Prologue

1815, Toulon, France. The chain gang, overseen by brutal warders, works in the sun.]
 Prisoners
 Look down, look down
 Don't look 'em 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, There's 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 ya won't see me
 Here for dust! Look down, look down
 Don't look 'em in the eye
 How long O 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 Javert
 Now bring me prisoner 24601Your time is up
 And your parole's begun
 You know what that means Valjean
 Yes, it means I'm free Javert
 NO! It means you get
 Your yellow ticket-of-leave
 You are a thief Valjean
 I stole a loaf of bread! Javert
 You robbed a house! Valjean
 I broke a window pane! My sister's child was close to death
 And we were starving! Javert
 And you will starve again
 Unless you learn the meaning of the law. Valjean
 I know the meaning of these 19 years
 A slave of the law Javert
 Five years for what you did
 The rest because you tried to run
 Yes 24601 Valjean
 My name is Jean Valjean Javert
 And I am Javert
 Do not forget my name
 Do not forget me24601 Chorus
 Look down, look down
 You will always be a slave
 Look down, look down
 You're standing in your grave. Valjean
 Freedom is mine. The earth is still.
 I feel the wind. I breathe again.
 And the sky clears, the world is waiting.
 Drink from the pool. How clean the taste
 Never forget the years, the waste.
 Nor forgive them, for what they've done.
 They are the guilty, everyone.
 The day begins...
 And now lets see
 What this new world
 Will do for me!
 [He finds work on a farm.]
 Farmer
 You'll have to go
 I'll pay you off for the day
 Collect your bits and pieces there
 And be on your way.
 Valjean
 You've given me half
 What the other men get! This handful of tin
 Wouldn't buy my sweat! Laborer
 You broke the law
 It's there for people to see
 Why should you get the same
 As honest men like me? Valjean
 Now every door is closed to me
 Another jail, another key, another chain
 For when I come to any town
 They check my papers
 And they find the mark of Cain
 In their eyes, I see their fear:'We do not want you here.'
 [He comes to an inn.]
 Innkeeper's Wife
 My rooms are full
 And I've no supper to spare
 I'd like to help a stranger
 All we want is to be fair Valjean
 I will pay in advance
 I can sleep in a barn
 You see how dark it is
 I'm not some kind of dog! Innkeeper
 You leave my house
 Or feel the weight of my rod
 We're law-abiding people here
 Thanks be to God.
 [They throw him out.]
 Valjean
 And now I know how freedom feels
 The jailer always at your heels
 It is the law! This piece of paper in my hand
 That makes me cursed throughout the land
 It is the law! Like a cur
 I walk the street
 The dirt beneath my feet.
 [He sits down despairingly outside a house from which emerges the Bishop of Digne.]
 Bishop
 Come in, Sir, for you are weary
 And the night is cold out there.
 Though our lives are very humble
 What we have, we have to share.
 There is wine here to revive you, There is bread to make you strong, There's a bed to rest till morning, Rest from pain, and rest from wrong. Valjean
 He let me eat my fill
 I had the lion's share
 The silver in my hand
 Cost twice what I had earned
 In all those nineteen years
 That lifetime of despair
 And yet he trusted me.
 The old fool trusted me -He's done his bit of good
 I played the grateful serf
 And thanked him like I should
 But when the house was still, I got up in the night
 Took the silver
 Took my flight!
 [Taking the silver cup, he runs off, but is brought back by two constables.]