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Ringmaster:The winger of eight-eight and nineWas aching cold, it chilled the very soulThey came from the country in twos and threesA trickle, a river, a torrent, a sea,Driven by hunger, driven by painA hundred thousand reached the barricadeThree hundred deadShot down like ratsThree hundred livesSnuffed out like thatHave a care if you treat your people like verminYou could end up with bloodstained ermineBut softAs ever in the ebb and flowSweet reason, deft and incorruptAdoring of the human kind illuminates man's plightShould be embraceThe brute and baseTilt blindly at the carouselOr note, at least, the other voiceAnd entertain the choiceBetween the darkness and the light?"To laugh is to know how to live"Letras de cancionesMarie Marianne:To laugh is to know how to liveTo see is to know everythingTo read is to hold the key that you needThe key you need to set you freeRingmaster:All the world can see that in this great libraryThere's a good medicine against tyrannyAnd the movement of the heavensThough it may last foreversees no right, no wrong, no weak, no strongAnd the star you see in the sky and the moon and the sunShine on prince and pauper alike and favour no oneChildren's Choir:The politics of the Rights of ManIs the sharing of apples with an even handTo plant a tree were birds may sitBut who in France will nurture it"Slavers, Landlords, Bigots at your door"Revolutionary Priests:Slaves, Landlords, Bigots at your doorAristocrats, Democrats, survivors of the North American warSome with heart, some without hateSome with faith in the human raceAnd so the loan sharksSelling dreams in honeyed tones like skylarksAnd rats who speak like cats of sacred rightsThe sacred rights of the familyMarie Marianne:And al those brave souls both brave enough and crazy enoughTo spill their blood for truth aloneThat one or two ideas survive, always surviveWrit in blood on paving stonesChildren's Chorus:And the noble class who ruleHaving been to all the best schoolsHave thought it through and are good enoughTo explain what is best for usIt came to them in a dreamIn a blinding flash of lightEquality, fraternity and not just in the afterlifeAnd they promise us readingAnd they promise us readingIf we kneel before the KingAll Soloists:And on the street cornersThe broadsheets all carry the usual storyA people dying to believe in some benign authorityTo lead them down a road that's paved with gloryTo lead them down a road that's paved with glory From Letras Mania