I knew there must be a way of getting that Ç - other than just lifting it and pasting it, the way I did just now.

Fascinating. The links seems to suggest that it started as a revolutonary street song, then got used in an opera, with the title "Downfall of Paris" referring to the Trojan, and then moved out from there.

But then could it be that it started with the theatre song and moved out into the streets, as a sort of musical pun on the idea of Paris falling. (I know the production is given as 90 and the song in the sytreets as 89, but the man might have written it earlier and tried it out in public.)