Red & Black

At Notre-Dame the sections are prepared

At Rue de Bac they're straining at the leash

Students, workers, everyone

There's a river on the run

Like the flowing of the tide

Paris coming to our side

The time is near

So near it's stirring the blood in their veins

And yet beware

Don't let the wine go to your brains!

For the army we fight is a dangerous foe

With the men and the arms that we never can match

It is easy to sit here and swat 'em like flies

But the national guard will be harder to catch

We need a sign

To rally the people, to call them to arms

And to bring them in line!

Marius, what's wrong with you today?

You look as if you've seen a ghost

Some wine and say what's going on

A ghost you say, a ghost maybe

She was just like a ghost to me

One minute there, then she was gone

I am agog, I am aghast

Is Marius in love at last?

I've never seen him "Ooh" and "Aah"

We talk of battles to be won

And here he comes like Don Juan

It's better than an opera

It is time for us all to decide who we are

Do we fight for the right to a night at the opera now?

Have you asked of yourselves, what's the price you might pay?

Is it simply a game for rich young boys to play?

The color of the world is changing day by day

Red, the blood of angry men

Black, the dark of ages past

Red, a world about to dawn

Black, the night that ends at last

Had you been there tonight you might know how it feels

To be struck to the bone in a moment of breathless delight

Had you been there tonight you might also have known

How your world may be changed in just one burst of light

And what was right seems wrong

And what was wrong seems right

Red, I feel my soul on fire

Black, my world if she's not there

Red, the color of desire

Black, the color of despair

Marius, you're no longer a child

I do not doubt you mean it well

But now there is a higher call

Who cares about your lonely soul

We strive towards a larger goal

Our little lives don't count at all

Red, the blood of angry men

Black, the dark of ages past

Red, a world about to dawn

Black, the night that ends at last