It’s that time of year again: time for the annual (?) contest for readers whose aesthetic reach extends their technical grasp. Last year’s contest – best quip about the Bomb – was a resounding success. This time around, let’s combine wonkdom with music lyrics. Two competitions: the best lyric about the bomb, and the best stanza altered to become about the Bomb. Can you dip into your music collections to rise to this challenge? We shall see.
As before, the grand prize in each category will be an autographed copy with an inscription of your choice of a soon-to-be-remaindered book by yours truly. I have recruited my ACW co-conspirators, Jeffrey Lewis and Josh Pollack to help me with the judging. So as not to get too wonkbound on our panel of judges, I’ve wrangled the services of an external reviewer who has graciously waived his usual consulting fee. He is an avid concert-goer who knows his way around the dance floor, who introduced me to the Drive-By Truckers, My Morning Jacket, and the Black Keys, and who is helping our 15 month-old grand-daughter to polish her first dance moves. I speak of none other than The Total Package, Josh Krepon.
Oh, yes, the contest. Here’s how to play. First category: nuke-related lyric. Pick your favorite stanza from a song about the Bomb. For example, “Ape Man,” by the Kinks, a great band:
I’m a King Kong man, I’m a voo-doo man, I’m an ape man
I don’t feel safe in this world no more
I don’t want to die in a nuclear war
I want to sail away to a distant shore
And make like an ape man
ACW readers: I know you can top this. But not with “This Ain’t A Scene, It’s An Arms Race” by Fall Out Boy which, it so happens, ain’t about the Bomb. A pity. The best stanza chosen by our panel of judges wins.
Second category: best altered lyric. Take the Kinks again. Celluloid Heroes is one of my all-time favorites. How might it be altered to become about the Bomb? Here’s the original lyric:
Everybody’s a dreamer and everybody’s a star,
And everybody’s in movies, it doesn’t matter who you are.
There are stars in every city,
In every house and on every street,
And if you walk down Hollywood Boulevard,
Their names are written in concrete.
Here’s my alteration:
Everybody’s a pundit, and everybody’s a star,
And everybody wants air time, it doesn’t matter who you are.
There are nukes in every bunker,
In every silo, near and far,
Write a book on Sound Bite Boulevard, and hitch
A ride in Jon Stewart’s town car.
I know, pretty lame. I’m counting on you, Dear Readers, to do better. Unwrap your creativity before you unwrap your presents. Please submit the original stanza as well as your adaptation. We’ll try this for two weeks (unless this contest bombs). Entries will be posted upon arrival.
Awesome. Here if my contribution…
Cease to engage, shell Yeonpyeong Island.
Dispatch envoys with an offer to Yangon.
You think I’m sanctioned, but I get currency
From a wave of proliferation.
Adaptation of:
Cease to resist, giving my goodbye.
Drive my car into the ocean.
You’ll think I’m dead, but I sail away.
On a wave of mutilation.
On a slightly related note I am disappointed by ACW’s commentary on Secretary Clinton’s trip to Myanmar. The Secretary of State goes on a Mission to Burma and there is not one Mission of Burma reference on the site? What gives guys?
Wait, did we discuss Mission of Burma in Tokyo? I think we did. This calls for some YouTube.
I have two entries for the first contest. One is quite literal (and absolutely bone-chilling when Sting sang it to open the Grammys back when we all were young:)
From Russians, by Sting:
How can I save my little boy
From Oppenheimer’s deadly toy?
There is no monopoly on common sense
On either side of the political fence
We share the same biology
Regardless of ideology
Believe me when I say to you
I hope the Russians love their children too
And the other is a little less obvious, but I’m certain its about nukes and its one of the songs that really moved me when I was getting into this business
From Before the Deluge, by Jackson Browne:
Some of them were angry
At the way the earth was abused
By the men who learned how to forge her beauty into power
And they struggled to protect her from them
Only to be confused
By the magnitude of her fury in the final hour
And when the sand was gone and the time arrived
In the naked dawn only a few survived
And in attempts to understand a thing so simple and so huge
Believed that they were meant to live after the deluge
Sweet! I’ll try the altered lyrics category. I’ll take you back to 2003 for the nuclear component and even further back for the original song, which BTW needs no further introductions. It’s the 1964 classic “Mr. Tambourine Man” by the great Bob Dylan. (Sorry for the blasphemy Mr. Dylan!)
