Archive for Musicals.Net Musicals.Net |
| Orestes Fasting |
Lines that bug youI have a passionate and irrational hatred for several lines in the musical:"I commend you for your duty, and God's blessing go with you." I understand that "for doing your duty" wouldn't have fit in the meter, but could they think of nothing else to go here? "If there's a God above, he'd let me die instead." Crappy grammar, not in the grammar-nazi way but in the way that just makes it sound off. The meter-destroying, punctiliously correct version would be "If there were a God above, he'd let me die instead," but "If there's a God above, he'll let me die instead" fits nicely and doesn't sound funny. "If I could close your wounds with words of love..." I know Boublil & Sch�nberg just looooove Eponine, but that doesn't justify even suggesting that Marius returns her feelings. For God's sake just have him comforting her and leave it at that. "They will wet themselves with blood." This one doesn't need any explanation, does it? |
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| Quique |
I already mentioned this one in the Misc. board, but I quite dislike Valjean's line, "This never ending road to Calvary." What, is he likening himself to Jesus? lol. Or his journey to that of Christ's? Anyone who does such a thing is generally considered a nutcase. XD | ||||||||
| Orestes Fasting |
See, that one doesn't bug me as much because metaphors like that aren't unheard of--"We all have our crosses to bear," and such. | ||||||||
| Quique |
Eh, I don't know. It just seems like something Javert would say. | ||||||||
| Orestes Fasting |
Heh, yeah. It's a holdover from the OFC, and I think that in French a reference to the road to Calvary would be much more commonly understood to signify an ordeal of some sort. Gargamel or one of the other francophones can correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the reference is much more obscure in English. (As evidenced by the occasional person who mistakes it for Calgary, haha.) | ||||||||
| LesMisForever |
"No bargains or petitions."
What on earth petitons is doing there? It is purely for ryhming purposes. |
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| Quique |
I've read several people complain about this one...
There is a room that's full of toys There are a hundred boys and girls Some feel it should be... There is a room that's full of toys There are a hundred girls and boys I think this is a case where the flow of the lyric was more important than rhyme. "Boys and girls" just flows better than the other way around. But I also understand the frustration of those who wonder why he didn't rhyme the two lines. It doesn't really bother me, though I have no real strong opinion about it one way or the other. |
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| herkind |
"Everybody keep the faith
For certain as the eagle flies we are not alone..." I'm not sure if that counts since it was only a change for the revival but it has never ceased to baffle me. First of all, why change the original lyrics in the first place? There was nothing wrong with them. Secondly, why replace them with a lyric that sounds like something Stephen Schwartz cut from Pocahontas? |
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| Orestes Fasting |
*spits tea all over monitor at the Schwarz line* I think they changed it because originally Enjolras says, "Let no one sleep tonight," then basically tells Marius to go take a nap. They could've replaced it with something less, uh, special though. |
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| lesmisloony |
^^That most of all. I was actually thinking about it earlier today when I was listening to one of the French versions where he said "l'amour fera refermer ta blessure" or something, and I was like, LOL is Montparnasse around? But... yeah... even my version is debatable, seeing how Monty may only love Eponine in my own personal canon... Ahem. I was actually going to say "Let no one sleep tonight.......Marius, rest." but the wretched eagle thing is worse than that. "Oh, Fantine, OUR time is running out." kind of hints at Valjean/Fantine in my head, though I know it works the way it is... I just picture the next line being something about his wife coming home early, or something. "Oh, it's easy to sit here and swat 'em like flies / but the National Guard will be harder to catch." Maybe I'm slow, but... what? (*fully expects someone to explain in detail and make it all very obvious*) And, of course: Joly: Here's to pretty girls who went to our beds. |
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| mastachen |
I thought it was "heads"? |
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| Trevor reincarnate |
Prouvaire: Here's to pretty girls who went to our heads. Joly: Here's to witty girls who went to out beds. |
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| lesmisloony |
Yeah yeah yeah yeah, "witty"... you know what I mean. It's JOLY, for crying out loud. Couldn't they have given that line to Courfeyrac or something?
