The Flames of Discontent: Listen

• MP3 download whole song, hi-fi

ES Nelson was one of the Industrial Workers of the World's noble musician/organizers. He wrote songs, poems and articles about the experiences he had organizing for the IWW, the nation's first truly equitable labor organization. Workingfolk Unite was written to the tune of Little Redwing, a traditional folk song, but its lyrics are anything but quaint of folksy. No surprise, the IWW was --and is--profoundly radical. Nelson wrote this song in 1912, during some of our nation's bloodiest battles for worker rights. Nearly 30 years later, the prototypical protest singer Woody Guthrie borrowed the tune and the rebellious spirit of Workingfolk Unite and composed one of his best-known labor anthems, Union Maid. Live, the Flames often play the two as an uptempo medley.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
This recording comes from our first CD, which was a commemoration of the IWW's 2005 centenary. The album was recorded in Rhode Island with a wonderful studio group of local musicians who helped us bring these powerful classics of protest into a new realm. The group coordinator was the brilliant guitarist on that CD, Clifford Murphy, a professor at Brown University.