This week’s choice is the song “Red and Black” from Les Misérables because it was running round my head earlier.
Had you been there tonight
Alain Boublil (1941—), tr Herbert Kretzmer (1925—2020)
You might know how it feels
To be struck to the bone
In a moment of breathless delight!
Poem 404. Red and Black
COMBEFERRE
At Notre Dame the sections are prepared!
FEUILLY
At rue de Bac they’re straining at the leash!
COURFEYRAC
Students, workers, everyone
There’s a river on the run
Like the flowing of the tide
Paris coming to our side!
ENJORAS
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 is 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
To bring them in line!
(Marius enters)
Marius, you’re late.
JOLY
What’s wrong today?
You look as if you’ve seen a ghost.
GRANTAIRE
Some wine and say what’s going on!
MARIUS
A ghost you say… a ghost maybe
She was just like a ghost to me
One minute there, and she was gone!
GRANTAIRE
I am agog!
I am aghast!
Is Marius in love at last?
I’ve never heard him `ooh’ and `aah’
You talk of battles to be won
And here he comes like Don Ju-an
It’s better than an o-per-a!
ENJOLRAS
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 colour 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!
MARIUS
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!
GRANTAIRE
Red…
MARIUS
I feel my soul on fire!
GRANTAIRE
Black…
MARIUS
My world if she’s not there!
ALL
Red…
MARIUS
The colour of desire!
ALL
Black…
MARIUS
The colour of despair!
ENJOLRAS
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 toward a larger goal
Our little lives don’t count at all!
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!
ENJOLRAS
Well, Courfeyrac, do we have all the guns?
Feuilly, Combeferre, our time is running short.
Grantaire, put the bottle down!
Do we have the guns we need?
GRANTAIRE
Give me brandy on my breath
And I’ll breathe them all to death!
COURFEYRAC
In St. Antoine they’re with us to a man!
COMBEFERRE
In Notre Dame they’re tearing up the stones!
FEUILLY
Twenty rifles good as new!
(Gavroche rushes in shouting)
GAVROCHE
Listen!
JOLY
Twenty rounds for every man!
GAVROCHE
Listen to me!
JEAN PROUVAIRE
Double that in Port St. Cloud!
GAVROCHE
Listen everybody!
LESGLES
Seven guns in St. Martin!
GAVROCHE
General Lamarque is dead!
ENJOLRAS
Lamarque is dead.
Lamarque! His death is the hour of fate.
The people’s man.
His death is the sign we await!
On his funeral day they will honor his name.
It’s a rallying cry that will reach every ear!
In the death of Lamarque we will kindle the flame
They will see that the day of salvation is near!
The time is near!
Let us welcome it gladly with courage and cheer
Let us take to the streets with no doubt in our hearts
But a jubilant shout
They will come one and all
They will come when we call!
This is the rousing song from near the end of Act I of Les Misérables where the students, tragically overestimating the willingness of the Parisian crowds to follow their lead, begin to assemble their arms at the ABC Café and search for a symbolic moment to launch their rebellion.
Combeferre, Feuilly and Courfeyrac all report encouraging news from their quarters of Paris, and Enjolras, leader of the band of students senses that the moment is coming when they will seize the initiative and bring the people into the streets to fight the army alongside them: all they need is something that will motivate the people to join them in rebellion.
It is at this moment that Enjolras’s friend Marius arrives, somewhat late because he has encountered Cosette, destined to be the love of his life, in the streets. He seems bewildered and the other students chaff him when he describes this vision that has opened to him—“just like a ghost”. Grantaire, the drunkard who tags along with the students, calls for wine and contrasts the serious note struck by Enjolras with the softer emotions that Marius speaks of.
Enjolras calls the students to order by reminding them that they are not competing for a seat at the opera or some other facile amusement—they are playing a game where the price of losing is death: “Is it simply a game/For rich young boys to play?”
He sets it out as a call to arms in contrasting colours: red for blood and anger but also for the dawning of a new day set against the black of the dark ages long past and the darkness through which they are living but which must end when a new age dawns.
Marius interrupts his friend to say that if Enjolras had been with him to see the woman who has changed his world around, he might feel the same way; he might realise that there is more to the world than political upheaval: “You might also have known/How the world may be changed/In just one burst of light!” Marius has experienced an upheaval, right enough, but it is his emotions that are in turmoil, rather than his politics.
Grantaire mockingly mimics Enjolras’s call to arms, while Marius interprets the colours differently: red for the fire in his soul and the colour of desire, and black for the shadow that falls when the object of his affections is absent and the despair that falls on him when he considers that she does not know him and they might never meet again.
Enjolras loses patience with his friend, saying that although Marius is old enough to look after himself and doubtless has a good heart, they are working together towards a loftier goal than mere love (as he sees it) and their existences are meaningless if they cannot achieve their goal—“Who cares about your lonely soul?/We strive towards a higher goal/Our little lives don’t count at all”
He repeats his call to arms and the others join in, and then he dismisses Marius and his “lonely soul” to discuss the logistics: “do we have all the guns?” while reproving Grantaire for his drinking—Grantaire for his part suggests that if he drinks enough brandy, his breath will prove a potent weapon. This is a mere aside, and the students continue to share out rifles and ammunition, initially oblivious to the street urchin Gavroche who brings the news that the respected general Lamarque is dead.
When Enjolras hears this news, he seizes on it as the moment for which everyone is waiting: the death of the popular general who has always been on the side of the common man and the general good will serve as the match to light the tinder of resentment and poverty that will bring the people in line and fuel the revolution that he seeks.
On Lamarque’s funeral day, he conceives that the people will easily be led to rebellion, and the students will be at the head of this uprising so that they will dictate terms to the cowed government. Enjolras is, I think, sorry in a rather clinical way for Lamarque’s death but has no personal feeling at all: the general’s death is simply a convenient moment to trigger the revolution he desires. This death is politically expedient for Enolras, but the people see it differently and this is perhaps why the rebellion is ill-fated; it is a calculated ploy rather than an appeal to the emotions of the masses, and Enjolras has charisma but doesn’t have a personality that will endear himself to the mob.
It turns out that Marius’s love for Cosette is more durable than Enjolras’s enthusiasm for political change, but it is a rousing song for either side. Throughout the song we hear the contrast between red and black but the song itself contrasts the black of Enjolras’s clinical and rather ruthless outlook with the red of Marius’s love and sympathy. I can’t help feeling that if Marius had wished to lead the uprising, he would have done better than his friend because he has genuine sympathy for the people throughout the story.
I like it because it contrasts Enjolras’s love of political ideals with Marius’s love for Cosette. Give me that “moment of breathless delight” any time.
As a stage show and film there are numerous performances of this song but the one I like best is the one from the 10th anniversary concert at the Albert Hall.