Or, Songs for Lucy Parsons

The May Day Orchestra   Vinyl   2009

“The ‘Folk Opera’ concerning the labor question” according to its liner notes, this is the debut release from The May Day Orchestra, a group started by Tim Rakel in 2008 to write historically-rooted albums with various musical accompaniment. Words for the songs were borrowed in part from the speeches and writings of Chicago’s anarchists of the 1880s such as Lucy Parsons, her husband Albert Parsons, Michael Schwab, Louis Lingg and other martyrs to the cause. Lyrics by Tim Rakel. Music by Rakel, Hamon, Seyle and Pace; the latter two are members of The Rats and People Motion Picture Orchestra.

1.   Cause for Alarm   8:35

2.   Center of the Storm   1:51

3.   The Strike /  Haymarket 2:03

4.   The Trial   6:37

5.   Sentence (this land is not free)   2:24

6.   Death Letter   5:33

7.   Ragged Flag Blues   2:28

8.   The Red Flag (another last song for Lucy Parsons) 6:09

May Day Orchestra

$12