Mayday
lyrics and vocals by Emcee Lynx
instrumental by Kdubbs
Living In the Shadow
copyright emcee lynx 2005

Labor day kickin it, at the barbecue
Chillin with my folks like everyday people do
But moving through my mind I got a different picture
So I grab the mic, just to spit some scripture
My mind get’s carried away to Chicago
the turn of the century and all of the bravado
built up by the bosses was starting to slip
ordinary folks who were sick of takin shit
were startin to organize, building the unions
anarchists on the front lines, building the movement
for the 8 hour day, dignity and respect
so the bosses got pissed, I mean what would you expect?
they sent the police to start murderin folks
There was a rally in haymarket, ‘n in the chaos and smoke
Somebody threw a bomb, which killed 6 cops
Either an act of desperation or a terrorist plot…

It’s the long dark night, the sleep of reason
that would take an honest man and try him for reason
The reason that folks are so scared to speak
And why before we’ve even started we’ve admitted defeat
It’s the fear and the rage at livin in a cage
The bullshit we read on the front page
And I can feel it from my bones to my sinews
But the everyday world still continues…

So the pigs went nuts and starting roundin up radicals
Claimed the bomb was thrown by anarchists fanatical
the perfect excuse to start crackin some heads
They finally charged 8 men, and wanted all of ‘em dead
Now not a single shred of evidence was ever produced
But four were executed by the hangmans noose
Louis Ling – who was the most militant
Committed suicide so the pigs couldn’t kill him
The other 3 were released years later
When the new governor finally looked at the data
John Peter Altgeld, wrote up the pardons
indicted the system, which he was a part of
the capital crooks,l they never forgave him,
so they used the newspapers to make people hate him
It ended his career, but he still did the right thing
And the workers kept working, and kept organizing

It’s the long dark night, the sleep of reason
that would take an honest man and try him for reason
The reason that folks are so scared to speak
And why before we’ve even started we’ve admitted defeat
It’s the fear and the rage at livin in a cage
The bullshit we read on the front page
And I can feel it from my bones to my sinews
But the everyday world still continues…

Over a century later, the struggles still goin on
We’re still getting fucked and the pigs are still goin strong
And nowadays they’ve got this new patriot act
Designed to describe how all patriots should act
But looking at the facts, you get a very different picture
It’s all about control, so don’t let the pigs get ya
Indefinite detentions, no right to a trial
Violations of our privacy, the total denial
Of all of the freedoms bush claims he’s protectin’
John Kerry helped write it, so on closer inspection
It’s should pretty obvious just who owns the system
And every sane person has a duty to resist them
of course anarchists are still up in the struggle
Our dreams still intact, as we’re sortin through the rubble
Of the way things coulda been, shoulda been, and might be
so we’ll never give up, or stop organizing.

It’s the long dark night, the sleep of reason
that would take an honest man and try him for reason
The reason that folks are so scared to speak
And why before we’ve even started we’ve admitted defeat
It’s the fear and the rage at livin in a cage
The bullshit we read on the front page
And I can feel it from my bones to my sinews
But the struggle for freedom continues…

"There will come a time when our silence will be more powerful than the voices you strangle today!" – August Spies, one of the Haymarket Martyrs.