Lovely Ladies Lyrics – Les Miserables
Lovely Ladies Lyrics
[The docks. Sailors, whores and their customers, pimps, etc. Fantine wanders in]
[SAILOR ONE]
I smell women
Smell 'em in the air
Think I'll drop my anchor
In that harbor over there
[SAILOR TWO]
Lovely ladies
Smell 'em through the smoke
Seven days at sea
Can make you hungry for a poke
[SAILOR THREE]
Even stokers need a little stoke!
[WOMEN]
Lovely ladies
Waiting for a bite
Waiting for the customers
Who only come at night
Lovely ladies
Ready 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]
[OLD WOMAN]
No more than five
My dear, we all must stay alive!
[WOMEN]
Lovely ladies
Waiting in the dark
Ready for a thick one
Or a quick one in the park
Whore 1
Long time short time
Any time, my dear
Cost a little extra if you want to take all year!
[ALL]
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!
[SAILOR THREE]
Lovely lady!
Fastest on the street
Wasn't there three minutes
She was back up on her feet
[SAILOR ONE]
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 ONE]
A bit of skirt. She's the one sold her hair.
[WHORE TWO]
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!
[WHORE ONE]
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
[WHORE TWO]
Make money in your sleep!
[Fantine goes off with one of the sailors]
[WHORE ONE]
That's right dearie, let him have the lot
[WHORE THREE]
That's right dearie, show him what you've got!
[WOMEN]
Old men, young men, take 'em as they come
Harbor rats and alley cats and every kind 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 hate that's in your head
Don't they know they're making love
To one already dead!
[BAMATABOIS]
Here's something new. I think I'll give it a try.
Come closer you! I like to see what I buy...
The usual price, for just a slice of your pie
[FANTINE]
I don't want you. No, no, m'sieur, let me go.
[BAMATABOIS]
Is this a trick? I won't pay more!
[FANTINE]
No, not at all.
[BAMATABOIS]
You've got some nerve, you little whore
You've got some gall.
It's the same with a tart as it is with a grocer
The customer sees what he gets in advance
It's not for the whore to say `yes sir' or `no sir'
It's not for the harlot to pick and to choose
Or lead me to a dance!
[He hits her with his stick, she claws at his face, drawing blood]
[FANTINE]
I'll kill you, you bastard,
try any of that!
Even a whore who has gone to the bad
Won't be had by a rat!
[BAMATABOIS]
By Christ you'll pay for what you've done
This rat will make you bleed, you'll see!
I guarantee, I'll make you suffer
For this disturbance of the peace
For this insult to life and property!
[FANTINE]
I beg you, don't report me sir
I'll do whatever you may want
[BAMATABOIS]
Make your excuse to the police!
[Javert enters, accompanied by constables]
[JAVERT]
Tell me quickly what's the story
Who saw what and why and where
Let him give a full description
Let him answer to Javert!
In this nest of whores and vipers
Let one speak who saw it all
Who laid hands on this good man here?
What's the substance of this brawl?
[BAMATABOIS]
Javert, would you believe it
I was crossing from the park
When this prostitute attacked me
You can see she left her mark
[JAVERT]
She will answer for her actions
When you make a full report
You may rest assured, M'sieur,
That she will answer to the court.
[FANTINE]
There's a child who sorely needs me
Please M'sieur, she's but that high
Holy God, is there no mercy?
If I go to jail she'll die!
[JAVERT]
I have heard such protestations
Every day for twenty years
Let's have no more explanations
Save your breath and save your tears
`Honest work, just reward,
That's the way to please the Lord.'
[Fantine gives a last despairing cry as she is arrested by the constables.
Valjean emerges from the crowd]
[VALJEAN]
A moment of your time, Javert
I do believe this woman's tale
[JAVERT]
[VALJEAN]
You've done your duty, let her be
She needs a doctor, not a jail.
[JAVERT]
But M'sieur Mayor!
