Well, it's a lot more boring than the French national anthem....
Arise, children of the Fatherland,
The
day of glory has arrived!
Against us, tyranny's
Bloody
standard is raised,
(repeat)
Do you hear, in the countryside,
The roar of those
ferocious soldiers?
They're coming right into your arms
To cut the throats of your sons, your women!
To arms, citizens,
Form your battalions,
March, march!
Let an impure blood
Water our furrows!
What does this horde of slaves,
Of
traitors and conspiring kings want?
For whom have these vile chains,
These irons, been long prepared?
(repeat)
Frenchmen, for us, ah! What outrage
What furious action it must arouse!
It is to us they dare plan
A return to the old slavery!
To arms, citizens...
What! Foreign cohorts
Would make the law in our homes!
What! These mercenary phalanxes
Would strike down our proud warriors! (repeat)
Great God! By chained hands
Our brows would yield under the yoke!
Vile despots would themselves become
The masters of our destinies!
To arms, citizens...
Tremble, tyrants and you traitors
The shame of all parties,
Tremble! Your parricidal schemes
Will finally receive their prize!
(repeat)
Everyone is a soldier to combat you,
If they fall, our young heroes,
Will be produced anew from the ground,
Ready to fight against you!
To arms, citizens...
Frenchmen, as magnanimous warriors,
Bear or hold back your blows!
Spare those sorry victims,
For regretfully arming against us.
(repeat)
But these bloodthirsty despots,
These accomplices of
Bouillé,
All these tigers who mercilessly
Tear apart their mother's breast!
To arms, citizens...
Sacred love of the Fatherland,
Lead, support our avenging arms
Liberty, cherished Liberty,
Fight with thy defenders!
(repeat)
Under our flags may victory
Hurry to thy manly accents,
So that thy expiring enemies
See thy triumph and our glory!
To arms, citizens...
(Children's Verse)
We shall enter the (military) career
When our elders are no longer there,
There we shall find their dust
And the trace of their virtues
(repeat)
Much less keen to survive them
Than to share their coffins,
We shall have the sublime pride
To avenge or follow them.
To arms, citizens...
These verses have been omitted from the national anthem.
God of mercy and justice
See our tyrants, judge our hearts
Your goodness be with us
Defend us from these oppressors (repeat)
You reign in heaven and on earth
And before you all must bend
In your arms, come support us
You, great God, lord of thunder.
To arms, citizens...
French people know thy glory
Crowned by equality,
What a triumph, what a victory,
To have won Liberty!
(repeat)
The God who throws thunder
And who commands the elements,
To exterminate the tyrants
Uses your arm on Earth.
To arms, citizens...
Of tyranny, we have
Rebuffed its last efforts;
It is banished from our climes;
Among the French the kings are dead.
(repeat)
The Republic may live forever!
Anathema to royalty!
May this refrain, sung everywhere,
Protect politics from kings.
To arms, citizens...
France that Europe admires
Has regained liberty
And every citizen breathes
Under the laws of equality,
(repeat)
One day its beloved image
Will extend throughout the universe.
Peoples, you will break your chains
And you will have a fatherland!
To arms, citizens...
Trampling on the rights of man,
the soldierly legions
of Rome's first inhabitants
enslaved nations.
(repeat)
A larger project, and wiser,
Engages us in battle
And the Frenchman only arms himself
In order to destroy slavery.
To arms, citizens...
Yes! Already insolent despots
And the band of emigrants
Waging war on the
sans-culottes [lit. without-breeches]
By our weapons are withered;
(repeat)
Vainly their hope is based
On piqued fanaticism
The sign of liberty
Will soon spread around the world.
To arms, citizens...
To you! Let glory surround
Citizens, illustrious warriors,
Fear in the fields of
Bellona,
Fear the sullying of your laurels!
(repeat)
To dark unfounded suspicions
Towards your leaders, your generals,
Never leave your flags,
And you will remain invincible.
To arms, citizens...
(Children's Verse)
Children, let honour and fatherland
be the object of all our wishes!
Let us always have souls nourished
With fires that might inspire both.
(repeat)
Let us be united! Anything is possible;
Our vile enemies will fall,
Then the French will cease
To sing this fierce refrain:
To arms, citizens...
