The March

The March
If one and all who hear my call could lend their ears to me
Then you could hear the crooked tale of how this fire has come to be
I must admit that the manipulator’s fate was resting at my feet
But all of his intimidation brought me to my knees when he said

“Keep this secret safe, or watch your flock devoured by the flame
Left in my wake; I’ll burn through you.”

There is a vision you have come to know and love
(The deft defender with a heart of gold)
An imitation of a man he left to die face down in the mud
(Such venom coursing through his veins)
And now the mimic is a cynic who laughs while the house of God is reduced to ash
Well, I won’t let corruption carry on

Come out from the dark and claim your light
Before you all but fall apart
We can keep this wolf far from our flock
So raise your voices, torches, rocks
And follow me into the night
We’ll bring this evil to the light

You tried to take control
But you couldn’t with a stolen soul
So we’re coming after you tonight
Coming after you tonight
No word he could uphold
‘Cause the only truth he ever told
Was that there’s far too many ways to die
Far too many ways to die

Lost in his memories, the end in sight

Come out from the dark and claim your light
Before you all but fall apart
We can keep this wolf far from our flock
So raise your voices, torches, rocks
And follow me into the night
We’ll bring this evil to the light

🌲🌲🌲

What happens?
TP&P, furious at the burning of the Church and the Dime, riles the cityfolk into a bloodthirsty mob against Hunter by pointing to him as the wicked arsonist and revealing his stolen identity. TP&P and the mob march to Hunter’s place. TP&P enters privately to negotiate Hunter back down, and offers that he escape consequence provided he continues being TP&P’s ally.

What’s in a name?
‘The March’ — an on-the-tin name, as the mob marches on Hunter.

Whose viewpoint?
TP&P.

🌲🌲🌲

>0:00 – 0:06 BWEEEEEEEEEEEEE
With the crowd gathered outside the burning remains of the Church, TP&P comes upon the scene — and he is shocked, horrified. The plan didn’t just not work, it’s obviously made Hunter act out…!

>0:06 – 0:12 Smiling Swine
Realising what has happened, TP&P grows furious.

>0:13 – 0:25 Smiling Swine Cont.
TP&P steadies himself from the initial shock and, though still furious, channels that anger into action. He resolves to take control back of the situation and make his strike against Hunter.

>If one and all who hear my call could lend their ears to me / Then you could hear the crooked tale of how this fire has come to be
TP&P calls the cityfolk angrily gathered around the Church to attention, promising to explain what has happened. People are naturally eager to know, and to know who to blame for the burning of their Church, and since the Priest is a trustworthy figure, they turn to him, gather around, and listen. He is thinking to redirect the people’s anger and use this crowd as a weapon against Hunter, taking the battle to him.

As far as TP&P’s speeches go, this one is pretty ad-hoc. He is still extremely nettled while giving it and is not quite in his element yet.

Also since this song goes right into the action so quickly I’ll pause here to comment on it a bit more. This is the climax of Act V, and with this being the big ‘battle’ between Hunter and TP&P that the story has been building up to all along, Casey goes absolutely nuts on the reprises on this song. I’ll point out the ones that are super overt or that jump out at me, but already in this passage there’s like… six reprises (Regress, Smiling Swine, Cauda, Battesimo, Oracles/Bitter Suite II) and that’s not even a tenth of the iceberg. I don’t think I can identify all of this song’s reprises or even point out half the ones I can identify to explain them very well so there’s going to be a lot missing here, forgive me, bear with me. I also wonder if literally every line of this song has a reprise, or multiple, because I’d believe it.

