Prologue - Work Song Lyrics

     [1815, Toulon, France.  The chain gang, overseen by
     brutal warders, works in the sun.]

Prisoners
     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 ya won't see me
     Here for dust!
     Look down, look down
     Don't look 'em in the eye
     How long O 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 are a theif

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
     And you will starve again
     Unless you learn the meaning of the law.

Valjean
     I know the meaning of these 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

Chorus
     Look down, look down
     You will 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 waiting.
     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've 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.]

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.]

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 my 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's 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!

     [Taking the silver cup, he runs off, but is brought back
     by two constables.]