Hell Broke Loose, or The Murder of Louis, 1793

"" (; French: "it'll be fine") is an emblematic song of the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...

, first heard in May 1790. It underwent several changes in wording, all of which used the title words as part of the refrain.

Original version

The author of the original words "" was a former soldier by the name of Ladré who made a living as a street singer. The music is a popular contredanse air called "Le carillon national", and was composed by Bécourt, a violinist (according to other sources:

side drum The snare (or side drum) is a percussion instrument that produces a sharp staccato sound when the head is struck with a drum stick, due to the use of a series of stiff wires held under tension against the lower skin. Snare drums are often used in ...

player) of the théâtre Beaujolais. Queen Marie Antoinette herself is said to have often played the music on her harpsichord. The title and theme of the refrain were inspired by

Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the leading inte ...

, in France as a representative of the Continental Congress, who was very popular among the French people. When asked about the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

, he would reportedly reply, in somewhat broken French, "" ("It'll be fine, it'll be fine"). The song first became popular as a worksong during the preparation for the

Fête de la Fédération The (Festival of the Federation) was a massive holiday festival held throughout France in 1790 in honour of the French Revolution, celebrating the Revolution itself, as well as National Unity. It commemorated the revolution and events of 1789 ...

of 1790 and eventually became recognized as an unofficial anthem of revolutionaries.

Sans-culotte version

At later stages of the revolution, many

sans-culotte The (, 'without breeches') were the common people of the lower classes in late 18th-century France, a great many of whom became radical and militant partisans of the French Revolution in response to their poor quality of life under the . T ...

s used several much more aggressive stanzas, calling for the lynching of the

nobility Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. The character ...

and the clergy. Ah! ça ira, ça ira, ça ira les aristocrates à la lanterne! Ah! ça ira, ça ira, ça ira les aristocrates on les pendra! Si on n' les pend pas On les rompra Si on n' les rompt pas On les brûlera. Ah! ça ira, ça ira, ça ira les aristocrates à la lanterne! Ah! ça ira, ça ira, ça ira les aristocrates on les pendra! Nous n'avions plus ni nobles, ni prêtres, Ah ! ça ira, ça ira, ça ira, L'égalité partout régnera. L'esclave autrichien le suivra, Ah ! ça ira, ça ira, ça ira, Et leur infernale clique Au diable s'envolera. Ah! ça ira, ça ira, ça ira les aristocrates à la lanterne! Ah! ça ira, ça ira, ça ira les aristocrates on les pendra! Et quand on les aura tous pendus On leur fichera la pelle au cul. Ah! It'll be fine, It'll be fine, It'll be fine aristocrats to the lamp-post Ah! It'll be fine, It'll be fine, It'll be fine the aristocrats, we'll hang them! If we don't hang them We'll break them If we don't break them We'll burn them Ah! It'll be fine, It'll be fine, It'll be fine aristocrats to the lamp-post Ah! It'll be fine, It'll be fine, It'll be fine the aristocrats, we'll hang them! We shall have no more nobles nor priests Ah! It'll be fine, It'll be fine, It'll be fine Equality will reign everywhere The Austrian slave shall follow him Ah! It'll be fine, It'll be fine, It'll be fine And their infernal clique Shall go to hell Ah! It'll be fine, It'll be fine, It'll be fine aristocrats to the lamp-post Ah! It'll be fine, It'll be fine, It'll be fine the aristocrats, we'll hang them! And when we'll have hung them all We'll stick a shovel up their arse.

Post-revolutionary use

The song survived past the Reign of Terror, and, during the

Directory Directory may refer to: * Directory (computing), or folder, a file system structure in which to store computer files * Directory (OpenVMS command) * Directory service, a software application for organizing information about a computer network's u ...

, it became mandatory to sing it before shows. It was forbidden under the

Consulate A consulate is the office of a consul. A type of diplomatic mission, it is usually subordinate to the state's main representation in the capital of that foreign country (host state), usually an embassy (or, only between two Commonwealth c ...

. The ship of the line ''La Couronne'' was renamed '' Ça Ira'' in 1792 in reference to this song. At the 1793 Battle of Famars, the 14th Regiment of Foot, The West Yorkshire Regiment, attacked the French to the music of "Ça ira" (the colonel commenting that he would "beat the French to their own damned tune"). The regiment was later awarded the tune as a battle honour and regimental

quick march Marching refers to the organized, uniformed, steady walking forward in either rhythmic or route-step time; and, typically, it refers to overland movements on foot of military troops and units under field orders. Marching is often performed t ...

. It has since been adopted by the

Yorkshire Regiment The Yorkshire Regiment (14th/15th, 19th and 33rd/76th Foot) (abbreviated YORKS) is an infantry regiment of the British Army, created by the amalgamation of three historic regiments in 2006. It lost one battalion as part of the Army 2020 defence ...