[FANTINE]
Can this be?
[VALJEAN]
Where will she end -
This child without a friend?
I've seen your face before
Show me some way to help you
How have you come to grief
In a place such as this?
[FANTINE]
M'sieur, don't mock me now, I pray
It's hard enough I've lost my pride
You let your foreman send me away
Yes, you were there, and turned aside
I never did no wrong
[VALJEAN]
Is it true, what I have done?
[FANTINE]
My daughter's close to dying...
[VALJEAN]
To an innocent soul?
[FANTINE]
If there's a God above
[VALJEAN]
Had I only known then...
[FANTINE]
He'd let me die instead
[VALJEAN]
In His name my task has just begun
I will see it done!
[JAVERT]
But M'sieur Mayor!
[VALJEAN]
I will see it done!
[JAVERT]
But M'sieur Mayor!
[VALJEAN]
I will see it done!
[VOICES]
Look out! It's a runaway cart!
[A man is trapped under a cart. Valjean (Monsieur Mayor) saves the man]
[JAVERT]
Can this be true?
I don't believe what I see
A man your age
To be as strong as you are
A memory stirs
You make me think of a man
From years ago
A man who broke his parole
He disappeared
Forgive me sir I would not dare.
[VALJEAN]
Say what you must
Don't leave it there
[JAVERT]
I have only known one other
Who can do what you have done
He's a convict from the chain gang
He's been ten years on the run
But he couldn't run forever
We have found his hideaway
And he's just been rearrested
And he comes to court today
Well of course he now denies it
You'd expect that of a con
But he couldn't run forever
No not even Jean Valjean
[VALJEAN]
You say this man denies it all
With no sign of understanding or repentance
And that's he's sure to be returned
To serve his sentence?
Come to that, can you be sure
That you have got your man?
I have known the thief for ages
Tracked him down through thick and thin
And to make the matter certain
There's the brand upon his skin
He will bend, he will break
This time there is no mistake!
[Javert Leaves]
[SAILOR ONE]
I smell women
Smell 'em in the air
Think I'll drop my anchor
In that harbor over there
[SAILOR TWO]
Lovely ladies
Smell 'em through the smoke
Seven days at sea
Can make you hungry for a poke
[SAILOR THREE]
Even stokers need a little stoke!
[WOMEN]
Lovely ladies
Waiting for a bite
Waiting for the customers
Who only come at night
Lovely ladies
Ready 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]
[OLD WOMAN]
No more than five
My dear, we all must stay alive!
[WOMEN]
Lovely ladies
Waiting in the dark
Ready for a thick one
Or a quick one in the park
Whore 1
Long time short time
Any time, my dear
Cost a little extra if you want to take all year!
[ALL]
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!
[SAILOR THREE]
Lovely lady!
Fastest on the street
Wasn't there three minutes
She was back up on her feet
[SAILOR ONE]
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 ONE]
A bit of skirt. She's the one sold her hair.
[WHORE TWO]
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!
[WHORE ONE]
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
[WHORE TWO]
Make money in your sleep!
[Fantine goes off with one of the sailors]
[WHORE ONE]
That's right dearie, let him have the lot
[WHORE THREE]
That's right dearie, show him what you've got!
[WOMEN]
Old men, young men, take 'em as they come
Harbor rats and alley cats and every kind 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 hate that's in your head
Don't they know they're making love
To one already dead!
[BAMATABOIS]
Here's something new. I think I'll give it a try.
Come closer you! I like to see what I buy...
The usual price, for just a slice of your pie
[FANTINE]
I don't want you. No, no, m'sieur, let me go.
[BAMATABOIS]
Is this a trick? I won't pay more!
[FANTINE]
No, not at all.
[BAMATABOIS]
You've got some nerve, you little whore
You've got some gall.
It's the same with a tart as it is with a grocer
The customer sees what he gets in advance
It's not for the whore to say `yes sir' or `no sir'
It's not for the harlot to pick and to choose
Or lead me to a dance!
