Song- Master of the House (Advanced)

I love musicals! And I would to share some of my favourite musicals with you, they are usually funny. Some of the English is quite colloquial (informal), and can be out-dated, therefore hard to understand. This clip is from the famous musical "Les Miserable"(The poor ones) adopted from Victor Hugo's book on the period of the French Revolution. The song here is about the "master of the house" who is not very genuine to his customers.


THENARDIER
Welcome, M'sieur (short for Monsieur; Sir)
Sit yourself down
And meet the best
Innkeeper in town
As for the rest,
All of 'em (them) crooks
(A person who earns by dishonest methods)
Rooking(cheat money from) their guests
And cooking the books (Idiom: to falsify
financial records, here in order to steal money).
Seldom(rarely) do you see
Honest men like me
A gent (gentlemen) of good intent
Who's content to be

Master of the house
Doling out (giving out) the charm
Ready with a handshake
And an open palm
Tells a saucy(rude but funny) tale
Makes a little stir(creates excitement)
Customers appreciate a bon-viveur
(French:good living, especially good food)
Glad to do a friend a favour
Doesn't cost me to be nice
But nothing gets you nothing
Everything has got a little price!

Master of the house
Keeper of the zoo
Ready to relieve(help) 'em
Of a sou(money) or two
Watering the wine
Making up(reducing) the weight
Pickin' up their knick-knacks
(a small decorative object)
When they can't see straight(clear)
Everybody loves a landlord
Everybody's bosom(close) friend
I do whatever pleases
Jesus! Won't I bleed(take lots of money from)
'em in the end!

THENARDIER & CHORUS
Master of the house
Quick to catch yer(your) eye
Never wants a passerby
To pass him by
Servant to the poor
Butler(head servant) to the great
Comforter, philosopher,
And lifelong mate!
Everybody's boon(close) companion
Everybody's chaperone
(someone who takes care of people)

Additional Information
I like this song because it is really humorous! If you want all of the lyrics, click here: you will have to pull down the page a bit.

Robbie Elden