See, Hadestown has an interesting take on the Eurydice legend–rather than her being bitten by a snake and ripped from this world unfairly, she chooses to go to Hadestown, because she’s starving to death and workers are fed in Hadestown. “Hey, Little Songbird” Hades seducing Eurydice–well, not literally (I think?), but basically him trying to convince her to come to Hadestown. This is also our first introduction to Persephone, who sings grumpily, “Winter’s nigh, summer’s o’er, I hear that high lonesome sound, of my husband coming down, to bring me home, to Hadestown!” In the off-Broadway cast version, we hear Persephone groan at the beginning of the song and complain, “That was NOT been six months!” and her snap at Hades at the end, “You’re early.”, with him kind of sexily saying back, “I missed ya.” (Hades’ voice is like this deep gravelly bass on both the concept album and the off-Broadway EP and is just perfect.) “ Everybody dresses in clothes so fine, Everybody’s pockets are weighted down, Everybody sipping ambrosia wine, In a goldmine in Hadestown!” Because, well, it’s the postapocalyptic Depression and the idea of having a job, even in Hell, is appealing. “Way Down Hadestown” Now Hermes takes a spin talking about Hadestown, with Eurydice joining in about all the good things she’s heard about Hadestown. “ King of diamonds, king of spades! Hades was king of the kingdom of dirt, Miners of mines, diggers of graves, they bowed down to Hades who gave them work and they bowed down to Hades who made them sweat…” He also talks about Hades brainwashing his workers. “Epic (Part 1)” Orpheus explaining who Hades is and what kind of town Hadestown is. And I mentioned Bon Iver provides the voice for Orpheus? How fitting is that, to have Bon Iver’s haunting harmonies be Orpheus’ voice? This song sets the whole tone of the album, with great throwbacks to classic folk music. Eurydice pointing out that they are both broke as hell–” Lover, tell me if you can, who’s gonna buy the wedding bands, times being what they are?” With Orpheus being slick as hell, “ Lover, when I sing my song, all the rivers sing along, and they’re gonna break their banks for me, to lay their gold around my feet…” OH THAT PUN AND WORDPLAY I MEAN COME ON. “Wedding Song” A love duet between Orpheus and Eurydice. The EP of the cast album is out, but not the full album, and I am dying to hear the rest of it…Īnd now I’m going to talk about all the songs in excruciating detail which hopefully will convince you to purchase this album, because it really is the greatest and I have to express this somewhere, because my roommate is getting sick of me talking about it. In 2016, it has been adapted as an off-Broadway show and I want to see it sooo badly, and from what I’ve seen, is flipping fantastic. Orpheus is a traveling musician with a guitar strapped to his back, Persephone runs a speakeasy in Hadestown, Hades is a hardened capitalist brainwashing his minions to build a wall… It is a “postapocalyptic 30′s depression hillfolk” kind of setting. Oh, and Ben Knox Miller as Hermes and the Haden Triplets as the Fates. Anais Mitchell had the idea for a folk rock opera stage show–but it started out as a concept album, put out in 2010, with her doing the vocals of Eurydice, Bon Iver doing the vocals of Orpheus, Greg Brown as Hades, and Ani DiFranco as Persephone. You all know how Hamilton started out as a mixtape idea by Lin Manuel? Similar thing. Hadestown started out as a folk rock opera written by Anais Mitchell. I found this quite randomly and became immediately outraged that a folk rock opera on Orpheus and Eurydice existed and I had no flipping idea. I’ve been pretty obsessed with this concept album.
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