Friedrich Witt Friedrich Jeremias Witt (November 8, 1770 – January 3, 1836) was a German composer and cellist. He is perhaps best known as the likely author of a Symphony in C major known as the Jena Symphony, once attributed to Ludwig van Beethoven. Bio ...

cited this motif in the Finale of his Symphony no. 16 in A major. Although the year of its completion is unknown, it's clear that it was written in the 1790s. Carl Schurz, in volume 1, chapter 14, of his ''Reminiscences'', reported from exile in England that upon

Napoleon III Napoleon III (Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was the first President of France (as Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte) from 1848 to 1852 and the last monarch of France as Emperor of the French from 1852 to 1870. A nephew ...

's ''coup d'état'' of 2 December 1851, "Our French friends shouted and shrieked and gesticulated and hurled opprobrious names at Louis Napoleon and cursed his helpers, and danced the

Carmagnole "La Carmagnole" is the title of a French song created and made popular during the French Revolution, accompanied by a wild dance of the same name that may have also been brought into France by the Piedmontese. It was first sung in August 1792 and ...

and sang 'Ça ira.'" Russian composer

Nikolai Myaskovsky Nikolai Yakovlevich Myaskovsky or Miaskovsky or Miaskowsky (russian: Никола́й Я́ковлевич Мяско́вский; pl, Mikołaj Miąskowski, syn Jakóbowy; 20 April 18818 August 1950), was a Russian and Soviet composer. He is som ...

used both ''Ça Ira'' and ''La Carmagnole'' in the finale of his Symphony No. 6 in E-flat minor ''Revolutionary''

Modern adaptations

An alternative "sans-culotte"-like version was sung by

Édith Piaf Édith Piaf (, , ; born Édith Giovanna Gassion, ; December 19, 1915– October 10, 1963) was a French singer, lyricist and actress. Noted as France's national chanteuse, she was one of the country's most widely known international stars. Pia ...

for the soundtrack of the film '' Royal Affairs in Versailles'' (''Si Versailles m'était conté'') by Sacha Guitry. The song is featured in the 1999 television series ''

The Scarlet Pimpernel ''The Scarlet Pimpernel'' is the first novel in a series of historical fiction by Baroness Orczy, published in 1905. It was written after her stage play of the same title (co-authored with Montague Barstow) enjoyed a long run in London, having ...

'', starring Richard E. Grant. There the lyrics are sung in English as follows: Ah ça ira, ça ira, ça ira Over in France there's a revolution Ah ça ira, ça ira, ça ira Watch what you say or you'll lose your head Ah ça ira, ça ira, ça ira Pass some time, see an execution! Ah ça ira, ça ira, ça ira Une deux trois and you fall down dead Ah ça ira, ça ira, ça ira Hear the tale of Marie Antoinette-a! Ah ça ira, ça ira, ça ira A bloodier sight you have never seen! In an opening scene of the novel ''

What Is To Be Done? ''What Is to Be Done? Burning Questions of Our Movement'' is a political pamphlet written by Russian revolutionary Vladimir Lenin (credited as N. Lenin) in 1901 and published in 1902. Lenin said that the article represented "a skeleton plan t ...

'' by

Nikolay Chernyshevsky Nikolay Gavrilovich Chernyshevsky ( – ) was a Russian literary and social critic, journalist, novelist, democrat, and socialist philosopher, often identified as a utopian socialist and leading theoretician of Russian nihilism. He was ...

, the protagonist Vera Pavlovna is shown singing a song with ''ça ira'' in the refrain, accompanied by a paraphrase outlining the struggle for a socialist utopian future. The 1875 French translator "A.T." produced a four-stanza version on the basis of the paraphrase, which was reproduced in full by

Benjamin Tucker Benjamin Ricketson Tucker (; April 17, 1854 – June 22, 1939) was an American individualist anarchist and libertarian socialist.Martin, James J. (1953)''Men Against the State: The Expositers of Individualist Anarchism in America, 1827–1908''< ...

in his translation.Nikolay Chernyshevsky, ''Que faire'', translated by A.T. (1875)
page 5
Nikolay Chernyshevsky, ''What's to be done? A romance'', translated by Benjamin R. Tucker (1884–86, 4th edition 1909), page 8. Nikolay Chernyshevsky, ''A vital question; or, What is to be done?'', translated by Nathan Haskell Dole and Simon S. Skidelsky (1886),

page 4 Page Four was a Danish boy band established in Copenhagen in November 2014 by the four members: Lauritz Emil Christiansen, Jonas Eilskov, Stefan Hjort and Pelle Højer. The band got discovered by uploading cover versions online and were eventual ...

gives an English translation of the original paraphrase.

References

External links

"Ça ira"
sung by Edith Piaf, 1954 (mp3)
German translation of "Ça ira"
by

Gerd Semmer Gerhard Friedrich "Gerd" Semmer (born December 21, 1919 in Paderborn ; † November 12, 1967 in Ratingen ) was a German poet, columnist, songwriter and translator. He is considered the "father of the German protest song". Biography Born in Pad ...