ABC Café / Red & Black

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

We need a sign

To rally the people

To call them to arms

To bring them in line

Marius wake up

Oh what's wrong today

You look as if you've seen a ghost

Some wine and say what's going on

A ghost you say

A ghost may be

She was just like a ghost to me

One minute there then she was gone

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 Juan

It is 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 yourself

What's the price you might pay

Is this simply a game for a rich young boy to play

The colours of the world

Are changing day by day

Red

The blood of angry men

Black

The dark of ages past

Red

A world about to dawn

Black

A night that ends at last

Had you seen her today you might know how it feels

To be struck to the bone in a moment of breathless delight

Had you been there today you might also have known

How your world may be changed to 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

It's the colour of desire

Black

It's the colour 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

A night that ends at last

Listen everybody

General Lamarque is dead

Lamarque

His death is the hour of fate

The peoples man

His death is the sign we await

At his funeral day we will honor his death

With the light of rebellion ablaze in their eyes

With their candles of grief we will kindle our flame

At the tomb of Lamarque shall our barricade rise

The time is here

Let us welcome it gladly with couraging 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 ask!