Prologue lyrics

Artist  : Les Miserables 
Song : Prologue
 


Chain Gang - Overture / Work Song / Look
Down
[PRISONERS]
Look down, look
down
Don't look 'em in the eye
Look down,
look down,
You're here until you
die

[CONVICT ONE]
The sun is
strong
It's hot as hell
below

[PRISONER]
Look down, look
down,
There's twenty years to
go

[CONVICT TWO]
I've done no
wrong!
Sweet Jesus, hear my
prayer!

[PRISONERS]
Look down look
down,
Sweet Jesus doesn't care

[CONVICT
THREE]
I know she'll wait,
I know that
she'll be true!

[PRISONERS]
Look down,
look down,
They've all forgotten
you

[CONVICT FOUR]
When I get free ya
won't see me
Here for
dust!

[PRISONERS]
Look down, look
down
Don't look 'em in the eye

[CONVICT
FIVE]
How long, oh Lord
Before you let me
die?

[PRISONERS]
Look down, look
down,
You'll always be a slave
Look down,
look down,
You're standing in your
grave

[JAVERT]
Now bring me prisoner
24601
Your time is up
And your parole's
begun
You know what that
means.

[VALJEAN]
Yes, it means I'm
free.

[JAVERT]
No!
It means you
get
Your yellow ticket-of-leave
You are a
thief

[VALJEAN]
I stole a loaf of
bread.

[JAVERT]
You robbed a
house.

[VALJEAN]
I broke a window
pane.
My sister's child was close to
death
And we were
starving.

[JAVERT]
You will starve
again
Unless you learn the meaning of the
law.

[VALJEAN]
I know the meaning of
those 19 years
A slave of the
law

[JAVERT]
Five years for what you
did
The rest because you tried to run
Yes,
24601.

[VALJEAN]
My name is Jean
Valjean

[JAVERT]
And I am Javert
Do
not forget my name!
Do not forget
me,
24601.

[PRISONERS]
Look down,
look down
You'll always be a slave
Look
down, look down
You're standing in your
grave.

[VALJEAN]
Freedom is mine. The
earth is still.
I feel the wind. I breathe
again.
And the sky clears
The world is
waking.
Drink from the pool. How clean the
taste.
Never forget the years, the
waste.
Nor forgive them
For what they've
done.
They are the guilty - everyone.
The
day begins...
And now lets see
What this
new world
Will do for me!

[He finds
work on a farm]

[FARMER]
You'll have to
go
I'll pay you off for the day
Collect your
bits and pieces there
And be on your
way.

[VALJEAN]
You have given me
half
What the other men get!
This handful
of tin
Wouldn't buy my
sweat!

[LABORER]
You broke the
law
It's there for people to see
Why should
you get the same
As honest men like
me?

[VALJEAN]
Now every door is closed
to me
Another jail. Another key. Another
chain
For when I come to any town
They
check my papers
And they find the mark of
Cain
In their eyes I see their fear
`We do
not want you here.'

[He comes to an
inn]

[INKEEPER'S WIFE]
My rooms are
full
And I've no supper to spare
I'd like
to help a stranger
All we want is to be
fair

[VALJEAN]
I will pay in
advance
I can sleep in a barn
You see how
dark it is
I'm not some kind of
dog!

[INNKEEPER]
You leave my
house
Or feel the weight of my rod
We're
law-abiding people here
Thanks be to
God.

[They throw him out of the
inn]

[VALJEAN]
And now I know how
freedom feels
The jailer always at your
heels
It is the law!
This piece of paper in
my hand
That makes me cursed throughout the
land
It is the law!
Like a cur
I walk
the street,
The dirt beneath their
feet.

[He sits down despairingly outside a
house from which emerges the Bishop of
Digne.]

[BISHOP]
Come in, Sir, for you
are weary,
And the night is cold out
there.
Though our lives are very
humble
What we have, we have to
share.
There is wine here to revive
you.
There is bread to make you
strong,
There's a bed to rest till
morning,
Rest from pain, and rest from
wrong.

[VALJEAN]
He let me eat my
fill
I had the lion's share
The silver in
my hand
Cost twice what I had earned
In all
those nineteen years -
That lifetime of
despair
And yet he trusted me.
The old fool
trusted me -
He'd done his bit of good
I
played the grateful serf
And thanked him like
I should
But when the house was still,
I
got up in the night.
Took the silver
Took
my flight!