Hey Mr. A.Q. Khan! – by VS – 2007
Adaptation of Mr. Tambourine Man)
Hey! Mr. A.Q. Khan just sell a nuke to me
I’m so freakin’ lagging in nuclear technology
Sell me a centrifuge that really knows to spin
For this clandestine program that I’m working on!
Though I’ve adhered to the NPT, Nuclear States still hate me
Why could that be?
I guess they must be allergic to my regime
My patience amazes me, but I made up my mind
Doesn’t pay to be so kind
Having nukes is the only way of deterring
Hey! Mr. A.Q. Khan just sell a nuke to me
I’m so f**kin’ lagging in nuclear technology
Sell me a centrifuge that really knows to spin
For this clandestine program that I’m working on!
Send them on a ship, I’ll be sponsoring the trip
My enemy is asleep
When they see me with the nuke they will be wondering
I’m ready to pay anything, no matter what’s your fee
My security is at stake, the IAEA safeguards I’ll break
I assure you that somehow I will pull off this trick
Hey! Mr. A.Q. Khan just sell a nuke to me
I’m so f**kin’ lagging in nuclear technology
Don’t you remember me, I’m a friend of Kim-Yong-Ill
Don’t you worry I’m trustworthy, I can pay your bill!
Adaptation of:
Mr. Tambourine Man – By Bob Dylan – 1964
Hey! Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me,
I’m not sleepy and there is no place I’m going to.
Hey! Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me,
In the jingle jangle morning I’ll come followin’ you.
Though I know that evenin’s empire has returned into sand,
Vanished from my hand,
Left me blindly here to stand but still not sleeping.
My weariness amazes me, I’m branded on my feet,
I have no one to meet
And the ancient empty street’s too dead for dreaming.
Hey! Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me,
I’m not sleepy and there is no place I’m going to.
Hey! Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me,
In the jingle jangle morning I’ll come followin’ you.
Take me on a trip upon your magic swirlin’ ship,
My senses have been stripped, my hands can’t feel to grip,
My toes too numb to step, wait only for my boot heels
To be wanderin’.
I’m ready to go anywhere, I’m ready for to fade
Into my own parade, cast your dancing spell my way,
I promise to go under it.
Well. Kinda, sorta. Thanks
To the tune of: “Whatever Lola Wants”
Whatever Jong-il wants
Jong-il gets
And little bomb, little Jong-il wants you
Make up your mind to have no regrets
Design yourself, enshrine yourself, go BOOM!
He always gets what he “aims” for
And your heart’n soul is what he came for
For the first category, from “We Will All Go Together When We Go” by Tom Lehrer:
And we will all bake together when we bake.
There’ll be nobody present at the wake.
With complete participation
In that grand incineration,
Nearly three billion hunks of well-done steak.
Formerly Def Leppard’s Pour Some Sugar on Me:
Tryin’ to move a bomb, baby, like Abdul Q. Khan
Livin’ like a baller ’til my cover’s blown
Lookin’ like a scam, but I don’t give a damn
Sell a turnkey program to someone in Iran?
Razzle ‘n’ a dazzle in Uranium’s glow
Better take cover, baby, it’s about to blow
Sometime, anytime, for a small fee
For all your ‘tomic needs, baby, just call me, yeah
—-
Love is like a bomb, baby, c’mon get it on
Livin’ like a lover with a radar phone
Lookin’ like a tramp, like a video vamp
Demolition woman, can I be your man?
Razzle ‘n’ a dazzle ‘n’ a flash a little light
Television lover, baby, go all night
Sometime, anytime, sugar me sweet
Little miss ah innocent sugar me, yeah
P.S. that one line should read “Razzle ‘n’ a dazzle: my Uranium’s aglow”
Thumbs down on the lack of post editing options…
And of course the very next track on the Hysteria album is Armageddon It. Def Leppard are not renowned for their cerebral lyrics of course, but was it a premonition of 8 years of IAEA and Iran dialogue that prompted this chorus?
