The song begins with Governor John Slaton speaking at the parade, and transitions to Leo's inner thoughts. Leo expresses how out of place he feels in Atlanta and his longing to return to the North where he is more comfortable.

Not only does this song open up on the inner machinations of the South (from a Northerners point of view) but also the tensions between North and South and the very large regional divisions in the US. Slaton's continued comments on the unot of Georgia further add to the divisions.

This song introduces us to the thirteen-year-old Mary Phagan and Frankie Epps as they ride a trolley car and flirt. Phagan says that she is heading to the factory to pick up her pay.

Epps will later testify in the Frank case.

Leo works at the National Pencil Company while his wife, Lucille Selig, reflects on their relationship.

Not only do we get a small peek at Leo's exact job in the factory, but Parade starts to reveal Lucille's inner feelings. She feels unappreciated by Frank and starts to doubt that they are a good match.

With so little knowledge on Selig's feelings, this insight adds to the pathos of the show.

As the Leo Frank case begins, the Pencil Factory's janitor Newt Lee is questioned, overlapping with the police informing Frank of the murder.

Lee was the first suspect in the case and his comments on Frank not answering the phone led to the first arrest of Frank.

On the other side of town, we are introduced to Britt Craig, a 19-year-old reporter for the Atlanta Constitution.

Craig laments how there is no important news in Marietta, and then stumbles upon the case, using it as his avenue to a career-changing story.

This song is just the start of a look at the problems with the media in 1913.

As Parade starts to take a sadder turn, mourners arrive for Phagan's funeral.

Craig reports on the funeral as the mourners sing a psalm. Frankie Epps reminisces on Phagan and his anger starts to become apparent. Many of the mourners join in and Uhry provides an emotional side of the story that the plain evidence doesn't give us.

As Epps grows angrier, the song foreshadows the dark ending and explains how divisive Phagan's death was.

We go back to Britt Craig as he takes on the story in full and begins interviewing people about the Frank case.

He takes the opportunity to completely vilify Frank through the media in order to promote his own reputation and that of his paper. He specifically focuses on making Frank look like a pedophile.

Prosecuting attorney Hugh Dorsey talks to National Pencil Factory worker Jim Conley and the song heavily implies that Conley said whatever Dorsey wanted to avoid being turned in for breaking parole.

Selig, exhausted from being hounded by the press, begins to explain that all of the media rumors do not reflect Frank's true nature.

Fiddlin' John Carson stands on the steps of the courthouse and riles up the crowds, along with news publisher Tom Watson.

They work the crowd into a frenzy as Carson explains that the case has damaged Atlanta's reputation, a perspective heavily emphasized during the time.

Prosecutor Hugh Dorsey begins his case against Frank by explaining Phagan's background.

Dorsey hints on the problems with underage labor in the song as well, a rampant problem that existed across all lower classes: "But now their city is a fact'ry and their children are it's slaves."

He also alludes to the divisiveness of Northerners migrating to the South: "People of Atlanta swing their city gate's wide and look at what you've wrought."

Dorsey interrogates Frankie Epps, who reveals that Phagan was frightened at the way that Frank looked at her.

Dorsey interviews factory worker Iola Stover, who also reveals that she was uncomfortable with how Frank looked at her. The factory girls victimize Frank as a pervert.

We see this perversion through their painting of Leo as a predator trying to get the girls to come to his office privately.

Stories of Frank's perversion ran rampant in the media but none were ever verified in any way.

As Dorsey interviews Mary Phagan's mother, she reveals how broken up she is over the murder and the darker sides of Atlanta that led to it.

She specifically laments the economic conditions that led to Mary having to work in the factory at all: "My child will forgive me for raisin' her poor,And for takin' her out of the school."