La Marseillaise

So I was noodling around on You Tube and came across this performance of the French National Anthem “La Marseillaise” by Mireille Mathieu. (See link here)

Now I have a passing familiarity with the song, probably the pinnacle being the movie “Casablanca” From the Grok entry:

The actress most famously associated with singing “La Marseillaise” (the French national anthem) in the iconic 1942 film Casablanca is Madeleine Lebeau. She played the character Yvonne, Rick Blaine’s (Humphrey Bogart) jilted former lover.

The interesting part was, not being a French speaker, I really had no idea what the words actually meant. Whell as you will see in the link above, they provided an English version of the lyrics. In the notes to the You Tube entry they note “My translation to American English, weighing literal accuracy, lyrical style, and contemporary US context.”.

I don’t know what I expected, but holy shit, the Frenchmen from the French Revolution were some bloodthirsty folks.

Let’s go, children of the homeland.
The day of glory has arrived.
The bloody banner of tyranny
Confronts us by being raised
The bloody banner is raised
Do you hear the road outside…
Of those ferocious soldiers ?
They are coming right to you
To cut the throats of your children and partners
To ARMS, Citizens!
Form up in groups to fight
March now, march now!
Let their blood spill..
And soak into the dirt!

I think I will stand the next time I hear the song played, at least in public,