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's 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, and she was gone
I am agog
I am aghast
Is Marius in love at last
I have never seen him 'ooh' and 'aah'
You talk of battles to be won
But here he comes like Don Ju-an
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 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 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