The Libretto

[EponineJavert]

Voila: The libretto! If there are any errors, please say so

THE WORK SONG

CHAINGANG: Look down, look down
Don't look 'em in the eye
Look down, look down
You're here until you die

The sun is strong
It's hot as hell below
Look down, look down
There's twenty years to go

I've done no wrong
Sweet Jesus, hear my prayer
Look down, look down
Sweet Jesus doesn't care

I know she'll wait
I know that she'll be true
Look down, look down
They've all forgotten you

When I get free
You won't see me
Here for dust

Look down, look down
Don't look 'em in the eye
How long, oh Lord, before you let me die?

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 were 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
We were starving!

JAVERT: You will starve again
Unless you learn the meaning of the law

VALJEAN: I know the meaning of those nineteen 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!

CHAINGANG: Look down, look down
You'll always be a slave
Look down, look down
You're standing in your grave

[EponineJavert]

PROLOGUE

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 - every one

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!

LABOURER: 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 makr of Cain
In their eyes
I see their fear
'We do not want you here.

He comes to an inn

INNKEEPER'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....

Disconsolate, he sits outside the Bishop of Digne's house. The Bishop comes out

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 til 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!