– Are you getting it?
– Armageddon it.
– Really getting it?
– Yes Armageddon it!
Perhaps not the double entendre they intended. I fear I may have fallen between two stools.
For the first category. “Political Science” from Randy Newman.A real classic
No one likes us-I don’t know why
We may not be perfect, but heaven knows we try
But all around, even our old friends put us down
Let’s drop the big one and see what happens
We give them money-but are they grateful?
No, they’re spiteful and they’re hateful
They don’t respect us-so let’s surprise them
We’ll drop the big one and pulverize them
Asia’s crowded and Europe’s too old
Africa is far too hot
And Canada’s too cold
And South America stole our name
Let’s drop the big one
There’ll be no one left to blame us
We’ll save Australia
Don’t wanna hurt no kangaroo
We’ll build an All American amusement park there
They got surfin’, too
Boom goes London and boom Paris
More room for you and more room for me
And every city the whole world round
Will just be another American town
Oh, how peaceful it will be
We’ll set everybody free
You’ll wear a Japanese kimono babe
And there’ll be Italian shoes for me
They all hate us anyhow
So let’s drop the big one now
Let’s drop the big one now
Nuke-related lyric:
Efficiency and progress is ours once more,
Now that we have the Neutron bomb.
It’s nice and quick and clean and gets things done.
Away with excess enemy,
At no less value to property,
No sense in war but perfect sense at home.
– Dead Kennedys ‘Kill The Poor’
For best French-language entries I would submit Guy Béart’s marvelous description of the problems of nuclear command and control under conditions of runaway escalation in his ‘Le grand chambardement’ (the great shake-up) (see http://www.lyrics85.com/Guy-Beart-Le-Grand-Chambardement-Lyrics/126777/ ) and Boris Vian’s original take on the bomb-in-the-garage and its creative doctrine on the use thereof in ‘La Java des bombes atomiques’ ( http://www.justsomelyrics.com/37880/Boris-Vian-la-java-des-bombes-atomiques).
As befits nuclear-minded France, both of these songs made it to the top of the charts in their own time (respectively the Sixties and the Fifties) and remain popular: whistle the tune and even young people will recognize the song.Even anti-war songs (which is what they are) come wrapped in a nuclear guise in this country.
Merry Xmas, Joyeux Noël to acw.
François Heisbourg
Luke Kelly (RIP) and the Dubliners’ “Sun is Burning”
The sun is burning in the sky,
Strands of clouds go slowly driftin’ by
In the park, the dreamy bees are droning in the flowers among the trees
And the sun burns in the sky.
Now the sun is in the west
Little babies lay down to take their rest
And the couples in the park are holding hands and waiting for the dark
And the sun is sinking low.
Now the sun has come to earth
Shrouded in a mushroom cloud of death.
Death comes in a blinding flash of hellish heat that leaves a smear of ash
And the sun has come to earth.
Now the sun has disappeared
All that’s left is darkness, pain and fear.
Twisted sightless wrecks of men go crawling on their knees and cry in pain
And the sun has disappeared
The Clash would be too obvious and would probably pander to the proprietors, so I’ll start with Ryan Adams, “Nuclear”
For part II I’m using Cake’s “The distance” Original lyrics:
And now my lyrics:
Submited for the Nuke related category – the lyrics from “Armageddon” by Prism:
There was a full moon over Memphis
National Guard outside thousands wait for Elvis
Waitin’ ever since he died for a miracle gonna happen
His eminence to restore
The sound of thunder crackin’
Signals the beginning of the war to end all wars
[Chorus]
Armageddon carry me home
Armageddon carry me home
Jerry and Linda in the whitehouse
President sleepin’ in his shoes red phones ring in the blackout
Ain’t got time to lose you-boats off New England
Enemy submarines from Boston to Miami
On a red alert, you better scramble all the F-15’s
(Elvis, jwerry Brown, Linda Ronstadt and nuclear war in one song — what more could you ask for? Oh and bonus — listen to the song for the opening scramble and intercept r/t at the end…)
Hummm. I have to submit my fav. Don’t know if it was submitted least year…. I humbly sibmit another “Dubliners'” diddy calling notice to the now legendary “Protect and Survive”.