[He hits her with his stick, she claws at his face, drawing blood]
[FANTINE]
I'll kill you, you bastard,
try any of that!
Even a whore who has gone to the bad
Won't be had by a rat!
[BAMATABOIS]
By Christ you'll pay for what you've done
This rat will make you bleed, you'll see!
I guarantee, I'll make you suffer
For this disturbance of the peace
For this insult to life and property!
[FANTINE]
I beg you, don't report me sir
I'll do whatever you may want
[BAMATABOIS]
Make your excuse to the police!
[Javert enters, accompanied by constables]
[JAVERT]
Tell me quickly what's the story
Who saw what and why and where
Let him give a full description
Let him answer to Javert!
In this nest of whores and vipers
Let one speak who saw it all
Who laid hands on this good man here?
What's the substance of this brawl?
[BAMATABOIS]
Javert, would you believe it
I was crossing from the park
When this prostitute attacked me
You can see she left her mark
[JAVERT]
She will answer for her actions
When you make a full report
You may rest assured, M'sieur,
That she will answer to the court.
[FANTINE]
There's a child who sorely needs me
Please M'sieur, she's but that high
Holy God, is there no mercy?
If I go to jail she'll die!
[JAVERT]
I have heard such protestations
Every day for twenty years
Let's have no more explanations
Save your breath and save your tears
`Honest work, just reward,
That's the way to please the Lord.'
[Fantine gives a last despairing cry as she is arrested by the constables.
Valjean emerges from the crowd]
[VALJEAN]
A moment of your time, Javert
I do believe this woman's tale
[JAVERT]
[VALJEAN]
You've done your duty, let her be
She needs a doctor, not a jail.
[JAVERT]
But M'sieur Mayor!
[FANTINE]
Can this be?
[VALJEAN]
Where will she end -
This child without a friend?
I've seen your face before
Show me some way to help you
How have you come to grief
In a place such as this?
[FANTINE]
M'sieur, don't mock me now, I pray
It's hard enough I've lost my pride
You let your foreman send me away
Yes, you were there, and turned aside
I never did no wrong
[VALJEAN]
Is it true, what I have done?
[FANTINE]
My daughter's close to dying...
[VALJEAN]
To an innocent soul?
[FANTINE]
If there's a God above
[VALJEAN]
Had I only known then...
[FANTINE]
He'd let me die instead
[VALJEAN]
In His name my task has just begun
I will see it done!
[JAVERT]
But M'sieur Mayor!
[VALJEAN]
I will see it done!
[JAVERT]
But M'sieur Mayor!
[VALJEAN]
I will see it done!
[VOICES]
Look out! It's a runaway cart!
[A man is trapped under a cart. Valjean (Monsieur Mayor) saves the man]
[JAVERT]
Can this be true?
I don't believe what I see
A man your age
To be as strong as you are
A memory stirs
You make me think of a man
From years ago
A man who broke his parole
He disappeared
Forgive me sir I would not dare.
[VALJEAN]
Say what you must
Don't leave it there
[JAVERT]
I have only known one other
Who can do what you have done
He's a convict from the chain gang
He's been ten years on the run
But he couldn't run forever
We have found his hideaway
And he's just been rearrested
And he comes to court today
Well of course he now denies it
You'd expect that of a con
But he couldn't run forever
No not even Jean Valjean
[VALJEAN]
You say this man denies it all
With no sign of understanding or repentance
And that's he's sure to be returned
To serve his sentence?
Come to that, can you be sure
That you have got your man?
I have known the thief for ages
Tracked him down through thick and thin
And to make the matter certain
There's the brand upon his skin
He will bend, he will break
This time there is no mistake!
