Disclaimer: I don't own the rights to Les Miserables or Seven Spanish Angels; they belong to their respective owners.
A/N: This is my (late) contribution to Barricade Day. I wanted to get something posted yesterday or the day before, but I was having tech troubles :( So consider this my contribution to Marius' Rescue/Javert's Suicide Day :)
This poem is set to the tune of the old country song "Seven Spanish Angels", recorded by Ray Charles and Willie Nelson. I combined Joly/Bossuet and Bahorel/Grantaire so there would be seven verses (not counting the chorus) and also because I couldn't think of enough material to write a whole verse about each of them.
CHORUS:
There were seven brave French students
Who stood up one day to sing
They were fighting for the people
In a country with a king
When the battle stopped and the smoke cleared
Nothing had been overthrown
And another brave French student
Took another student home.
They looked up into his blue eyes
As he said, "France will be free"
And he spoke with such conviction
Like an ancient prophecy
And he led that people's army
With the power of the sun
But the people had betrayed him
When that summer day was done.
CHORUS
Now, they all looked to that doctor
That second-in-command
The guide so wise and loyal
He would always lend a hand
With that calm and clear compassion
He would never go astray
Up until that fateful battle
When they all were blown away.
CHORUS
He's the man they called the center
Just as warm as all the rest
He loved all whom he encountered
But his friends he liked the best
He was happy as a companion
None were immune to his charms
But he made one fatal error
Oh, that comrade frère-in-arms.
CHORUS
Oh, he was the hardest worker
He fought for all the world
His fans were painted scarlet
Like the banner he unfurled
That poor orphan boy had risen
And had fallen just as soon
For the land he called his mother,
Marching to a timeless tune.
CHORUS
Now, this young man was a poet
He expressed himself in verse
He wore rags for all occasions
And wrote brave and noble words
Though his friends all died together
He was gunned down all alone
His last words were for the future
As he entered the unknown.
CHORUS
Oh, what cheerful fellows, these two
The "malaide imaginaire"
And his faithful friend and comrade
The one who had no hair
He was clumsy and unlucky
But these two had caring hearts
When they fell one warm June morning,
They would never be apart.
CHORUS
Well, this one was a fighter
The first of them to fall
Though he often was forgotten
He was stronger than them all
And the cynic in the corner
The drunk without a cause
He had finally awakened
When the world came to a pause.
CHORUS