Talking Atom - Pete Seeger

Well, I’m gonna preach you a sermon 'bout Old Man Atom

I don’t mean the Adam in the Bible datum

I don’t mean the Adam that Mother Eve mated

I mean that thing that science liberated

Einstein says he’s scared

And when Einstein’s scared, I’m scared

Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Alamogordo, Bikini…

Here’s my moral, plain as day

Old Man Atom is here to stay

He’s gonna hang around, it’s plain to see

But, ah, my dearly beloved, are we?

We hold these truths to be self-evident

All men may be cremated equal

Hiroshima, Nagasaki -- here’s my text

Hiroshima, Nagasaki -- Lordy, who’ll be next

The science guys, from every clime

They all pitched in with overtime

Before they knew it, the job was done;

They’d hitched up the power of the gosh-darn sun

They put a harness on Old Sol

Splittin' atoms, while the diplomats was splittin' hairs.

.

Hiroshima, Nagasaki -- what’ll we do?

Hiroshima, Nagasaki -- they both went up the blue

Then the cartel crowd put on a show

To turn back the clock on the UNO

To get a corner on atoms and maybe extinguish

Every darned atom that can’t speak English

Down with foreign-born atoms!

Yes, Sir!

Hiroshima, Nagasaki…

But the atom’s international, in spite of hysteria

Flourishes in Utah, also Siberia

And whether you’re white, black, red or brown

The question is this, when you boil it down:

To be or not to be!

That is the question..

Atoms to atoms, and dust to dust

If the world makes A-bombs, something’s bound to bust

Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Alamogordo, Bikini…

No, the answer to it all isn’t milit