I’m not sure if this is kosher, but I also include the work of one of my fav YouTube character who has his own bent of of the song combined with some rather classic Cold War cinema.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmx0qarkybQ
In the words of Maj Jaded. “Ahh…the perfect mating of Irish folk and nuclear holocaust!”
“Protect and Survive” by “The Dubliners”
—————————————–
Well the government’s made a document
To help prevent embarrassment
And in the event of an accident
Catching us with our trousers down
It’s no use to you when you’re dead
Nor even when alive
And the name of this piece of paper is
Protect and survive
So when the nukes come raining down
It’s great to be alive, well
World War Three can be such fun
If you protect and survive
Protect and survive
Well a nuclear strike can be recognised
It would stand out in a crowd
There’s a flash, then a bang, then a blast of heat
Then a bloody great mushroom cloud
So if you happen to see one at the end of your street
Would you please pick up the telephone
And inform your local police
So when the nukes come raining down
It’s great to be alive, well
World War Three can be such fun
If you protect and survive
Protect and survive
Put sticky tape on your windows
Block your ears and close your eyes
But it won’t make a blind bit of difference
You won’t have to watch yourself fry
If you find yourself in the target zone
And you haven’t got a shelter
Take a spade into the garden
And dig like merry hell, sir
http://www.free-lyrics.org
So when the nukes come raining down
It’s great to be alive, well
World War Three can be such fun
If you protect and survive
Protect and survive
They’ve got strategic ICBM’s
Both theatre and tactical
With independently targeted
Multiple re-entry vehicles
Backfire bombers, Polaris sub’s, cruise missiles
And the boys who hang around the Pentagon
Can’t wait to use these toys
So when the nukes come raining down
It’s great to be alive, well
World War Three can be such fun
If you protect and survive
Protect and survive
When Armageddon gets underway
And the rockets come pouring down
All the bloody politicians who started it
Will scuttle off underground
And when they finally re-emerge
With no life to be found
They can administrate the rubble
And they can order each other around
So when the nukes come raining down
It’s great to be alive, well
World War Three can be such fun
If you protect and survive
Protect and survive
For they give us a four-minute warning
When the rockets are on their way
To give us time to panic and Christians time to pray
So when you hear the siren’s going
Place your head between your thighs
Whilst maintaining this posture
You can make a final gesture
And with a little muscular pressure
You can kiss your arse goodbye
So when the nukes come raining down
It’s great to be alive, well
World War Three can be such fun
If you protect and survive
Protect and survive
Protect and…
Josh Ritter – “The Temptation of Adam”
If this was the Cold War we could keep each other warm
I said on the first occasion that I met Marie
We were crawling through the hatch that was the missile silo door
And I don’t think that she really thought that much of me
I never had to learn to love her like I learned to love the Bomb
She just came along and started to ignore me
But as we waited for the Big One
I started singing her my songs
And I think she started feeling something for me
We passed the time with crosswords that she thought to bring inside
What five letters spell “apocalypse” she asked me
I won her over saying “W.W.I.I.I.”
She smiled and we both knew that she’d misjudged me
Oh Marie it was so easy to fall in love with you
It felt almost like a home of sorts or something
And you would keep the warhead missile silo good as new
And I’d watch you with my thumb above the button
Then one night you found me in my army issue cot
And you told me of your flash of inspiration
You said fusion was the broken heart that’s lonely’s only thought
And all night long you drove me wild with your equations
Oh Marie do you remember all the time we used to take
We’d make our love and then ransack the rations
I think about you leaving now and the avalanche cascades
And my eyes get washed away in chain reactions
Oh Marie if you would stay then we could stick pins in the map
Of all the places where you thought that love would be found
But I would only need one pin to show where my heart’s at
In a top secret location three hundred feet under the ground
We could hold each other close and stay up every night
Looking up into the dark like it’s the night sky
And pretend this giant missile is an old oak tree instead
And carve our name in hearts into the warhead
Oh Marie there’s something tells me things just won’t work out above
That our love would live a half-life on the surface
So at night while you are sleeping
I hold you closer just because
As our time grows short I get a little nervous
I think about the Big One, W.W.I.I.I.
