Ca Ira: Opera in Three Acts: "To Take Your Hat Off..."

CHILDREN’S CHORUS
To take your hat off
Is the gesture of a toff
But even his lordship needs a head
To take his hat off of
So Dampierre lost his life
By being somewhat too polite
In face of all the pain and fear that festered
For more than a thousand years
SERGEANT (off stage)
By the left, Quick March!
CHILDREN’S CHORUS
Dampierre has lost his head
The King has lost his grown
The carriage rolls through the streets
The crowd jeers, the wheels squeak
Hey, hey, what goes around
Always comes around
MALE CHORUS
IN Germany and England
They celebrate our liberty
Over there by and by
They’ll have their 14th of July
In Germany and England they fete our
MALE CHORUS & CHILDREN
Liberty
OFFICER
The National Assembly try to whitewash the King
MALE CHORUS
His brothers in law
Are camped on every border
They fear to depose him
Would men war
MARIE MARIANNE, RINGMASTER, OFFICER & CHORUS
But feelings run deep
And the man in the street
Hungry, weak but unbowed
Scents the taste so sweet of peacock meat
As it wafts over the crowd
So they march to the Camps du Mars
To demand Republic now
CHILDREN’S CHORUS
Republic here, now, today
The National Assembly
Has got it wrong
SERGEANT
Present…
CHILDREN’S CHORUS
We sing in the Camps du Mars
SERGEANT
Take Aim…
CHILDREN’S CHORUS
We sing of what we want
SERGEANT
FIRE!
CHILDREN’S CHORUS
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