Prologue [French translation]

Look down, look down, don't look them 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, you've 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 you won't see me here for dust!

Look down, look down, don't look them in the eye

How long, oh 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

Now bring me prisoner 24601

Your time is up and your parole's begun

You know what that means?

Yes, it means I'm free

No! It means you get your yellow ticket of leave, you are a thief

I stole a loaf of bread

You robbed a house

I broke a windowpane

My sisters' child was close to death, and we were starving

You will starve again unless you learn the meaning of the law

I know the meaning of those nineteen years I spent a slave of the law

Five years for what you did

The rest because you tried to run

Yes, 24601

My name is Jean Valjean

And I'm Javert

Do not forget my name, do not forget me, 24601

~~~~~

Tell his reverence your story

Let us see if he's impressed

You were lodging here last night

You were the honest bishop's guest

And then out of Christian goodness

When he learned about your plight

You maintained he made a present of this silver

--That is right.

But my friend, you left so early, something clearly slipped your mind

You forgot I gave these also, would you leave the best behind?

So messieurs you may release him, for this man has spoken true

I commend you for your duty, and gods' blessing go with you

And remember this my brother, see in this some higher plan

You must use this precious silver to become an honest man

By the witness of the martyrs, by the passion and the blood

I have raised you out of darkness, I have bought your soul for God

~~~~~

What have I done, sweet Jesus what have I done?

Become a thief in the night, become a dog on the run?

Have I fallen so far, run as the owl so late, that nothing remains but the cry of my hate?

The cries of the dark that nobody hears

Here I stand at the turning of the years

If there's another way to go, I missed it twenty long years ago

My life was a war that could never be won

They gave me a number and murdered Valjean

When they chained me and left me for dead

Just for stealing a mouthful of bread

Yet why did I allow that man to touch my soul and teach me love?

He treated me like any other

He gave me his trust, he called me brother

My life he claims for god above, can such things be?

For I had come to hate the world, this world that always hated me

Take an eye for an eye, turn your heart into stone

This is all I have lived for, this is all I have known

One word from him, and I'd be back

Beneath the lash, upon the rack

Instead he offered me my freedom

I feel my pain inside me like a knife

He told me that I had a soul, how does he know?

What spirit comes to move my life? Is there another way to go?

I am reaching, but I fall, and the night is closing in

As I stare into the void of the whirlpool of my sin

I'll escape now from the world, from the world of Jean Valjean

Jean Valjean is nothing now, another story must begin!

• Artist:Les Misérables (Musical)
• Album:Les Misérables