[Intro – Air de la Tempête / Operatic Prelude]
🎶
Oh mon Dieu, le vent a tout pris,
les toits, les rêves, la symphonie.
Mais dans la boue, j’entends encore,_
un tambour battre le cœur du port._
🎶
(Brass hums underneath; slow snare rolls like thunder receding.)
⸻
[Verse 1 – Spoken-sung, smoky street tempo]
They called me fool for singin’ through the flood,
But silence never saved nobody’s blood.
Lost my house, my horn, my pride,
Still the rhythm pulled me to the other side.
Trumpet cryin’ through the Rue Charbonnet,
“Marche, mon frère — the saints still play.”
Feet in the mud, eyes on the sky,
If the city gon’ die, then she’ll die fly.
⸻
[Refrain – French & English, swelling brass]
🎶
Je suis le roi du fleuve,
king of the tide, born to survive.
From the delta’s tears, I claim my crown,
the river can’t drown what it can’t keep down!_
🎶
⸻
[Verse 2 – Second Line groove begins]
Sousaphone walkin’ like a heavy prayer,
Tambourine laughin’ at despair.
Mama’s ghost hummin’ in the heat,
“Boy, lift your soul, move your feet.”
Umbrellas bloom, black and gold,
We dance our grief until it folds.
Joy and sorrow, side by side,
Two lovers on the same brass ride.
⸻
[Bridge – French Operatic Aria]
🎶
La pluie bénit les âmes perdues,
dans chaque larme, la vie se re- tisse.
Le tonnerre chante: “Courage, enfant,”_
et le soleil répond, “Encore, avance!”
🎶
(Trumpets call, drums answer; voices overlap like cathedral echoes.)
⸻
[Chorus – Full Ensemble / March Tempo]
🎶
I’m the River King, baby, marchin’ proud,
Turn the sorrow of the storm to sound!
From Bourbon Street to Bywater’s bend,
Every flood’s a baptism, every note a friend!
🎶
🎶
Lève-toi, ma ville, chante encore,
Your crown is brass, your heart is war.
From pain we build, from loss we sing,
Long live the River — long live the King!_
🎶
⸻
[Coda – Requiem to Revival]
🎶
O mon ciel, la lumière revient,
dans chaque pas, un ancien chagrin.
Mais la musique monte, douce et fière,_
et la vie revient dans l’air._
🎶
(Brass fades to a single cornet; he lowers his umbrella, whispers:)
“When the water rises, I rise higher —
‘cause every note’s a prayer that never drowns.”
