Ca Ira: Opera in Three Acts: "But the Marquis of Boulli Has a Trump Card up His Sleeve..." - Roger Waters

The Marquis of Boulli a good General

And fiercely loyal to the crown

With his army in the East

Hatched a plan to see the King released

The Queen assuming the title Baroness Korrf

Her papers signed by the King of course

Set forth before the break of day

To join up with Boulli in Alsace Lorraine

From the shadows King Louis disguised as a humble valet

Sneaks out to make his getaway

With a small entourage of course

Just a few hundred light horse

Well let him go, let him run, with his Austrian whore

Let him go to Prussia

Let him go to Austria

Let him go and die there

Let him go

Let him go

Let him rot wit his Austrian Queen

That the Republic at last can come into being

But wait, fate would intervene

A keen-eyed postmaster by chance

Recognized the King and Queen and

Rode ahead to raise the alarm

In Parliament the moderates have their say

The King has not fled

He was kidnapped instead

And spirited away

To suggest that the King would run is a damnable lie

It sticks in our throats and conflicts with our national pride

But the Austrian court

And Brunswick of course

Say they’ll declare war

If the King’s not restored

You must leave the King alone

Or all of Paris will be torn down

Down to the very last stone

Paris will be pulverized

Down to the very last bone

When the carriage returned

The acrid smoke of bridges burned

Hung heavy like a stifled sigh

And they say the Queen had a tear in here eye

When through the carriage window

Louis turned to face his peers

A loyal friend, the Comte de D&ierre

Doffed his cap with elegance

In deference to the King

A brave and foolish thing to do

In light o f the prevailing mood

A few drops in her eye

A nice touch, a good try

Too little, too late

For a last roll of the die

The crowd in a gesture less than elegant

Brutally remove his head

Brutally remove his head

Brutally remove his head