[Javert Leaves]
Song Overview
Song Credits
- Featuring: Les Misérables Original London Cast Ensemble
- Producers: Alain Boublil; Claude-Michel Schönberg
- Composers & Lyricists: Claude-Michel Schönberg; Herbert Kretzmer; Alain Boublil; Jean-Marc Natel
- Release Date: 1985
- Genre: Pop; Rock; Musical Theatre; West End
- Language: English
- Track #: 6
- Album: Les Misérables (Original 1985 London Cast Recording)
- Label: First Night Records
Song Meaning and Annotations
Annotations
“Lovely Ladies” plunges us into the damp underworld of 19th-century Paris — the docks, the filth, the stench of desperation. Fantine, once proud and employed, is now cornered into survival by any means. This song is where her fall accelerates from loss to utter ruin.
The scene is laced with gallows humor and explicit innuendo. The sailors’ bravado masks their hunger for flesh with nautical metaphors.
“Think I’ll drop my anchor in that harbor over there.”It's a lewd boast — mooring as a metaphor for penetration. Even the stoker, meant to feed steamship fires, is reimagined as a man in need of his own “little stoke.”
The prostitutes, in turn, become product displays.
“Lovely ladies, quick and cheap is underneath the pier!”The women refer to themselves in market terms, offering variety in “positions,” speed, and cost. It’s commerce with a painted-on smile. Yet beneath that is rot, a truth made plain when one says a man can finish inside her (for a little extra cost) “to take all year”, because it might leave her pregnant, a debt of its own.
The old women haggle for Fantine’s only possession: her necklace.
“That bagatelle… It’s all I have.”Inside it — in some productions — is a lock of her daughter’s hair. In Hugo’s novel, the locket was a keepsake from a lover. Either way, its sentimental worth is obliterated by these hardened buyers who only see profit. Ten francs may be generous in context (roughly $750 today), but the emotional cost is incalculable.
She next gives up her hair — “gold” in her dowry, like pearls in her smile — both cut and extracted. In Hugo’s telling, her teeth and hair were her most beautiful features. Even modern metrics validate their worth — a pound of hair can still sell for over $600. And yet, no amount of money can stall the spiral she’s entered.
By the time the pimp jeers,
“Give me the dirt, who’s that bit over there?”the crowd has turned — they no longer see Fantine as a person. She’s an object, an opening. Her fellow women jab with teasing cruelty, but it’s survival, not malice — they’ve learned to turn spite into currency.
And then she caves. Her last line is whispered like a curse:
“Easy money, lying on a bed / Just as well they never see the hate that’s in your head.”Gone is the woman who dreamed. Gone is the mother who sang. What remains is a shell, moving through motions, already spiritually dead.
Verse by Verse Breakdown
Sailors’ Verses
Crude and rhythmic, their lines are filled with sexual wordplay — “seven days at sea” turning into a crude hunger. The mention of the stoker offers both comic relief and class commentary — even the lowest worker seeks a moment of human heat.
Prostitutes’ Chorus
They lean into their “brand”: variety, cheap rates, and a bitter pride in what little control they wield. The line
“leaders of the land”cuts deep — it’s not just the poor who exploit them. Even the rich indulge, revealing the hypocrisy that crosses class lines.
Old Women Haggling
No pity. No kindness. Just negotiation. They offer centimes for something irreplaceable, cutting its worth down with a sneer. Their lines represent a society where poverty eats itself to stay alive.
Pimp’s Taunt and Fantine’s Turn
The pimp’s role is humiliation. He singles Fantine out. The crowd follows, laughing, taunting. She resists. Then she yields. Her body is no longer hers. Her trauma, cloaked in routine, begins here.
Fantine’s Solo Exit
Her final lines shift the tone entirely. The ensemble fades. We hear only her. The honesty lands like a blow: she hates them, she hates herself, but she has no choice. It's the death before the death — the spiritual collapse before the physical one.
