ABC Café / Red and Black (Live)

At Notredame 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 them like flies

But the national guard will be harder to catch

We need a sign

To rally the people

To bring them in line

Marius, you're late

What's wrong 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 still in love at last?

I've never heard him ooh and aah

You talk of battles to be won

And here he comes like Don Juan

It is 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 this simply a game

For rich young boys to play?

The colors of the world

Are 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 the 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 is 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 toward 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

Well, Courfeyrac, do we have all the guns?

Fe Comfel our time is running short

Grantaire, put the bottle down

Do we have the guns we need?

Give me brandy on my breath

And I'll breathe 'em all to death

Listen, everybody!

General Lamarque is dead!

Lamarque is dead

Lamarque, his death is the hour of fate

The people's man

His death is the sign we await

On his funeral day, they will honor his name

With the light of rebellion ablaze in their eyes

From the candles of grief we will kindle our flame

On the tomb of Lamarque shall our barricade rise

The time is here

Let us welcome it gladly with courage and cheer

Let us take to the streets with no doubt in our hearts

But a jubilant shout they will come one and all

They will come when we call