La guillotine permanente ("The permanent Guillotine") is a French revolutionary song from the French Revolution.[1] The lyrics regard the guillotine and its usage as a weapon of the revolution.
Around the year 1789, the National Constituent Assembly was debating about a new criminal law for France. Among the representatives of the bourgeoisie was the doctor Joseph-Ignace Guillotin, who argued for an equalization of the capital punishment. He suggested that all executions may be carried out as a beheading through a "simple mechanism". Guillotin's efforts led to beheading machines being referred to as "Guillotine" when they were first regularly used in the year 1792. (Misleadingly, Guillotin is often called the "inventor of the guillotine". The lyrics of La guillotine permanente say that Guillotin "made" the machine. In reality, Guillotin was not involved in the design and construction of the guillotine.)
The melody of La guillotine permanente was known long before the French Revolution; its roots date back to the 16th century. The old folk song Si le roi m'avait donné is sung to this melody, Molière quoted it in his comical work The Misanthrope, which premiered in the year 1666.[2] The lyrics of La guillotine permanente are not the only ones written to this melody during the French Revolution.
Pour punir la trahisonLa haute rapineCes amateurs de blasonsCes gens qu'on devineVoilà pour qui l'on a faitCe dont on connaît l'effetC'est la guillotine, ô guéC'est la guillotine
A force de comploterLa horde mutineA gagné sans y penserMigraine malinePour guérir ces messieurs-làUn jour on les mèneraA la guillotine, ô guéA la guillotine
De la France on a chasséLa noble vermineOn a tout rasé, casséEt tout mis en ruineMais de noble on a gardéDe mourir le cou tranchéPar la guillotine, ô guéPar la guillotine
Messieurs les nobles mutinsDont chacun s'échineSoufflant par des efforts vainsLa guerre intestineSi nous vous prenons vraimentVous mourrez très noblementA la guillotine, ô guéA la guillotine
Le dix nous a procuréBesogne de resteLes traîtres ont abondéC'est pis qu'une pesteComme on n'en veut pas manquerOn punit sans déplanterLa machine reste, ô guéLa machine reste
The deputy GuillotinIn the medicineVery educated and very smartMade a machineTo purge the body of FranceFrom all people with projectsThat's the guillotine, hurrayThat's the guillotine
To punish the treasonThe huge theftThose enthusiasts for coat of armsThese people, one knows whichFor those we made itIt, whose effect we knowThat's the guillotine, hurrayThat's the guillotine
By stirring upThe mutinous hordeOne got without having it in mindTerrible headachesTo cure those gentlemenWe will lead them one dayTo the guillotine, hurrayTo the guillotine
From France we hunted themThe noble bundleWe shaved everything off, terminated everythingAnd ruined allBut what we kept from the noblesIs to die with cut necksBy the guillotine, hurrayBy the guillotine
Those gentlemen, the noble traitorsThose who have withdrawn themselvesSuffer from useless causesThe internal warWhen we take them seriouslyThey will die very noblyOn the guillotine, hurrayOn the guillotine
The 10th has brought usA lot of workThere are many traitorsIt is worse than a plagueWe don't want to miss itTo punish without exceptionsThe machine stays, hurrayThe machine stays
La guillotine permanente can be heard in the video game Assassin's Creed Unity, which is set in the French Revolution.[3]
During the Paris Commune of 1871, the communards sang many songs from the French Revolution with updated lyrics about the new commune including a version of La guillotine permanente now changed to Vive la Commune.[4]