Also, "I never did no wrong." Because... I mean... there's been no previous evidence of Fantine having weird grammar... |
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| EponinesRain |
In my life
I have all that I want You are loving and gentle and good But Papa, dear Papa, In your eyes I am just like a child Who is lost in a wood I've always thought that this was just a corny rhyme. Isn't it supposed to be "the woods"? I know that JVJ finds Cosette in the forest when they meet for the first time, but yeah...It's not like she's lost in a piece of wood or a wooden trunk or something. Just weird to not hear it pluralized. People need to leave "wood" out of musicals, unless it's about a woodchuck or something. Wicked's For Good is weakened b/c of the stupid "wood" rhymes. Oy. I've come to accept the room of toys/boys and girls thing, hehe. And I also agree with Orestes about Marius' line in ALFOR. It seems especially out-of-character for Adam Jacobs' distant Marius to say that to Eponine. |
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| mastachen |
^ I always thought B&S were the kings of corny rhymes.
Miss Saigon has lots of rhymes that seems forced and makes no sense. I do think that Les Mis is a little better though. |
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| EponinesRain |
Really? Hrm, I've heard worse. I actually like B&S' work in relation to others. The lyrics for Les Mis are among the best, IMO. Very cathartic and meaningful. |
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| krisavalon |
I find all the lyrics to "Little People" to be a bit annoying. | ||||||||
| AndrewShatterhand |
He took me from the barricade
Carried like a babe |
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| lesmisloony |
Had this corpse
On his back 'Anging there like a bloody great sack. So... gross... when your mind is already dirrty. |
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| Fantine |
Yeah that "Carried like a babe" is one of the few lines I don't like. | ||||||||
| mastachen |
Wow. We learn more and more about you everyday 
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| Orestes Fasting |
There are so many lines in the show that just sound inherently dirty that you could fill a whole other thread with them. (And I believe we did at some point.) | ||||||||
| Fantine |
(We could do it again though) |
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| mastachen |
*can't find the thread* | ||||||||
| Orestes Fasting |
http://musicals.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=54275 | ||||||||
| mastachen |
Oh.
That didn't end too well. lol A lot of the quotes in the thread actually required a stretch of imagination though. You had to work hard to make it sound dirty. Or maybe its cuz I had 3 hours of sleep last night and my brain isn't functioning as well lol |
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| lesmisloony |
*rather ashamed to have brought it up*
*but amused* |
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| Fantine |
Wow, was it really that long ago? | ||||||||
| Quique |
That's exactly what I was thinking. Boy, does time fly. |
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| soph-les-mis |
Javert: "I will join these little schoolboys..."
I was reading the old thread (Things that just sounds plain wrong), couldn't this be something? 
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| lesmisloony |
Come, my love. Come, Cosette. This night's blessings are not over yet... | ||||||||
| Mademoiselle Lanoire |
I thought it was "this day's blessings," wasn't it? |
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| Gargamel |
About the road to calvary
Sorry to be late!
The lyrics in the OFC would be something like "How can I do? Will I see one day the end of this calvary?" I think those lines are very beautiful in the OFC: Comment faire Verrai-je un jour la fin de ce calvaire Vivrons-nous libres enfin et sans myst�res Sans avoir � trembler sans cesse A chaque alerte, changer d�adresse Comment faire . . . In french, "Calvary" is not always used as a reference to Jesus. It is used to describe something very (very!) painfull (litteraly or not) and quite long lasting. Hope that helps! 
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| Fantine |
Line that bugs a lot of people:
"Every word that he says is a dagger in me!" |
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| lesmisloony |
Aww, man, I am FAIL at this. 
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| mastachen |
I think this would be an example of working too hard to find something sexual though, because I'd have to think about it and then go "OHH That's what she meant." Even on second or third thought, whenever I hear this line, I wouldn't think about Javert being a pedophile. |
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| Fantine |
It's not neccesarily (gosh I hate that word!) that he's a pedophile. Just a sort of teasing way of saying: "I'm going to a gang bang with these ABC friends" | ||||||||
| Quique |
ROFL!!!! XD Fantine. <3 |
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| lesmisloony |
"I'm going to gang bang with these ABC Friends"... they will wet themselves with blood...?
