Ca Ira: Opera in Three Acts: "Slavers, Landlords, Bigots at Your Door..." - Roger Waters

REVOLUTIONARY PRIEST

Slavers, Landlords, Bigots at your door

Aristocrats, Democrats, survivors of the North American war

Some with heart, some without hate

Some with faith in the human race

And so the loan sharks

Selling dreams in honeyed tones like skylarks

And rats who speak like cats of sacred rights

The sacred rights of the family

MARIE MARIANNE

And al those brave souls both brave enough and crazy enough

To spill their blood for truth alone

That one or two ideas survive, always survive

Writ in blood on paving stones

RINGMASTER

Writ in blood

MARIE MARIANNE

On paving stones

CHILDREN’S CHORUS

And the noble class who rule

Having been to all the best schools

Have thought it through and are good enough

To explain what is best for us

It came to them in a dream

In a blinding flash of light

Equality, fraternity and not just in the afterlife

And they promise us reading

And they promise us reading

CHILDREN’S CHORUS & FEMALE CHORUS

If we kneel before the King

If we kneel before the King

SOLO CHILD

So this is the State of France

RINGMASTER, REVOLUTIONARY PRIEST & MARIE MARIANNE

And on the street corners

The broadsheets all carry the usual story

A people dying to believe in some benign authority

To lead them down a road that’s paved with glory

To lead them down a road that’s paved with glory