- "Ah! Ça ira, ça ira, ça ira. (Ah! It'll be fine, it'll be fine, it'll be fine.)
Les aristocrates à lanterne. (The aristocrats - to the lamp-post.)
Ah! Ça ira, ça ira, ça ira. (Ah! It'll be fine, it'll be fine, it'll be fine.)
Les aristocrates, on les pendra! (The aristocrats, we'll hang them!)" - ―The lyrics to Ça Ira, circa 1790.[src]-[m]
Ça Ira (French: It'll be fine) is a iconic song of the French Revolution.
History[]
Originally a song with no lyrics, the melody of Ça ira was a favorite to many in France, including Queen Marie Antoinette, who would play it on her harpsichord on special occasions at Versailles. According to legend, the lyrics were inspired by Ambassador Benjamin Franklin, who would reply "Ah! Ça ira! Ça ira!" (Ah! It'll be fine!) when asked about the American Revolutionary War.[1]
The initial words were basically a refrain of "Ça ira" over and over, but were changed in 1790 to include the anti-aristocrat sentiment that was rampant at the time, becoming the rallying cry of the Parisian sans-culottes in the Revolutionary riots.[1]