Lovely Ladies

Song Lovely Ladies
Artist Claude-Michel Schönberg
Album Les Miserables (1987 Original Broadway Cast)

Lyrics

(The docks. Sailors, whores and their customers, pimps, etc. Fantine wanders in.)
Sailors
I smell women
Smell 'em in the air
Think I'll drop my anchor
In that harbor over there
Lovely ladies
Smell 'em through the smoke
Seven days at sea
Can make you hungry for a poke
Even stokers need a little stoke!
Whores
Lovely ladies
Waiting for a bite
Waiting for the customer
Who only comes at night
Lovely ladies
Waiting for the call
Standing up or lying down
Or any way at all
Bargain prices up against the wall
Old Woman
Come here, my dear
Let's see this trinket you wear
This bagatelle...
Fantine
Madame, I'll sell it to you...
Old Woman
I'll give you four
Fantine
That wouldn't pay for the chain
Old Woman
I'll give you five, you're far to eager to sell, it's up to you.
Fantine
It's all I have
Old Woman
That's not my fault
Fantine
Please make it ten
Old Woman
No more than five
My dear, we all must stay alive!
Whores
Lovely ladies
Waiting in the dark
Ready for a thick one
Or a quick one in the park
Long time short time
Any time, my dear
Cost a little extra if you want to take all year!
Quick and cheap is underneath the pier!
Crone
What pretty hair
What pretty locks you got there
What luck you got, it's worth a centime my dear
I'll take the lot
Fantine
Don't touch me leave me alone
Crone
Let's make a price, I'll give you all of ten francs
Just think of that!
Fantine
It pays a debt
Crone
Just think of that
Fantine
What can I do? It pays a debt.
Ten francs may save my poor Cosette!
Whores
Lovely ladies
Lovely little girls
Lovely ladies
Lovely little ladies
Lovely girlies
Lovely little girls
We are lovely, lovely girls
Lovely ladies
What's a lady for? Sailors
Lovely lady!
Fastest on the street
Wasn't there three minutes
She was back up on her feet
Lovely lady!
What yer waiting for?
Doesn't take a lot of savvy
Just to be a whore
Come on, lady
What's a lady for?
(Fantine re-emerges, her long hair cut short.)
Pimp
Give me the dirt, who's that bit over there?
Whore 1
A bit of skirt, she's the one sold her hair.
Whore 2
She's got a kid sends her all that she can
Pimp
I might have known
There is always some man
Lovely lady, come along and join us!
Lovely lady!
Whores
Come on dearie, why all the fuss?
You're no grander than the rest of us
Life has dropped you at the bottom of the heap
Join your sisters, make money in your sleep!
(Fantine goes off with one of the sailors.)
That's right dearie, let him have the lot
That's right dearie, show him what you've got!
Old men, young men, take 'em as they come
Harbor rats and alley cats and every type of scum
Poor men, rich men, leaders of the land
See them with their trousers off they're never quite as grand
All it takes is money in your hand!
Lovely ladies
Going for a song
Got a lot of callers
But they never stay for long
Fantine
Come on, Captain
You can wear your shoes
Don't it make a change
To have a girl who can't refuse
Easy money
Lying on a bed
Just as well they never see
The shame that's in your head
Don't they know they're making love
To one already dead!