Roger Waters - Dances and Marches | Текст песни

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• Roger Waters
• Dances and Marches

Scene 1:

Dances and Marches

The Queen, ensconced at Versailles and aloof from the troubles, is utterly bored. She perks up only at the idea of holding a handsome ball. Her guests, the Ringmaster informs us, are all members of the army regiments still loyal to the King. The ball proceeds. True to its functions of escape and denial, it is a somewhat over-the-top affair. Many of the guests as well as the Queen are obviously drunk. According to the fashion, but no doubt either reluctantly or with heavy irony, she wears a revolutionary’s tri-color rosette in her hair. Embolden by drink, and eager to demonstrate her contempt for the revolution and all it stands for, she tears this from her head, throws it to the floor, and grinds it underfoot. Her officer guests, obliged to wear the tri-color themselves, immediately follow suit. The realities of the revolution are about to burst in on them, however. In Paris there is still nothing to eat. The march on Versailles from Paris, which includes amongst its numbers 7000 hungry and bedraggled women, arrives at the palace doors. The marchers are incensed by the Queen’s feast. The Priest tries to protect Marie Antoinette from the more aggressive elements, some of which are carrying pikes with severed heads still attached. At the same time, and in an effort to help her locate even a hint of her humanity, he attempts to remind her of her childhood meeting in her Viennese garden all those years ago. For a fleeting moment she appears to remember, but almost immediately shakes her head and turns her back on him. Together with the King, who is seized in another part of the palace, and the Dauphin, they are taken to Paris and the Tuileries, goaded en route by the crowd.

RINGMASTER
Versailles the leaves fall
It’s that time of year
Her Majesty is bored with all
This endless calling for reform
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 on the air