Eight Days (La Chanson de Craonne)

When eight days have passed our rest is no more

The war calls us back to the trench

Our prescence is desperately needed

Without us all would be defeated

But enough of this war, we can't take any more

We don't want to march one more inch

With sadness inside and tears in our eyes

We must bid fond adieu to civilian life

No trumpets, no drums

Just feelings of dread

We must get up and go

Without losing our heads

Farewell to life

Farewell to love

Farewell to you ladies all

Now it's all over

Finished, no more

All is lost to this terrible war

On the plateau at Craonne

There in the mud

We must all pay with blood

For we are condemned

Giving as sacrifice

Eight days in the trench

Eight days of suffering

Still there is hope in our fear

That armistice might come tonight

Even as we stand waiting to fight

Then through the darkness, a figure approaches

The men salute as he draws near

It's an infantry officer come to replace

The soldiers who go to look death in the face

In the night the rain lashes in waves

The rifles are marching to their early graves

Farewell to life

Farewell to love

Farewell to you ladies all

Now it's all over

Finished, no more

All is lost to this terrible war

On the plateau at Craonne

There in the mud

We must all pay with blood

For we are condemned

Giving as sacrifice

It's sad to think in the city's grand streets

The rich drink and party and lunch

La Vie en Rose they are living

While all that we have are misgivings

Instead of partying all of you shirkers

Should make your way down to the trench

Protect your own property, for we have none

We are the poor

For us all joy is gone

Our comrades are buried face down in the mud

For the money and possessions of the great and the good

Those with the coin get to go home again

It's for them that the rest of us fall

But no longer!

Les Troufions will go out on strike

We will not die for you anymore

Now it's your turn, all you great and the good

To crawl in the trenches and die in the mud

If you must make war pay for it with your own blood

If you must make war pay for it with your own blood

If you must make war pay for it with your own blood