Prologue Lyrics

Prologue lyrics

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!