AH! ÇA IRA ÇA IRA ÇA IRA
Created on 03/11/2005Latest update on 15/04/2023
Artist: Bécourt
Author: Bécourt/Ladré
Year: 1786
Violinist with the Théâtre Beaujolais and composer of this contradance as Le Carillon national. Queen Marie-Antoinette used to play it on her harpsichord. The poor people of Paris sang it while she was wheeled along to be executed in October 1793. The revolutionary lyrics came from soldier and street singer Ladré (1790). Title inspired by one of Benjamin Franklin's expressions in particular, the theme inspired by the American independence in general. So it was more than just an anti royalty song.
Covers:
- 1790:
Ladré [wrote the lyrics; adjusted following an (aborted) escape of king Louis XVI ("les aristocrats à la lanterne, les aristocrats on les pendra")]
- 1953:
Edith Piaf [also in Sacha Guitry film Si Versailles m'était conté, under the scene where the crowd is taking the Bastille; that's one year before the lyrics were supposed to appear]
- 2005:
Roger Waters [in his opera Ça ira (There Is Hope)]