>I must admit that the manipulator’s fate was resting at my feet
TP&P identifies Hunter as the arsonist who has burned down the Church. Now, how could TP&P know this? He claims to know it was Hunter because he has known all along that Hunter is secretly evil. But if TP&P has known this all along, why didn’t he tell someone or do something about it? Well, he has persistently wanted to action his own influence within the City to do something about him, and raise the alarm about him, but…

>But all of his intimidation brought me to my knees when he said
…Hunter has known TP&P might resist his wicked influence, that is, he knows that TP&P knows, and specifically pulled him aside to threaten him. TP&P was not only scared for his life, but also…

(I’ve seen you fabricate, manipulate…)
(Leading me to throw up my hands…)
(And here’s exactly what she said…)

>“Keep this secret safe, or watch your flock devoured by the flame / Left in my wake; I’ll burn through you.”
…that of the Congregation. Hunter threatened that he would burn down the Church, potentially with people inside it, and destroy TP&P’s locus of influence within the City, if he dared move against Hunter or revealed his identity. Understandably fearful and worried for the safety of the congregation, TP&P found himself browbeaten into doing nothing. The implication seems to be that Hunter confided the secret of his real identity in the confessional.

This is of course an inversion of the real dynamic between Hunter and TP&P, and 100% lies. Classic manoeuvre; when you’re at risk of looking like a bad guy, just reposition your victim as the aggressor and yourself as the victim.

Love the intonation TP&P takes while depicting Hunter here, that really gentle one that’s like… man, where does Hunter usually use that? This is the most wild intonation take I’m ever going to make because it’s the same singer for both characters, so it doesn’t need to be any more complicated than ‘just sing as the other guy’, but it really does sound like TP&P doing his slightly-off take on what Hunter’s intonation is like. Probably because if Hunter ever did threaten to burn somebody, he’d be angry, not gentle lol.

‘Devoured by the flame left in my wake’ -> Presents a really strong image of Hunter as this merciless guy TP&P is trying to portray him as, but also might betray some subtle flame/fire stuff; TP&P zeroes in on the flame as the more threatening half of this equation, even though it’s not the component that actually destroys things. Wonder if he has some consciousness in the back of his mind about Ms Terri.

(”Please be soft and sweet to me…”)
(I leave a wake from all the things that I have done…)

>1:04 – 1:10 Bitter Suite II
TP&P has successfully found his groove and hooked the crowd. They are convinced by his words and are looking eagerly to him for more answers. TP&P is relieved, seeing he has secured his control over this mob, and shifts away from outright fear and anger more into deviously conspiring on how to best use them, not fearing them as a problem anymore, and rather as an asset against Hunter.

>There is a vision you have come to know and love / (The deft defender with a heart of gold) / An imitation of a man he left to die face down in the mud / (Such venom coursing through his veins)
TP&P escalates the pressure against Hunter by revealing to the mob that he committed identity theft. The person who has worked so hard all this time to ‘clean up the city’, and who has always worn such a kind and helpful public face, is not the person he claims to be at all. That person died ingloriously on the battlefield in the Somme. The guy that’s been running the show since then? Total demon, immoral, a manipulator, who doesn’t care about the memory of the person he stole.

Gives us some insight into the type of person Hunter was as the Son/Mayor — outrageously popular, outrageously positive, quick to help the weak or needy, quick to rebuff threats towards the vulnerable, very devoted to the welfare of the City and wellbeing of its citizens, the last person you would ever expect to have coldbloodedly left someone to ‘die in the mud’.

(’But the poison has passed from my lips to my hands…’)
(Poison Woman vibes on the echoes? ‘They never had a chance…’)

>And now the mimic is a cynic who laughs while the house of God is reduced to ash
TP&P impresses that Hunter is so evil that he finds the burning of the Church funny. He is in no way the Christian he claims to be, rather finding the blasphemy entertaining and the faith of believers stupid. Hunter is implied to have not realised the people know he has committed arson, and is cackling to himself about how he’ll get away with it.

>Well, I won’t let corruption carry on
TP&P announces that enough is enough — Hunter can’t be allowed to get away with his evils any longer. He will spearhead a charge to finally see this villain destroyed.

>Come out from the dark and claim your light / Before you all but fall apart
TP&P urges that the Congregation step forward to take action against Hunter, and so remove this source of great evil in their community, since leaving him unchecked will lead to him inevitably victimising more people and manipulating the City back under his thumb, ultimately to the people’s ruin.

(And under your guidance; the hands of a tyrant / these people will just tear themselves apart…)

>We can keep this wolf far from our flock
The Congregation are receptive to TP&P’s words, becoming emboldened and zealous. They can defend their community against Hunter.

