Friday, March 29, AD 2024 7:09am

Song of the Vagabonds

Say to your Son that I am His.

Through Him all my sins are lost:

Forgive me, as Mary Egypt was,

Or, so they say, Theophilus,

Who by your grace was still blameless,

Though he vowed the Devil a guest.

Protect me always from like excess,

Virgin, who bore, without a cry,

Christ whom we celebrate at Mass.

In this faith let me live and die.

Francois Villon

Something for the weekend.  Song of the Vagabonds sung by the Robert Shaw chorale.  Song of the Vagabonds is the showstopper song in the 1925 operetta The Vagabond King by Rudolph Friml.  The operetta is an imaginative fantasy set in 15th Century Paris where Louis XI, the Spider King, makes Francois Villon, brilliant poet and petty thief, Marshal of France for a day after he criticizes Louis.  Villon must defeat the Burgundian Army besieging Paris or be hanged.  Villon rallies the Paris rabble, his people, and defeats the Burgundians.  He wins the woman he loves and goes into exile for her.  Alas, not a syllable is true to history.

Come all you Beggars of Paris town,

You lousy rabble of low degree

(Chorus: You rabble of low degree!)

Well spare King Louis to keep his crown

 And save our city from Burgundy

(Chorus: Our city from Burgundy)

 You and I are good for nothing but to die

We can die for Liberty.

Sons of toil and danger,

Will you serve a stranger

And bow down to Burgundy

Sons of shame and sorrow,

Will you cheer tomorrow

 For the crown of Burgundy?

 Onward! Onward! Swords against the Foe

 Forward! Forward the lily banners go!

Sons of France around us,

Break the chain that bound us,

And to Hell with Burgundy!

Sons of toil and danger,

 Will you serve a stranger

And bow down to Burgundy

 Sons of shame and sorrow,

 Will you cheer tomorrow For the crown of Burgundy?

 Onward! Onward! Swords against the Foe

Forward! Forward the lily banners go!

 Sons of France around us,

Break the chain that bound us,

And to Hell with Burgundy!

 

 

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