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| mastachen |
I'm trying hard to refrain from a similar joke that killed the Javert thread. | ||||||||
| lesmisloony |
Okay! I have a thought that's actually--get ready for it!--ON topic! Whoa. And this is something that's annoyed me for a long time:
"God on high, hear my prayer, in my need, YOU have always been there (etc)" THEN, for NO REASON AT ALL, "He's like the son I might have know if GOD had granted me a son." That annoys me A LOT, because the whole song is more or less a prayer, and suddenly he's referring to God in the third person? Unless he went off on some kind of tangent, I guess... |
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| dcrowley |
I would watch THAT musical   
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| soph-les-mis |
Ahem..Sorry if it was I who broke the thread.. and that Javert-joke was not meant that Javert was a pedophile... but when I heard it "...I will join these little schoolboys..." I just thought "What? Schoolboys?" It could be my not-so-good English that made me disconnect.. God, I suck at explaining things! It happens all the time
Anyway, to the topic of this thread: I had a line, I think it is Marius', where he says something that is completely unlogical.. Cannot remember it now, but I will post it when I do
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| EponineMNFF |
Am I the only one who kind of likes the eagle line?
It's not my favorite, but it used to bug me so much that Enjolras would say, "Let no one sleep tonight," and then they'd all go to sleep. One line that really bothers me is "The very words that they had sung became their last communion on the lonely barricade at dawn." I don't know why. I just sort of cringe every time I hear it. 
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| lesmisloony |
Only half-applies, due to its state of current nonexistance, but
"My always pissed as newts." Because 'always pissed as newts' should be an adjective phrase, right? Not a noun phrase with 'my' at the beginning? Correct me if I'm either mishearing this or missing out on some sort of vernacular. |
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| mastachen |
^ I thought that line was still in the show?
I never understood what it meant either. |
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| Trevor reincarnate |
Thenardier sings it before Master of the House, right? Correct me if I'm wrong. | ||||||||
| Gargamel |
Yuck, you're right, the lyrics here are quite not right to me. I never paid attention to that part. It is funny to notice that the translation of that line is one of my favourite line in the Paris version of that song: "Ces mots br�lants qu'ils ont chant� furent leurs derni�res volont�s" For the non-french-speaking, it would be something like: "Those burning words they have sung were their last will" |
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| lesmisloony |
Oh, okay, maybe that line *is* still in the show. I dunno. The cuts confuse me. 
I know they cut a bit of that stuff before MOTH, but I foget what's gone and what's in. I don't get to see the show enough to remember, see. |
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| lilmissbroadway |
ok, I know this is off topic, but Yeah! Another Broadway Abridged lover! |
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| mastachen |
No excuse! lol
I've only seen it twice. |
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| Fantine |
Raise it up the master's.... arse? | ||||||||
| lesmisloony |
You owe me a new keyboard. |
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| Fantine |
Terribly sorry, dear
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| Timmy_Wishes he was Quast |
This is in reference to the bottle being held by either of them. Depending. So having it inserted there is hardly pleasant. Unless you're into that kind of thing! |
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| lesmisloony |
Heh heh heh, I know that for sure. And I'm guessing Fantine does too. It's just... the way she phrased it... and out of context... it's just...
words fail. |
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| Fantine |
It's a line that bugs me. | ||||||||
| Orestes Fasting |
"Take this man, bring him through..."
Huh? |
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| lesmisloony |
There are so many lines that I just assume I don't get because I... don't know what the phrase means (that might not have made much sense) and this was always one of them. Glad I'm not the only one whose reaction is
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| Trevor reincarnate |
So basically, you all have picked apart every lyric in the show and critiqued it. Awesome.
So now... why do you like it if it's so bad? |
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| Orestes Fasting |
It's not bad, it just has the occasional lyric that makes me go . Come on, admitting it has flaws doesn't make us like it any less.
