FANTINE
Cosette, it's turned so cold
Cosette, it's past your bedtime
You've played the day away
And soon it will be night.

Come to me, Cosette, the light is fading
Don't you see the evening star appearing?
Come to me, and rest against my shoulder
How fast the minutes fly away and every minute colder.

Hurry near, another day is dying
Don't you hear, the winter wind is crying?
There's a darkness which comes without a warning
But I will sing you lullabies and wake you in the morning.

(Valjean enters)

VALJEAN
Oh, Fantine, our time is running out
But Fantine, I swear this on my life

FANTINE
Look, M'sieur, where all the children play

VALJEAN
Be at peace, be at peace evermore.

FANTINE
My Cosette...

VALJEAN
Shall live in my protection

FANTINE
Take her now

VALJEAN
Your child will want for nothing

FANTINE
Good M'sieur, you come from God in Heaven.

VALJEAN
And none shall ever harm Cosette
As long as I am living.

FANTINE
Take my hand. The night grows ever colder.

VALJEAN
Then I will keep you warm.

FANTINE
Take my child. I give her to your keeping.

VAKJEAN
Take shelter from the storm

FANTINE
For God's sake, please stay till I am sleeping
And tell Cosette I love her
And I'll see her when I wake...

I DREAMED A DREAM

FANTINE
There was a time when men were kind
When their voices were soft
And their words inviting
There was a time when love was blind
And the world was a song
And the song was exciting
There was a time
Then it all went wrong

I dreamed a dream in time gone by
When hope was high
And life worth living
I dreamed that love would never die
I dreamed that God would be forgiving
Then I was young and unafraid
And dreams were made and used and wasted
There was no ransom to be paid
No song unsung, no wine untasted

But the tigers come at night
With their voices soft as thunder
As they tear your hope apart
And they turn your dream to shame

He slept a summer by my side
He filled my days with endless wonder
He took my childhood in his stride
But he was gone when autumn came

And still I dream he'll come to me
That we will live the years together
But there are dreams that cannot be
And there are storms we cannot weather

I had a dream my life would be
So different from this hell I'm living
So different now from what it seemed
Now life has killed the dream I dreamed.

Lovely Ladies


(The docks. Sailors, whores and their customers, pimps, etc. Fantine wanders in)

SAILOR ONE
I smell women
Smell 'em in the air
Think I'll drop my anchor
In that harbor over there

SAILOR TWO
Lovely ladies
Smell 'em through the smoke
Seven days at sea
Can make you hungry for a poke

SAILOR THREE
Even stokers need a little stoke!


WOMEN
Lovely ladies
Waiting for a bite
Waiting for the customers
Who only come at night
Lovely ladies
Ready for the call
Standing up or lying down
Or any way at all
Bargain prices up against the wall

OLD WOMAN
Come here, my dear
Let's see this trinket you wear
This bagatelle...

FANTINE
Madame, I'll sell it to you...

OLD WOMAN
I'll give you four

FANTINE
That wouldn't pay for the chain!

OLD WOMAN
I'll give you five. You're far to eager to sell.
It's up to you.

FANTINE
It's all I have

OLD WOMAN
That's not my fault

FANTINE

OLD WOMAN
No more than five
My dear, we all must stay alive!

WOMEN
Lovely ladies
Waiting in the dark
Ready for a thick one
Or a quick one in the park
Whore 1
Long time short time
Any time, my dear
Cost a little extra if you want to take all year!

ALL
Quick and cheap is underneath the pier!

CRONE
What pretty hair!
What pretty locks you got there
What luck you got. It's worth a centime, my dear
I'll take the lot

FANTINE
Don't touch me! Leave me alone!

CRONE
Let's make a price.
I'll give you all of ten francs,
Just think of that!

FANTINE
It pays a debt

CRONE
Just think of that

FANTINE
What can I do? It pays a debt.
Ten francs may save my poor Cosette!


SAILOR THREE
Lovely lady!
Fastest on the street
Wasn't there three minutes
She was back up on her feet

SAILOR ONE
Lovely lady!
What yer waiting for?
Doesn't take a lot of savvy
Just to be a whore
Come on, lady
What's a lady for?

(Fantine re-emerges, her long hair cut short)

PIMP
Give me the dirt, who's that bit over there?

WHORE ONE
A bit of skirt. She's the one sold her hair.

WHORE TWO
She's got a kid. Sends her all that she can

PIMP
I might have known
There is always some man
Lovely lady, come along and join us!
Lovely lady!

WHORE ONE
Come on dearie, why all the fuss?
You're no grander than the rest of us
Life has dropped you at the bottom of the heap
Join your sisters

WHORE TWO
Make money in your sleep!

