
Up and down the
boulevard all day,
All day, all day!
No bird must be greedy
And
eat up all the seed
'Til every bird has had enough,
Every bird
Be
he rich or be he poor
Be he great or be he small
Every bird, every
bird, every bird, every bird
Will go to the ball
RINGMASTER
If this life's a journey we take
REVOLUTIONARY PRIEST
If the secret the sharing cake
MARIE MARIANNE
Holds the key, holds the key to joy
RINGMASTER
And unlocks these doors inside
REVOLUTIONARY PRIEST
Where Republic must surely hide
MARIE MARIANNE
If wishes really could come true
RINGMASTER
If we see through the illusions
REVOLUTIONARY PRIEST & CHORUS
And abide by the constitution
MARIE MARIANNE
There'll be human rights for everyone
CHORUS
Unique and universal
COMPANY
For everyone
Under the sun!
RINGMASTER, REVOLUTIONARY PRIEST, MARIE MARIANNE, TROUBLEMAKER &
OFFICER
If we are not lost in these towers of ivory
In respect for
the strong
And in fear of our need to belong
The promise of Republic
lies within
Ça Ira
COMPANY
Ça Ira!
Curtain