Fantine’s sacrifice — hair, teeth, locket, dignity — is supposedly for Cosette. But the tragedy cuts deeper: Cosette never sees the fruit of her mother’s suffering. The Thénardiers pocket the money, and Fantine dies in ignorance. Her love is vast. Her fate, unrelenting. Her end, quietly one of the most brutal in musical theatre.
Similar Songs
- “Cell Block Tango” from Chicago
In both numbers, a chorus of women uses dark humor to confront desperation and marginalization. “Cell Block Tango” features incarcerated women swapping tales of betrayal over snapped-percussion beats, much like “Lovely Ladies” has prostitutes trading barbs over upbeat riffs. Each chorus merges storytelling with danceable rhythms, inviting the audience to laugh even as they witness suffering. The ensemble call-and-response heightens the sense of communal survival in a world stacked against them. - “Money, Money” from Cabaret
This infamous number revels in the power of cash to corrupt and control, much like the docks girls’ fixation on francs. In “Money, Money,” Sally Bowles fantasizes about wealth and escape while Kit Kat Club performers embody greed and debauchery. The seductive piano line and repetitive hook parallel “Lovely Ladies”’ mix of sultry allure and bitter edge. Both songs expose how poverty drives people into transactional relationships and how society glorifies those willing to commodify themselves. - “Ladies Who Lunch” from Company
Sondheim’s biting anthem skewers upper-class women who find release in frivolous indulgence, contrasting with Fantine’s involuntary descent. Though “Ladies Who Lunch” targets privilege rather than destitution, both songs use theatrical irony and sharp lyrics to critique societal roles imposed on women. The cynical tone — mocking “ladies” who spend to feel alive — mirrors the dockside girls’ forced performance of desire. Each piece layers humor over serious commentary on gender and agency. Together they reveal how women navigate worlds that value them primarily for consumption — be it lavish goods or carnal services.
Questions and Answers
- What does the sailor’s “anchor” reference imply?
- It’s a double entendre: literally docking a ship, figuratively suggesting sexual conquest.
- Why is Fantine selling her locket?
- Her locket holds a lock of Cosette’s hair — sentimental value — yet poverty forces her to trade it for mere centimes.
- What is a bagatelle?
- A thing of little importance or value; here it belittles Fantine’s most cherished keepsake.
- How do the prostitutes use humor?
- Innuendo and puns mask their fear and pain, turning exploitation into a grotesque performance.
- Why does Fantine’s final solo feel tragic?
- She admits the hate she hides even as she earns “easy money,” foreshadowing her physical and emotional demise.
Awards and Chart Positions
- 1985 Olivier Award for Best New Musical
- 1985 Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in a Musical
- 1987 Tony Award for Best Musical
- 1987 Tony Award for Best Original Score
- 1987 Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical
Music video
Les Miserables Lyrics: Song List
- Act 1
- Prologue: Work Song
- Prologue: Valijean Arrested / Valijean Forgiven
- Prologue: What Have I Done?
- At The End Of The Day
- I Dreamed A Dream
- Lovely Ladies
- Who Am I?
- Fantine's Death: Come To Me
- Confrontation
- Castle On A Cloud
- Master Of The House
- Thenardier Waltz
- Look Down
- Stars
- Red & Black
- Do You Hear The People Sing?
- Act 2
- In My Life
- A Heart Full of Love
- Plumet Attack
- One Day More!
- Building The Barricade
- On My Own
- At The Barricade
- Javert At The Barricade
- A Little Fall Of Rain
- Drink With Me
- Bring Him Home
- Dog Eats Dog
- Javert's Suicide
- Turning
- Empty Chairs At Empty Tables
- Wedding Chorale / Beggars at the Feast
- Finale
- Songs from The Complete Symphonic Recording
- Fantine’s Arrest
- The Runaway Cart
- The Robbery / Javert’s Intervention
- Eponine’s Errand
- Little People
- Night of Anguish
- First Attack
- Dawn of Anguish
- The Second Attack (Death of Gavroche)
- The Final Battle
- Every Day
- Javert’s Suicide