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| Trevor reincarnate |
I guess. I just think you guys have picked apart like... every lyric. lol | ||||||||
| Laura |
Altough many of those mentioned annoys me to no end, this takes the cake for me:
The Attack on Rue Plumet Eponine I'm gonna scream, I'm gonna warn them here. Thenardier One little scream and you'll regret it for a year. You would of thought they could have been more creative! A simple, One little scream and you'll regret it my dear" or something like that wouldn't have gone astray! |
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| Trevor reincarnate |
That doesn't flow. It's a good thing you're not a lyricist. | ||||||||
| Fantine |
I think 'regret it for a year' is more powerful because it reminds us of Thenardier's abuse towards Eponine and Azelma. | ||||||||
| Orestes Fasting |
Stumbled upon this in an intervew with Herbert Kretzmer:
SHEAHEN: In the hauntingly beautiful �Castle On A Cloud� a natural rhyme seems to be avoided. �There is a room that�s full of toys; there are a hundred boys and girls.� Shouldn�t that be �girls and boys� to make it rhyme? KRETZMER: Yes, of course, that�s how I wrote it. Trevor Nunn and/or John Caird suggested the switch because the �boys-toys� rhyme telegraphed itself and lacked surprise and, secondly, the song is sung by the untutored little urchin Cosette who is not expected to be facile of speech. Still, there must be some in the audience at every performance who conclude that the little girl simply fluffed her lines. |
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| Quique |
^ Interesting. Never read that before. | ||||||||
| lesmisloony |
I'm really much more fond of avoiding the rhyme. Sometimes rhymes hurt me to hear, and I think that would have been one of them. It's just too easy, and it cheapens the sentiment about the toys, making it seem like the line only exists for the sake of the rhyme.
The whole rhyme scheme of COAC is very irregular, though, which I love. ABBA (that's not the name of the group; it's the rhyme...) CDAA E(E)FF GHAA Just a thought. |
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| DontDoSadnessxx |
the end of attack on rue plumet
"somebody's here" i think its a terrible way to end it because "here" is a pretty bad dipthong especially if you listen to the london recording He UHHHHHH is was it sounds like |
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| herkind |
A lot of Boubil and Schonberg songs have the singers holding notes on an r sound which I've never liked. You either sit too heavy on it (heeRRR) or do he-yuh neither of which sounds pretty. | ||||||||
| eponine5 |
^
I've never had a problem with that line, but then again with the English accent the 'r' problem really doesn't exist. (But I'm honestly not trying to bring back the accent debate though.) |
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| Electricity24601 |
I was thinking about this thread as I watched the show last night. I was thinking, oh, there's a good one! And now of course- I have forgotten. Oh well. 
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| soph-les-mis |
In Dog eats Dog on the TAC, I always thought Thenardi�r sang "Thank you sir, I mean you're dead" when he was really singing "Thank you sir, I'm in your debt".. Now I can't decide what lyrics I want to hear:P | ||||||||
| lesmisloony |
Hmm... I always thought at the beginning of the PRC Come to Me, La Mort de Fantine or whatever, she said "les petites filles bien sages / attend deja au lit / qu'arrive mon chanson" which, though probably *not* proper French, would have translated to something like, "The wise little girls are already waiting in bed for my song to come." But then it turned about to be "le marchand de sable," the sandman, and not "mon chanson." Which made sense, but kinda changed that passage... a lot.
...I have a lot of stories like that, actually. |
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| Orestes Fasting |
I don't actually parse spoken French that well, so it took me ages to realize that Sailor #3's line in Lovely Ladies is "Elles touchent mon pompon et je monte au ciel."
I was driving at the time, in the line to get into the Lincoln Tunnel in fact, and I almost crashed into the car in front of me I was laughing so hard. |
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| DontDoSadnessxx |
alright story time!
So I hate the line "Valjean, take care! I'm warning you!" For this reason and this reason alone! In my high school production of les mis, the guy who was Javert was an idiot. But a brilliant idiot at that. One of the nights of the show he put a pause in between take and care. And it pissed me off so much. So now whenever I hear that line, I think of that kid and I get very mad. Story time is over... =[ |
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| Fantine |
I don't like: "They are the guilty, everyone"
"Everyone" just seems very out of place here. |
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| lesmisloony |
Ahh, similar PRC stories...
Yeah, every time a song from the PRC or OFC comes up in my shuffle, I listen reeally carefully and get super-excited when I understand entire phrases. Especially the OFC, because I don't have such a long history with its lyrics as I do the PRC. I know I thought that one sailor was saying "Je viens, cheries, sortez vos dentelles / quelques jours au mer pour les petits ont rien dentelle" and I thought that was weird and repetitive... AND, OFC time, in one of Eponine's songs I remember picking out the word "Montparnasse" ages ago, and so I'd go, "lalalala lalalala lalalala MONTPARNASSE!" Haha... I need help. |
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| rcs |
Here's one that gets me. It's from "I Dreamed a Dream":
But the tigers come at night With their voices soft as thunder That metaphor just seems so random, especially considering how much I love the rest of the song. |
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| Fantine |
Maybe it's about how men act all sweet and suddenly they betray you? | ||||||||
| rcs |
Yeah, but the reference to tigers still seems strange to me. | ||||||||
| lesmisloony |
I actually mildly agree about the tigers. It never really bothered me until I heard the French, in which it has wolves prowling in the night.
