Wednesday, July 14, 2021

Aux barricades, mes amis!

Today is Bastille Day, the French National Day.




A version that is more familiar to American audiences:



Allons enfants de la Patrie
Le jour de gloire est arrivé !
Contre nous de la tyrannie
L'étendard sanglant est levé
Entendez-vous dans nos campagnes
Mugir ces féroces soldats ?
Ils viennent jusque dans vos bras.
Égorger vos fils, vos compagnes !

Aux armes citoyens
Formez vos bataillons
Marchons, marchons
Qu'un sang impur
Abreuve nos sillons

(Full translation, which makes The Star-Spangled Banner look pacifistic.)

The Bastille was torn down very soon afterwards. Very little of it survives. The key to the fortress was given by Marquis de Lafayette to President Washington.
on or about

2 comments:

  1. Tod Germanica7/14/2021 9:51 AM

    There would be no USA without French naval forces during the revolution so thanks, La belle France. Have a Freedom Fry.
    I believe when the prison was stormed there were no or few prisoners to liberate. So, more political gesture than prison break.

    ReplyDelete
  2. squiregeek7/14/2021 10:03 AM

    It's worth remembering that a number of those singing in the scene from 'Casablanca' were actual refugees from the Nazis. Their tears were genuine. Having learned that recently myself I found the scene especially touching when watching the movie.

    ReplyDelete

House Rules #1, #2 and #6 apply to all comments. Rule #3 also applies to political comments.

In short, don't be a jackass. THIS MEANS YOU!
If you never see your comments posted, see Rule #7.

All comments must be on point and address either the points raised in the blog post or points raised by commenters in response.
Any comments that drift off onto other topics are subject to deletion.

(Please don't feed the trolls.)

中國詞不評論，冒抹除的風險。僅英語。

COMMENT MODERATION IS IN EFFECT UFN. This means that if you are an insulting dick, nobody will ever see it.