Roger Waters - The Fugitive King
текст песни

Scene 1:

The Fugitive King

From the circus ring the Ringmaster reminds us that change, still relentlessly underway, has already weakened the power of the crown. In fact, one by one all the political presumptions of the ancient regime have been attacked and destroyed. As the Ringmaster retreats into the shadows, we are taken back to the Tuileries Palace where both the King and Queen bewail their plight: the good times at Versailles are gone; their children play outside in a garden which is hardly more than a prison, and they have even been prevented by the mob from a visit to St. Cloud, where they hoped "to breathe freely" for a moment. With their safety no longer guaranteed, Louis and his family attempt to flee Paris for the Provinces. The Ringmaster reveals the details of their failed escape, their capture, and their return to Paris. As he does so various incidents are acted out for the audience by circus performers. Assuming the title of Baroness Korrf, the Queen, with the King disguised as her valet, sets out to join the Marquis of Bouille, a loyal royalist, in the Alsace Lorraine. On the way, a keen-eyed postmaster recognizes Marie Antoinette and raises the alarm. The party is intercepted at Varennes. Distrust of both King and Queen, already general, is greatly exacerbated by their attempted flight. Despite threats of foreign intervention (the Brunswick Manifesto proclaimed Prussia’s intention to invade France) to protect the King and his interests, he and the Queen are escorted back to Paris and its openly hostile crowds. The atmosphere grows more and more charged. The National Assembly, having temporarily suspended the King’s remaining powers, but still keen to retain a constitutional monarchy, now exonerates the King of any potentially treasonable intentions in his failed escape. The people, however, represented here by the Chorus, express increasingly vehement Republican sentiments. A crowd of 6000 march to the Champs du Mars to sign a Republican petition. The National Guard opens fire, and fifty unarmed citizens are mown down. Even now the National Assembly advocates preserving the monarchy, and in the Constitution of 1791 does precisely this. The King, still dressed as a valet from his flight to Varennes, is escorted from the royal box to the center of the ring. There, he is re-invested with all the trappings of the monarchy. Bowed down by the weight of his vestments, which include the crown, orb and scepter, and by the responsibilities that accompany them, he drags himself, now an unwilling and pathetic figure, back to the box.

RINGMASTER
And high above
Homing in the restless sky
Rooks, melancholy, proclaim a schism between
God, sacred, and the Crown, profane
Between the heavens and the King
The dark horizon cracks a crooked grin
Admitting one small grain of change
Then two, then four, then bit by bit
Then tock by tick
All the old presumptions hove in range

KING
The King is afraid that his kingdom is slipping away

QUEEN
The Queen pines for the good times at Versailles

KING

He works on his locks to the sound of the ticking of clocks

QUEEN
The children play in a garden that’s ringed with steel

KING
They wanted to visit St. Cloud to be able to

KING & QUEEN
Breathe in the air

OFFICER
The National Guard forbade them to leave