(Fantine goes off with one of the sailors)

WHORE ONE
That's right dearie, let him have the lot

WHORE THREE
That's right dearie, show him what you've got!

WOMEN
Old men, young men, take 'em as they come
Harbor rats and alley cats and every kind of scum
Poor men, rich men, leaders of the land
See them with their trousers off they're never quite as grand
All it takes is money in your hand!

Lovely ladies
Going for a song
Got a lot of callers
But they never stay for long

FANTINE
Come on, Captain,
you can wear your shoes
Don't it make a change
To have a girl who can't refuse
Easy money
Lying on a bed
Just as well they never see
The hate that's in your head
Don't they know they're making love
To one already dead!

EPONINE
And now I'm all alone again
Nowhere to turn, no one to go to
Without a home, without a friend,
Without a face to say hello to.
And now the night is near
Now I can make believe he's here.

Sometimes I walk alone at night
When everybody else is sleeping
I think of him and then I'm happy
With the company I'm keeping
The city goes to bed
And I can live inside my head.

On my own
Pretending he's beside me
All alone, I walk with him till morning
Without him
I feel his arms around me
And when I lose my way I close my eyes
And he has found me

In the rain the pavement shines like silver
All the lights are misty in the river
In the darkness, the trees are full of starlight
And all I see is him and me for ever and forever

And I know it's only in my mind
That I'm talking to myself and not to him
And although I know that he is blind
Still I say, there's a way for us

I love him
But when the night is over
He is gone, the river's just a river
Without him the world around me changes
The trees are bare and everywhere
The streets are full of strangers

I love him
But every day I'm learning
All my life I've only been pretending
Without me his world will go on turning
A world that's full of happiness
That I have never known!

I love him
I love him
I love him
But only on my own.

BAMATABOIS
Here's something new. I think I'll give it a try.
Come closer you! I like to see what I buy...
The usual price, for just a slice of your pie

FANTINE
I don't want you. No, no, m'sieur, let me go.

BAMATABOIS
Is this a trick? I won't pay more!

FANTINE
No, not at all.

BAMATABOIS
You've got some nerve, you little whore
You've got some gall.
It's the same with a tart as it is with a grocer
The customer sees what he gets in advance
It's not for the whore to say `yes sir' or `no sir'
It's not for the harlot to pick and to choose
Or lead me to a dance!

(He hits her with his stick, she claws at his face, drawing blood)

FANTINE
I'll kill you, you bastard,
try any of that!
Even a whore who has gone to the bad
Won't be had by a rat!

BAMATABOIS
By Christ you'll pay for what you've done
This rat will make you bleed, you'll see!
I guarantee, I'll make you suffer
For this disturbance of the peace
For this insult to life and property!

FANTINE
I beg you, don't report me sir
I'll do whatever you may want

BAMATABOIS
Make your excuse to the police!

(Javert enters, accompanied by constables)

JAVERT
Tell me quickly what's the story
Who saw what and why and where
Let him give a full description
Let him answer to Javert!
In this nest of whores and vipers
Let one speak who saw it all
Who laid hands on this good man here?
What's the substance of this brawl?

BAMATABOIS
Javert, would you believe it
I was crossing from the park
When this prostitute attacked me
You can see she left her mark

JAVERT
She will answer for her actions
When you make a full report
You may rest assured, M'sieur,
That she will answer to the court.

FANTINE
There's a child who sorely needs me
Please M'sieur, she's but that high
Holy God, is there no mercy?
If I go to jail she'll die!

JAVERT
I have heard such protestations
Every day for twenty years
Let's have no more explanations
Save your breath and save your tears
`Honest work, just reward,
That's the way to please the Lord.'

(Fantine gives a last despairing cry as she is arrested by the constables. Valjean emerges from the crowd)

VALJEAN
A moment of your time, Javert
I do believe this woman's tale

JAVERT

VALJEAN
You've done your duty, let her be
She needs a doctor, not a jail.

JAVERT
But M'sieur Mayor!

FANTINE
Can this be?

VALJEAN
Where will she end -
This child without a friend?

I've seen your face before
Show me some way to help you
How have you come to grief
In a place such as this?

FANTINE
M'sieur, don't mock me now, I pray
It's hard enough I've lost my pride
You let your foreman send me away
Yes, you were there, and turned aside
I never did no wrong

VALJEAN
Is it true, what I have done?

FANTINE
My daughter's close to dying...

VALJEAN
To an innocent soul?

FANTINE
If there's a God above

VALJEAN
Had I only known then...

