Friml–VK, song of vagabonds, Dennis King

Here we are on Thursday, ready to listen to the fourth song in Act 1, and it is the one the propels the story into its improbable premise–that Villon could be King or at least the King’s Counselor for a day. For it is with this one song that Villon proves his worth as a Frenchman and a human being. In so many words, Villon calls all of his friends together and admits that they are common “rabble of low degree” and my be “good for nothing” but that they can still die to defend Paris and their liberty.

To start we are going to play a clip from the 1925 Victor recording of Dennis King, the actor who played Villon on the stage in The Vagabond King. He and a chorus sing “Song of the Vagabonds.”