"La guillotine permanente" ("The Permanent Guillotine") is a French revolutionary song from the French Revolution.Object YE-35763 in the national library of France (Bibliothèque nationale de France). The lyrics regard the guillotine and its usage as a weapon of the revolution.
Background Historic circumstances
Around the year 1789, the National Constituent Assembly was debating about a new criminal law for France. Among the representatives of the bourgeoisie was the doctor Joseph-Ignace Guillotin, who argued for an equalization of the capital punishment. He suggested that all executions may be carried out as a beheading through a "simple mechanism". Guillotin's efforts led to beheading machines being referred to as "Guillotine" when they were first regularly used in the year 1792. (Misleadingly, Guillotin is often called the "inventor of the guillotine". The lyrics of La guillotine permanente say that Guillotin "made" the machine. In reality, Guillotin was not involved in the design and construction of the guillotine.)
The melody The melody of "La guillotine permanente" was known long before the French Revolution; its roots date back to the 16th century. The old folk song "Si le roi m'avait donné" is sung to this melody, Molière quoted it in his comical work The Misanthrope, which premiered in the year 1666. The lyrics of "La guillotine permanente" are not the only ones written to this melody during the French Revolution.
Lyrics Original lyrics: Le député Guillotin Dans la médecine Très expert et très malin Fit une machine Pour purger le corps français De tous les gens à projets C'est la guillotine, ô gué C'est la guillotine
Pour punir la trahison La haute rapine Ces amateurs de blasons Ces gens qu'on devine Voilà pour qui l'on a fait Ce dont on connaît l'effet C'est la guillotine, ô gué C'est la guillotine
A force de comploter La horde mutine A gagné sans y penser Migraine maline Pour guérir ces messieurs-là Un jour on les mènera A la guillotine, ô gué A la guillotine
De la France on a chassé La noble vermine On a tout rasé, cassé Et tout mis en ruine Mais de noble on a gardé De mourir le cou tranché Par la guillotine, ô gué Par la guillotine
Messieurs les nobles mutins Dont chacun s'échine Soufflant par des efforts vains La guerre intestine Si nous vous prenons vraiment Vous mourrez très noblement A la guillotine, ô gué A la guillotine
Le dix nous a procuré Besogne de reste Les traîtres ont abondé C'est pis qu'une peste Comme on n'en veut pas manquer On punit sans déplanter La machine reste, ô gué La machine reste English translation:
The deputy Guillotin In the medicine Very educated and very smart Made a machine To purge the body of France From all people with projects That's the guillotine, hurray That's the guillotine
To punish the treason The huge theft Those enthusiasts for coat of arms These people, one knows which For those we made it It, whose effect we know That's the guillotine, hurray That's the guillotine
By stirring up The mutinous horde One got without having it in mind Terrible headaches To cure those gentlemen We will lead them one day To the guillotine, hurray To the guillotine
From France we hunted them The noble bundle We shaved everything off, terminated everything And ruined all But what we kept from the nobles Is to die with cut necks By the guillotine, hurray By the guillotine
Those gentlemen, the noble traitors Those who have withdrawn themselves Suffer from useless causes The internal war When we take them seriously They will die very nobly On the guillotine, hurray On the guillotine
The 10th has brought us A lot of work There are many traitors It is worse than a plague We don't want to miss it To punish without exceptions The machine stays, hurray The machine stays
Annotations
Melody
In popular culture "La guillotine permanente" can be heard in the video game Assassin's Creed Unity, which is set in the French Revolution.
Recordings Catherine Ribeiro: 1989… Déjà ! (1988) Jean-Louis Caillat: Chansons de la Révolution (1989) Marc Ogeret: Chante La Révolution (1989)
Footnotes