As far as I know... you're more likely to be attacked by a wolf in France than a tiger. |
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| Fantine |
There are only about 50 wolves in the whole of France though
But who knows, maybe back in 1780 there were a lot more 
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| Meliara |
^^^ HAHAHA!
Actually the whole "You'll be in trouble here. It's not your concern, you'll be in the clear." In the clear? What? Ok...that's kind of lame. I always felt it could be shortened to "It's not your concern, you'll be in trouble here." It would cut a few seconds off the show and be a lot more to the point and it sounds soooo much better. And I can never decide if I like the "I let her go for a song" line. It's kinda funny but at the same time it's pointing out that the characters are singing directly which I don't really like. Unless that is a saying in gerneral? Is it? Being I let something go for a song means that someone let something go for nothing...I'm jammering on. I'll stop now. =) |
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| lesmisloony |
It is, but not a terribly common one. I just remembered my annoyance with "Hey Eponine, what's up today?" because it seems too... modern. I mean, maybe it kind of isn't, or whatever, but every time I hear it I think of that Budweiser "WHAASAAAAAAP!" commercial... |
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| Fantine |
I don't really like the bits of Eponine's Errand:
"Oh God, oh what a rumpus!" "That cop he'd like to jump us but he ain't smart, not he" Like, okaaaay.. And it seems totally random opposed to what Marius' saying. Altough that may be intentional on 'Ponine's part. Also I think most Eponine actresses put a wrong emphasis on "But God knows what you see in her" most I've heard say it like: "NOOOOO I'm not gonna take you to Cosette because you're probably totally gonna fall for her!" Instead of: "Uh hello? Why do you like her? She's just a bourgeois two-a-penny thing." |
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| rcs |
How about "Thanks to you, I am one with the gods"? Last I heard, Marius was a monotheistic Christian and believed in only one God (this is even more annoying coming right on the heels of Valjean's "Truth is given by God to us all in our time"). | ||||||||
| rcs |
It's actually 1823 when she sings that song. |
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| Fantine |
1820, actually. 1820 - M. Madeleine is named Mayor of Montreuil-sur-mer. END OF THE YEAR: Fantine is fired from the factory and Gavroche Thenardier is born. |
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| Orestes Fasting |
In the musical timeline it takes place in 1823. |
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| lesmisloony |
Maybe Fantine just doesn't know exactly how many wolves were in Paris every single year of those two decades... and only cited 1780 because that was the year she (randomly) knew about... | ||||||||
| Fantine |
Nope I just randomly picked a year.
What a fuss. |
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| Fantine |
I know. |
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| lesmisloony |
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| Fantine |
What's that supposed to mean? | ||||||||
| lesmisloony |
Nonono, not directed at you! Directed at... nitpickiness. At people who are just trying to prove how smart they are by dredging up something someone said, jokingly, posts and posts ago, and trying to start an arguement about it. | ||||||||
| Orestes Fasting |
But if it weren't full of nitpicking elitists, it wouldn't be the Les Mis fandom!
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| lesmisloony |
...True.
And I know *I* nitpick all over fanfiction.net and stuff... but I think that instance was a little different. But... anyway. Moving on, right? |
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| bigR |
Well, I'm probably late for this thread but it's being real hard work to have a look over all the pages of the forum so that I don't repeat myself too much (i hate being a newbie  ).
Also last week I saw the TAC with subtitles on for the first time and I just realized that mme thenardier says: "MEDICINES are expensive monsieur" I had been singing "MANY SINS are expensive monsieur" for ages! I though it was a reference to Fantine who's had a child out of wedlock and now had to pay for it (not only with money but in so many ways) Somehow, I liked "many sins" much better... Also, what the hell is that thing with the eagles?? Do they actually say that at the barricade now?It's corny, pretentious, corny, inexact (since they actually are alone), corny, unnecessary and did I say corny?... |
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| lesmisloony |
Yes, the eagle thing is, lamentably, in there. |