FANTINE
He'd let me die instead

VALJEAN
In His name my task has just begun
I will see it done!

JAVERT
But M'sieur Mayor!

VALJEAN
I will see it done!

JAVERT
But M'sieur Mayor!

VALJEAN
I will see it done!

1823, Montreuil-sur-Mer. Outside the factory owned by the Mayor, Monsieur Madeleine (Jean Valjean in disguise).



THE POOR
At the end of the day you're another day older
And that's all you can say for the life of the poor
It's a struggle, it's a war
And there's nothing that anyone's giving
One more day standing about, what is it for?
One day less to be living.

At the end of the day you're another day colder
And the shirt on your back doesn't keep out the chill
And the righteous hurry past
They don't hear the little ones crying
And the winter is coming on fast, ready to kill
One day nearer to dying!

At the end of the day there's another day dawning
And the sun in the morning is waiting to rise
Like the waves crash on the sand
Like a storm that'll break any second
There's a hunger in the land
There's a reckoning still to be reckoned and
There's gonna be hell to pay
At the end of the day!

(The foreman and workers, including Fantine, emerge from the factory)

FOREMAN
At the end of the day you get nothing for nothing
Sitting flat on your butt doesn't buy any bread

WORKER ONE
There are children back at home

WORKERS ONE AND TWO
And the children have got to be fed

WORKER TWO
And you're lucky to be in a job

WOMAN
And in a bed!

WORKERS
And we're counting our blessings!

WOMAN TWO
Have you seen how the foreman is fuming today?
With his terrible breath and his wandering hands?

WOMAN THREE
It's because little Fantine won't give him his way

WOMAN ONE
Take a look at his trousers, you'll see where he stands!

WOMAN FOUR
And the boss, he never knows
That the foreman is always in heat

WOMAN THREE
If Fantine doesn't look out
Watch how she goes
She'll be out on the street!


WORKERS
At the end of the day it's another day over
With enough in your pocket to last for a week
Pay the landlord, pay the shop
Keep on grafting as long as you're able
Keep on grafting till you drop
Or it's back to the crumbs off the table
You've got to pay your way
At the end of the day!

GIRL(Grabbing a letter from Fantine)
And what have we here, little innocent sister?
Come on Fantine, let's have all the news!

(Reading the letter)

Ooh..."Dear Fantine you must send us more money...
Your child needs a doctor...
There's no time to lose..."

FANTINE
Give that letter to me
It is none of your business
With a husband at home
And a bit on the side!
Is there anyone here
Who can swear before God
She has nothing to fear?
She has nothing to hide?

(They fight over the letter. Valjean (M. Madeleine) rushes on to break up the squabble.)

VALJEAN
Will someone tear these two apart
What is this fighting all about?
This is a factory, not a circus!
Now, come on ladies, settle down
I run a business of repute
I am the Mayor of this town

(To the foreman)
I look to you to sort this out
And be as patient as you can-

(He goes back into the factory)

FOREMAN
Now someone say how this began!

GIRL
At the end of the day
She's the one who began it!
There's a kid that she's hiding
In some little town
There's a man she has to pay
You can guess how she picks up the extra
You can bet she's earning her keep
Sleeping around
And the boss wouldn't like it!

FANTINE
Yes it's true there's a child
And the child is my daughter
And her father abandoned us
Leaving us flat
Now she lives with an innkeeper man
And his wife
And I pay for the child
What's the matter with that?

WOMEN
At the end of the day
She'll be nothing but trouble
And there's trouble for all
When there's trouble for one!
While we're earning our daily bread
She's the one with her hands in the butter
You must send the slut away
Or we're all gonna end in the gutter
And it's us who'll have to pay
At the end of the day!

FOREMAN
I might have known the bitch could bite
I might have known the cat had claws
I might have guessed your little secret
Ah yes, the virtuous Fantine
Who keeps herself so pure and clean
You'd be the cause I had no doubt
Of any trouble hereabout
You play a virgin in the light
But need no urgin' in the night.

GIRL
She's been laughing at you
While she's having her men

WOMEN
She'll be nothing but trouble again and again

WOMAN
You must sack her today

WORKERS
Sack the girl today!

FOREMAN
Right my girl. On your way!

        

THENARDIER
What to do? What to say?
Shall you carry our treasure away?
What a gem! What a pearl!
Beyond rubies is our little girl!
How can we speak of debt?
Let's not haggle for darling Cosette!

Dear Fantine, gone to rest...
Have we done for her child what is best?
Shared our bread. Shared each bone.
Treated her like she's one of our own!
Like our own, Monsieur!

