Section 98 – Open Source Entry #3 – Tim Buck, The Musical!
Tim Buck (on the left) at Maple Leaf Gardens
by Aislinn Rose
More than 5000 people greeted him upon arrival at Union Station. Men shouted his name, women swooned, and some even reached out to touch the hem of his coat as he walked past. Later he greeted a capacity audience at Maple Leaf Gardens (after 3000 others were turned away at the gate). Who are we talking about? Why, Tim Buck of course… Canada’s most celebrated Communist! (And avowed Stalinist.)
This past summer, Praxis Theatre presented the first phase of its current project (Section 98) at the Toronto Fringe Festival with a work-in-progress called Tim Buck 2. So I now present to you a little ditty we affectionately called “Tim Buck, The Musical”. Unfortunately it hasn’t made the cut for this 2nd phase of development in the lead up to HATCH as the work has veered away from the story of Tim Buck, but it was certainly useful to us in imparting a lot of important information about our subject in a relatively short period of time. Without further ado…
Tim Buck, The Musical!
Oh, the year was 1932,
EIGHT MEN WERE GAOLED IN KINGSTON PEN!
Among them was a man named Buck,
A commie leader short on luck
Chorus:
God damn the law!
I was told, we’d a right to a trial and ideas to hold
We used no force- committed no crime,
Section 98 had us all confined
Locked in the PEN and doing time.
Tim Buck was a leader in his day,
EIGHT MEN WERE GAOLED IN KINGSTON PEN!
He organized the poor, and the workers relief,
In a time of Depression, hunger and grief.
Chorus
The government wasn’t so keen on Buck,
EIGHT MEN WERE GAOLED IN KINGSTON PEN!
They fixed the law, terms rearranged
So we couldn’t belong to a group for change
Chorus
Volume 1 of The Progressive Arts Club’s Journal, Masses
Oh, Democracy is a funny thing,
EIGHT MEN WERE GAOLED IN KINGSTON PEN!
Dissent was viewed as mighty grim
So off to the slammer for little Red Tim
Chorus
But the Government still wasn’t satisfied,
EIGHT MEN WERE GAOLED IN KINGSTON PEN!
So a riot was staged by the prison chief
To frame Tim Buck for his beliefs
Chorus
The guards were pawns in this nasty game,
EIGHT MEN WERE GAOLED IN KINGSTON PEN!
They fired eight shots into Tim Buck’s cell,
But they missed each time, ‘cause they couldn’t shoot well.
Chorus
Back in the city the people cried out
EIGHT MEN WERE GAOLED IN KINGSTON PEN!
The Progressive Arts Club was the workers’ stage
Wrote a play to save BUCK, from his prison cage
Chorus
Need a hint on the tune?
On a final note, Praxis Theatre is taking part in the launch of the HATCH Season at Harbourfront Centre tonight. Click here for the Facebook event page, and here for further information on the Harbourfront website. We hope to see you there, where we’ll be demonstrating our Open Source Theatre Project, and answering questions! (There is also a cash bar and a whole bunch of Harbourfront visual art stuff.
I reread this this morning, the day after the anti-prorogation protests where the media estimated that anywhere from 2000-8000 citizens gathered in Dundas Square and I realized that means somewhere between two to nine times as many people gathered to welcome Tim Buck back to Toronto.
Mike, I’d be very interested to know what role the pessimism of the media played in the turnout on Saturday. Don’t get me wrong, I was pleased to see so many people there, but that’s probably partly because the media was leading us to believe it would be a poor showing. (Perhaps it’s similar role that political polling plays in poor voter turnout?)
So to completely change the tone of this conversation…
Aislinn, I really like this post because I think it is a fantastic open-source look at what this song was intended to do in the original show, which was to give our audience a lot of background information, and at the resources we used to go about writing it. I distinctly remember sitting around a table together hashing out whether a particular verse or phrase was necessary, whether it told enough of the story, etc. I’m fairly certain it was also my first rehearsal as part of the team.
I will miss you, Tim Buck, the Musical!
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