Would we ever really care the world had ended
You could hold me here forever like you’re holding me tonight
I look at that great big red button and I’m tempted
For the first category:
Megadeth
Rust in Peace…Polaris
Tremble you weaklings, cower in fear
I am your ruler, land, sea and air
Immense in my girth, erect I stand tall
I am a nuclear murderer, I am Polaris
Ready to pounce at the touch of a button
My system locked in on military gluttons
I rule on land, air and sea
Pass judgement on humanity
Winds blow from the bowels of hell
Will we give warning, only time will tell
Satan rears his ugly head, to spit into the wind
What a great song. I always got the impression that Mustaine was confused about the Polaris, though (rotten egg, air of death?) – do nuclear weapons smell?
GWAR wins this easily with “Bring Back the Bomb.” This is only a snippet of the gem that is “Bring Back the Bomb.”
Why should the fire be shared with so few?
Let bombs explode, ’cause that’s what they do
Nuke Mecca, New York, the Vatican too
Give me a bomb, I’ll drop it on you
Why stop at only two?
You showed the world just what it can do
What a waste not to destroy
Come play at war, man, and bring your best toy
Didn’t John McCain already win this with his Persian influenced rendition of the Beach Boys’ (or perhaps Bomb Boys)’Barbara Ann’ in ’07? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-zoPgv_nYg
Seconded.
Powerful argument, Nick. But the competition this year is fierce.
MK
Originally I was going to go for “Mother” from Pink Floyd’s “The Wall”, but it seemed so obvious that I thought *thousands* of you would beat me to it. To my surprise I haven’t seen it yet – so here it is…
Mother do you think they’ll drop the bomb?
Mother do you think they’ll like this song?
Mother do you think they’ll try to break my balls?
Mother should I build the wall?
Mother should I run for president?
Mother should I trust the government?
Mother will they put me in the firing line?
Mother am I really dying?
However, however, however: I’ve just gotta agree now with Nick Ritchie – it’s John McCain’s “Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran” all the way!
It’s topical, it’s got a catchy tune, and it scares your socks off because it’s not clear if the intended audience (or maybe even McCain himself) take the idea seriously. And just to top it all, McCain is one of the more intelligent and rational people involved in US security-policy debates – I mean, what would Rush Limbaugh be singing!?!
LOazlo Bane’s “Peace is our Profession” was not as I recall ever a “hit” and I never ever heard it on the radio, but it has a nice Strangelove homage. The video is top notch, too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgoDJMtCHZQ
Know you’ve heard it all before
You can’t believe everythin’ you hear
I never trusted you
God please help
Do you know who’s side your on
Cause when it all hits the fan
You’re gonna need a friend to
Put your faith in
You were the first to cast the stone
You can hear them saying
Peace is our profession
but we all love the bomb
It’s a strange kind of
Peace is our profession
But we all love the bomb
It’s a strange kind of love
Don’t forget to say your prayers
Somethings gone very wrong down here
Dear john is on the way
God please say
We were the first to cast the stone
You can hear them saying
Peace is our profession
But we all love the bomb
It’s a strange kind of
Peace is our profession
But we all love the bomb
It’s a strange kind of love
(humming)
The doom device is set to go
Where will your garden grow?
We were the first to cast the stone
Now we’re all here singing
Peace is our profession
But we all love the bomb
It’s a strange kind of
You know that these are our confessions
That we all love the bomb
It’s a strange kind of love
It’s a strange kind of love
Subterranean Nukesick Blues:
Yukiya’s in VIC
Mixing up the deluge
I’m on the pavement
Thinking about the centrifuge
The man in the dulband
Hands up, who me?
Ahmadinejad says its for peaceful energy
Look out kid
Its somethin’ they did
They ain’t gonna duck down the alley way
Lookin’ for a new way
Everyone knows the NAMs still an ally
The man in the White House
With the big pen
Wants eleven dollar bills
They’ve got twelve man.
Subterranean Homesick Blues, Bob Dylan:
Johny’s in the basement
Mixing up the medicine
I’m on the pavement
Thinking about the government
The man in the trench coat
Badge out, laid off
Says he’s got a bad cough
Wants to get it paid off
Look out kid
It’s somethin’ you did
God knows when
But you’re doin’ it again
You better duck down the alley way
Lookin’ for a new friend
The man in the coon-skip cap
In the big pen
Wants eleven dollar bills
You only got ten.