VALJEAN
Your feelings do you credit, sir
And I will ease the parting blow
He pays them.
Let us not talk of bargains or bones or greed
Now, may I say, we are agreed?

MME. THENARDIER
That would quite fit the bill
If she hadn't so often been ill
Little dear, cost us dear
Medicines are expensive, M'sieur
Not that we begrudged a sou
It's no more than we Christians must do!

M. & MME. THENARDIER
One thing more, one small doubt
There are treacherous people about
No offense. Please reflect.
Your intentions may not be correct?

VALJEAN
No more words. Here's your price.
Fifteen hundred for your sacrifice.
Come, Cosette, say goodbye
Let us seek out some friendlier sky.
Thank you both for Cosette
It won't take you too long to forget.

(Valjean and Cosette leave the inn)

Come, Cosette, come, my dear
From now on I will always be here
Where I go, you will be.

YOUNG COSETTE
Will there be children and castles to see?

VALJEAN
Yes, Cosette, yes, it's true.
There's a castle just waiting for you.

VALJEAN & YOUNG COSETTE
La la la la la...

Young Cosette is working as a drudge in the Thénardier's inn at Montfermeil)

YOUNG COSETTE
There is a castle on a cloud,
I like to go there in my sleep,
Aren't any floors for me to sweep,
Not in my castle on a cloud.

There is a room that's full of toys,
There are a hundred boys and girls,
Nobody shouts or talks too loud,
Not in my castle on a cloud.

There is a lady all in white,
Holds me and sings a lullaby,
She's nice to see and she's soft to touch,
She says "Cosette, I love you very much."

I know a place where no one's lost,
I know a place where no one cries,
Crying at all is not allowed,
Not in my castle on a cloud.

Oh help! I think I hear them now,
and I'm nowhere near finished sweeping and
scrubbing and polishing the floor.
Oh, it's her! It's Madame!

       
MME. THENARDIER
Now look who's here
The little madam herself!
Pretending once again she's been `so awfully good,'
Better not let me catch you slacking
Better not catch my eye!
Ten rotten francs your mother sends me
What is that going to buy?
Now take that pail
My little `Mademoiselle'
And go and draw some water from the well!

We should never have taken you in in the first place
How stupid the things that we do!
Like mother like daughter, the scum of the street.
Eponine, come my dear, Eponine, let me see you
You look very well in that new little blue hat
There's some little girls who know how to behave
And they know what to wear
And I'm saying thank heaven for that.

Still there Cosette?
Your tears will do you no good!
I told you fetch some water from the well in the wood!

YOUNG COSETTE
Please do not send me out alone
Not in the darkness on my own!

MME. THENARDIER
Enough of that, or I'll forget to be nice!
You heard me ask for something,
And I never ask twice!

(Young Eponine pushes Cosette out. Thénardier says good night to his daughter as the inn fills up for the evening)

VALJEAN(to Cosette)
Now you are here
Again beside me
Now I can die in peace
For now my life is blessed...

COSETTE
You will live, Papa, you're going to live
It's too soon, too soon to say goodbye!

VALJEAN
Yes, Cosette, forbid me now to die
I'll obey,
I will try.
On this page
I write my last confession.
Read it well
When I at last am sleeping.
It's the story
Of those who always loved you.
Your mother gave her life for you
Then gave you to my keeping.

(The other spirits, including Eponine appear)

FANTINE
Come with me
Where chains will never bind you
All your grief
At last, at last behind you.
Lord in Heaven,
Look down on him in mercy.

VALJEAN
Forgive me all my trespasses
And take me to your glory.

FANTINE & EPONINE
Take my hand
And lead me to salvation.
Take my love,
For love is everlasting.

VALJEAN, FANTINE & EPONINE
And remember
The truth that once was spoken
To love another person
Is to see the face of God!
       
CHORUS
Do you hear the people sing
Lost in the valley of the night?
It is the music of a people
Who are climbing to the light.

For the wretched of the earth
There is a flame that never dies.
Even the darkest night will end
And the sun will rise.

They will live again in freedom
In the garden of the Lord.
They will walk behind the plough-share,
They will put away the sword.
The chain will be broken
And all men will have their reward.

Will you join in our crusade?
Who will be strong and stand with me?
Somewhere beyond the barricade
Is there a world you long to see?
Do you hear the people sing?
Say, do you hear the distant drums?
It is the future that they bring
When tomorrow comes!

Will you join in our crusade?
Who will be strong and stand with me?
Somewhere beyond the barricade
Is there a world you long to see?
Do you hear the people sing?
Say, do you hear the distant drums?
It is the future that they bring
When tomorrow comes...
Tomorrow comes!