>So raise your voices, torches, rocks / And follow me into the night
TP&P riles the Congregation up into a full-fledged mob, armed with torches and even rocks, quite ready to kill Hunter. He then ushers them along behind him, to guide them through the dark and unknown reaches to Hunter’s place, which lies thick in the evil (his house?).

Also indicates that it’s literally nighttime when this is all occurring.

(’I’ve been running through the night again…’)

>We’ll bring this evil to the light
The mob are sure in their goal: in the name of justice and good, they will unveil Hunter’s treachery and hold him accountable for his crimes.

>You tried to take control / But you couldn’t with a stolen soul / So we’re coming after you tonight / Coming after you tonight
Woah woah woah hello hi it’s The Old Haunt! Probably the Acts’ most overt reprise, and one of the coolest in how aggressively it shows up, but unsure exactly of what its prominence represents in the context of The March. Maybe like a marching theme as the mob gets on the move, the kind of stuff you’d yell while you’re streaming through the streets with a ton of people and want bystanders to know what you’re marching for? Simultaneously sounds like TP&P making his comment on Hunter’s move against him, no longer directly speaking to the mob, but the kind of thing he would tell Hunter if he were here to see this.

Lots going on here gosh.

‘You tried to take control / But you couldn’t with a stolen soul’ -> The sentiment for the mob is like, ‘you weren’t able to secure your dominion over the City because your evil deeds caught up with you in the end; you were not legitimate’, when for TP&P it’s more like, ‘you were not capable of doing what you wanted to do with your life, because you ran from yourself and gave yourself this massive weakness/foundation of falsehoods’, though recognising that Hunter has abandoned that ‘stolen soul’ hence why he has burned the Church/Dime, and coming after him to punish him.

>No word he could uphold / ‘Cause the only truth he ever told / Was that there’s far too many ways to die / Far too many ways to die
Interesting and hard to strip down too.

On the face level it’s just calling Hunter a liar who couldn’t uphold his campaign promises because he was secretly evil.

On TP&P’s level it’s more like, doing away with his Son persona means doing away with the things he claimed he would/could achieve with this persona. He has betrayed that desire of his to protect the City. Further, Hunter ultimately doesn’t win against evil, and cannot achieve the good things he’s pledged, because he will once again betray himself under the pressure of the death threat presented by the mob. TP&P is not quite saying he will literally kill Hunter, but he wants to put Hunter between the options of ‘bend to me’ or ‘face this bloodthirsty mob on your own’, anticipating that Hunter will bend. This would kill Hunter in the metaphorical sense. However, if Hunter faces the mob, he will probably die in the literal sense — TP&P does not seem to think this is worth it for Hunter, and would probably contrast himself against the mob to imply that he is less of a hypocrite, and more of an ally to Hunter, than them. Basically cornering Hunter to try and shake his view of people in general.

>Lost in his memories, the end in sight
‘Struck by the squeaky wheel, a smiling swine’. TP&P saying that Hunter has grown romantic towards people and the world because he is viewing things through his childhood lens of Ms Terri; projecting onto them protective sentiments he had towards Ms Terri. He was acting naive. Consequently, he is not seeing clearly how quickly and viciously people will turn against him and condemn him, which is his downfall.

>Chorus Repetition
Man, love this. So much energy. TP&P urges the mob further on.

>3:16 – 3:20 Flute
TP&P and the mob arrive at Hunter’s house. Hunter is surprised.

>3:20 – 4:06 The Most Cursed Of Hands
With the mob assembled outside, TP&P urges them momentarily calm as he goes inside to privately speak with Hunter. The mob must think TP&P is trying to get Hunter to submit and explain himself peacefully, but what he is actually doing is trying to bring Hunter back onto his side. That’s why TMCOH appears here — TP&P is offering to save Hunter from the mob, and let him escape consequences for the arson, as long as Hunter subordinates himself to TP&P and works alongside TP&P again.

Probably wrong, but I wonder if TP&P is thinking at all about how badly Mr. Usher abused him and if it’d occur that keeping Hunter around might be a good contingency to get him to shove off.

The Fire (Remains) | Act V | Blood