REVOLUTIONARY PRIEST Slavers, Landlords, Bigots at your door
Aristocrats, Democrats, survivors of the North American war Some with heart, some with 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 all those brave souls both brave enough and crazed 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
CHILDRENS 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 writing
CHILDRENS 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!