Please, don’t drop that H bomb on me,
Please don’t drop that H bomb on me
Please don’t drop that H bomb on me:
Drop it
on
your
self.
The above stanza was added at the end of an antiwar song performed by a circa 1967 rock and roll band, whose leader is happily informed that the stanza lyrics have been sent to [ACW].
As originally composed 40+ years ago, each lyric phrase has an generic lugubrious hymn-like structure; the sequential lyric lines are preceded and followed by a counterpoint of merrygoroundish, Bach-inspired instrumental with ascending melody taking the standard form of caliope music. As the stanza nears the ending couplet, multi-voiced fugue harmonies appear to attempt to obliterate the antipodal lyric hymn. The melody originally was composed solo on a chromatic harmonica in C, with the harmonica player singing the lyrics between each instrumental crescendo. Other keys might be possible, though harmonicas produce different characteristics in other keys, and the chromatic C offers the advantage of allowing the required three-voiced, counterpoint harmony, by virtue of its outsized form factor. The way I have heard the stanza online in Modern times is as a standalone a capella, comprised solely of the hymnal inspired lyrics.
The visual conceptual inspiration for the stanza was a head painted by Picasso, appearing inconspicuously along the lower marginm in the 10′ long Guernica painting, which, in 1966, hung in the Prado museum, about 250 miles distant from the city of Guernica.
This is starting to feel a little rock-heavy, so I must give a shout out to the late GURU of the rap duo Gangstarr. He is probably the only rapper to ever use the phrase ‘nuclear fallout’ in a song — specifically “Who’s Gonna Take the Weight” from their 1991 album, Step in the Area:
Original invincible
That’s how I’m lookin’ at it
I use my rhymes like a Glock automatic
Any means necessary, I’m goin’ all out
Before the rains bring the nuclear fallout
So let me ask you, is it too late?
Ayo, who’s gonna take the weight?
Despite this, I am going to have to go with something a little more contemporary — Iron Maiden’s “Brighter Than a Thousand Suns.” The whole song is about nuclear weapons, but I’ve reproduced some choice verses below:
Out of the the universe, a strange light is born
Unholy union, trinity reformed
Yellow sun it’s evil twin
in the black the winds deliver him
We will sleep to souls within
At a siege a nuclear gust is riven
Out of the the universe, a strange light is born
Unholy union, trinity reformed
Out of the darkness, brighter than a thousand suns (x6)
Burying our morals and burying our dead
Burying our head in the sand
E equals MC squared, you can’t relate
How we made God with our hands
Whatever would Robert have said to his God
About he made war with the Sun
E equals MC squared, you can’t relate
How we made God with our hands
Surprised to see a couple of standouts not taken:
OMD: Enola Gay
It’s 8:15, and that’s the time that it’s always been
We got your message on the radio, conditions normal and you’re coming home
Enola Gay, is mother proud of little boy today?
This kiss you give, it’s never ever gonna fade away
Pink Floyd: Two Suns In The Sunset
In my rear view mirror the sun’s going down
Sinking behind bridges in the road
I think of all the good things that we have left undone
And I suffer premonitions, confirm suspicions
of the holocaust to come
The rusty wire that holds the cork
that keeps the anger in gives way
And suddenly it’s day again
The sun is in the east even though the day is done
Two suns in the sunset
Could be the human race is run
Like the moment when the brakes lock
and you slide towards the big truck
You stretch the frozen moments with your fear
And you’ll never hear their voices
And you’ll never see their faces
You have no recourse to the law anymore
And as the windshield melts and my tears evaporate
Leaving only charcoal to defend
Finally I understand the feelings of the few
Ashes and diamonds, foe and friend
We were all equal in the end
Also worth a mention is Steve Stevens’ use of Blandy’s ‘Atomic Playboy’ speech on the album and track of the same name – although as the best line to come out of that is “Atomic playboys, we are radiation Romeos” perhaps not a winner in the lyric contest…
Diamond Dave beat me to the Final Cut; all I got is Nena.
