Ca Ira: Opera in Three Acts: "So to the Streets in the Pouring Rain..." - Roger Waters

RINGMASTER

So to the streets in the pouring rain

The dispossessed and the drunk and the lame

Gathered in bands and took the law into their own hands

Like the daring young man on the flying trapeze

Like birds flying into a storm

They took the great leap

And launched themselves into the void

We broke into the arsenal, Les Invalides

Found cannonball and powder, everything we need

We marched on the Bastille

The home of tyranny

Killed the jailer

And set two madmen free

RINGMASTER

When you have an army of your own

You get to choose

Who will live

Who will die

Who will win

Who will lose

TROUBLEMAKER

A piece of prison stone

Is all I have to call my own

Insight to see the other side

Strength and weakness, love and pride

Is all I have to leave my child

If my child survives

He’ll judge men by their deeds and not their smiles

He’ll keep his taste of good red wine

His pride, his friends, his lust for life

These are the things that will avail him

If my child survives…