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Batignolles

from Holy Drinker by Robert Sunday

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about

8.On his way to the bistro opposite the church, Andreas is stopped by a policeman and fears the worst. But the policeman hands him a wallet that he believes Andreas has dropped. He heads to the bistro where Wojtech is waiting and checks the wallet.There is exactly 200 francs inside.Now he can finally pay his debt. His friend persuades him to stay for a couple of drinks first, when a young girl comes into the bistro to wait for her parents to come out of mass. She tells Andreas that her name is Thérese, and in his beleaguered state he takes her for St Thérese. Then he collapses, and is taken to the church across the road, accompanied by the little girl Thérese. He reaches for the 200 francs, says "MIss Thérese",sighs once and then dies.
The chorus of this song refers to the author Joseph Roth's own demise. At the end of May 1939 he collapsed in the Café Tournon in Paris and died several days later. He was 44. Odon Von Horvath died the year before in Paris. German playwright Ernst Toller hanged himself in New York on May 22. Both were friends and contemporaries of Roth. Toller ,like Roth, was jewish. June of the following year Nazi tanks rolled into Paris.

lyrics

He collapsed like a sack on the checkerboard tiles
Whilst godless Parisians made for the aisles
The holiest drinker lay prone 'midst the dog ends and dirt
Even the waiters who'd never believed
Said this is a job for the St Marie priests
They carried his body across the road into the church

And Joseph falls down
Joseph falls down
And Joseph falls down
Oh down in the corner
Collapsed on the floor
In the gloom of the Café Tournon
Oh escaping the squalor with Horvath and Toller
A legend, a drink,then we're gone

Dragged to the vestry and dumped in a chair
The priests and Therese kneeled and murmured a prayer
He reached in his pocket and gave her the money he owed her
His debt finally paid and his honour restored
He died with a sigh by the grace of the lord
May God grant us all, all us drinkers, such a good and easy death

credits

from Holy Drinker, released September 4, 2020

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Robert Sunday London, UK

Robert Sunday is a solo acoustic singer-songwriter who combines elements of traditional folk,americana,poetry,and cinematic allusions.He played his first gig at Cecil Sharp House in March 2011 on the release of his debut EP 'Butterfly Hairslide' on the Rif Mountain label.Since then he has played regularly in London.This summer saw the release of his long awaited second EP 'Kith And Kin'. ... more

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