99 Red Balloons
You and I, and a little toy shop
Buy a bag of balloons with the money we’ve got
Set them free at the break of dawn
‘Til one by one, they were gone
Back at base, bugs in the software
Flash the message, “Some thing’s out there”
Floating in the summer sky
Ninety-nine red balloons go by
Ninety-nine red balloons
Floating in the summer sky
Panic lads, it’s a red alert
There’s something here from somewhere else
The war machine springs to life
Opens up one eager eye
Focusing it on the sky
Ninety-nine red balloons go by
Ninety-nine Decision Street
Ninety-nine ministers meet
To worry, worry, super-scurry
Call the troops out in a hurry
[| From: http://www.elyrics.net/read/n/nena-lyrics/99-red-balloons-lyrics.html |]
This is what we’ve waiting for
This is it boys, this is war
The President is on the line
As ninety-nine red balloons go by
Ninety-nine knights of the air
Riding super high-tech jet fighters
Everyone’s a super hero
Everyone’s a Captain Kirk
With orders to identify, to clarify and classify
Scrambling in the summer sky
As ninety-nine red balloons go by
Ninety-nine red balloons go by
Ninety-nine dreams I have had
Every one a red balloon
Now it’s all over and I’m standin’ pretty
In this dust that was a city
If I could find a souvenir
Just to prove the world was here
And here is a red balloon
I think of you and let it go
There´s no need to debate, first category: Heaven 17, “Let´s all make a bomb” (“Penthouse and Pavement”, 1981).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Knt6zh41Fqw
Songtext:
Take one hundred scientists or more
Place in a room and lock the door
Let them confer for half their lives
Unlock the door, go in and see
What they have made for you and me
A brand new toy to idolize
Hey! There’s no need to debate
It’s time to designate your fate
Take the M out of M.A.D.
Let’s all make a bomb
[…]
As far as I know, there is only one great song about The Bomb:
I saw a newborn baby with wild wolves all around it,
I saw a highway of diamonds with nobody on it,
I saw a black branch with blood that kept drippin’,
I saw a room full of men with their hammers a-bleedin’,
I saw a white ladder all covered with water,
I saw ten thousand talkers whose tongues were all broken,
I saw guns and sharp swords in the hands of young children,
I met a young child beside a dead pony,
I met a white man who walked a black dog,
I met a young woman whose body was burning,
I met a young girl, she gave me a rainbow,
I met one man who was wounded in love,
I met another man who was wounded in hatred…
And I’ll tell it and speak it and think it and breathe it,
And reflect from the mountain so all souls can see it,
And I’ll stand on the ocean until I start sinkin’,
But I’ll know my song well before I start singin’,
It’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall.
“Mr. Reagan has a thing about arms control”
“That’s what I’m angry about.”
“Yes, the world is headed for destruction.
Is it a nuclear war?
What are you asking for?
This is a world destruction.”
Time Zone, World Destruction
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9zpJai_VQ0&feature=youtube_gdata
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KMFDM’s “Oh Look”: (on Spotify”
“Oh Look, the orchestra is getting ready. Dance with me George. George, I wonder if
we’ve thought this through. I’ve afraid for you George.”
“Non-sense my sweet.”
“Ye-Yes George. Please. My fiancee Luther Marshall…”
We interrupt our normal programming in the interest for security and civil defense
measures as requested by the United States Government.
“Attention, Attention. This is an official civil defense warning. This is not a test.
The United States is under nuclear attack! Take cover in an nearby fall out shelter.
Repeat, the United States is under nuclear attack.”
Duck and cover.
Duck and cover.
Duck and cover.
Duck and cover
“This is an official civil defense broadcast. Enemy aircraft are over Canada and headed
this way.”
Duck and cover.
Duck (Duck and cover)
“The United States is under nuclear….”
**************************************
And how about Max M’s “Atomic Playboy” which samples in part from Blandy’s comment about bomb effects and his non playboy status.
http://www.amazon.com/Atomic-Playboy/dp/B000SDXXMG
Blandy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=IE06ECcimb8&feature=endscreen
Can’t find the full lyrics though. Fail!