GNF & Poetry & Music Posted by James Killus, 06 Aug 2007 04:54 am
Fallout
Hot gingerbread and dynamite
Boy, I drink nothing but that each night
Back in Nagasaki/Where the fellers chew tobaccy
And the women wicky wacky woo!
It was a lovely morning In Hiroshima town,
One summer morn in nineteen five and forty.
And the sun, how bright it shone
From a sky without a cloud,
One summer morn in nineteen five and forty.
Turn around, go back down, back the way you came.
Can’t you see that flash of fire ten times brighter than the day?
And behold the mighty city broken in the dust again,
Oh God, the pride of man, broken in the dust again.
Hail the day so long expected,
Hail the year of full release.
Zion’s walls are now erected,
And her watchmen publish peace.
Through our Shiloh’s wide dominion,
Hear the trumpet loudly roar,
Babylon is fallen to rise no more.
And there were many children
Yet lying in their beds,
For this was still an early morning hour,
And the dew lay on the meadow
In the lovely slanting sunlight,
And the crowns had barely opened on the flowers.
Turn around, go back down, back the way you came
Terror is on every side, though the leaders are dismayed
Those who put their faith in fire, in fire their faith shall be repaid
Oh God, the pride of man, broken in the dust again
Hiroshima Nagasaki
Nagasaki Hiroshima
arigato Vanunu
ko n nichiwa Mossadegh
arigato Mordechai
ko n nichiwa Mohammad
Hiroshima Nagasaki
All her merchants stand with wonder,
What is this that comes to pass:
Murm’ring like the distant thunder,
Crying, “Oh alas, alas.”
Swell the sound, ye kings and nobles,
Priest and people, rich and poor;
Babylon is fallen to rise no more.
Aw, man, how they entertain,
I mean, they hurry a hurricane.
Back in Nagasaki where the fellows chew tobaccky
And the women wicky-wacky-woo!
I come and stand at every door
Though none can hear my silent tread
I come and knock yet remain unheard
For I am dead, for I am dead
I’m only seven though I died
In Hiroshima long ago
I’m seven now as I was then
When children die they do not grow
Turn around, go back down, back the way you came
Shout a warning to the nations that the sword of god is raised
On Babylon that mighty city, rich in treasure, wide in fame
It shall cause thy tower to fall and make it be a pyre of flame
Oh God, the pride of man, broken in the dust again
You are my angel
Come from way above
To bring me love
Her eyes
She’s on the dark side
Neutralize
Every man in sight
To love you, love you, love you …
Hiroshima Nagasaki
ko n nichiwa arigato
Nagasaki Hiroshima
Nagasaki Hiroshima
arigato Vanunu
ko n nichiwa Mordechai
ko n nichiwa Mohammad
Hiroshima Nagasaki
ko n nichiwa arigato
Blow the trumpet in Mount Zion,
Christ shall come a second time;
Ruling with a rod of iron
All who now as foes combine.
Babel’s garments we’ve rejected,
And our fellowship is o’er,
Babylon is fallen to rise no more.
Before we die, let’s dig that high, that frees us from our binds…
That blows all cool, that ego drool, and burns us from our minds…
That last big flash, mankind’s last gasp, the trip we can’t take twice…
But before I did let me make that trip, before the nothing comes…
The last big flash, to light my sky…and zap! the world is done…
My hair was scorched by swirling flame
My eyes grew dim, my eyes grew blind
Death came and turned my bones to dust
And they were scattered on the ground
Fujiyama, got a mama,
Then your troubles increase, boy!
It’s a bottle in a, bottle in a, bottle in a, bottle in a, bottle in a
Nagasaki!
They hug and kiss each night,
By jingo, boys, worth that price!
Back in Nagasaki where the fellows chew tobaccky
And the women wicky-wacky-woo!
Oh thou that dwell on many waters, rich in treasure, wide in fame
Bow unto a god of gold, thy pride of might shall be thy shame
Oh God, the pride of man, broken in the dust again
And only God can lead the people back into the earth again
Thy holy mountain be restored, thy mercy on thy people Lord
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The Ballad of Hiroshima Town, Jens Bjørneboe, “Vise om byen Hiroshima.” Samlede Dikt, ©1977, 1995 by Gyldendal Norsk Forlag A/S. English translation ©1997 by Esther Greenleaf Mürer
Nagasaki, performed by the Don Redman Orchestra, 1932, lyrics by Mort Dixon, 1928
Pride of Man by Hamilton Camp
Babylon is Fallen, Sacred Harp, W. E. Chute, 1878
Foreign Accents, by Robert Wyatt
Hiroshima, Baez version of the Grey Silkie
The Big Flash, from short story of the same name, Norman Spinrad
Angel by Massive Attack
Trackbacks
Responses to “Fallout”
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on 06 Aug 2007 at 8:33 am 1. Kiera PSI said …
“We look forward to the time when the Power of Love will replace the Love of Power. Then will our world know the blessings of peace.” ~William Ewart Gladstone
Only then will we be assured that there will never be another Hiroshima or Nagasaki so cruelly destroyed.
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on 06 Aug 2007 at 11:36 am 2. Oaktown Girl said …
Thank you for this, James.
For those who get HBO, tonight is the premier of the documentary White Light, Black Rain: The Destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. About a week or 10 days ago on KPFA Pacifica radio, there was an interview with the maker of the documentary. Very interesting…and never more timely than now, with all this spin-talk of “strategic” nukes and such, as if we can contain the misery and destruction to only the “bad guys”, and as if there will be no blowback to us, either literally or figuratively.
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on 06 Aug 2007 at 12:21 pm 3. James Killus said …
For various reasons, I’m going to try to confine my remarks on this, uh, I think I’ll call it “linear collage,” to matters of process and artistic sensibility. This is no reflection on anyone else’s comments or emotions; it’s purely a matter of my own limitations. I find that other sorts of commentary interfere with my sense of grief, and I feel that I owe the dead an unobstructed strike at my heart.
Most of the words in “Fallout” are song lyrics, though for at least one of the songs I can’t recall the melody. But the backbone of it comes from two separate connected pairs.
The first is Hamilton Camp’s “Pride of Man,” which was covered by Qucksilver Messenger Service in the late ’60s. The Camp original, however, is just one voice and one guitar, and that always seemed, for me, to connect to the John Roberts and Tony Barrand version of “Babylon is Fallen,” which I first heard at the Fox Hollow Folk Festival in the early ’70s. I’ve considered doing a full meldley/mashup of the two songs, and may get to that someday.
The second pairing is the Don Redman “Nagasaki” and Robert Wyatt’s “Foreign Accents.” The first is silly and goofy and the second is dark and mournfull. The contrast does what contrast does, but it also reminds me of the way in which certain sorts of events can retroactively alter memories and perceptions. I do not believe that it is possible, even for someone who heard the original Redman piece when it came out, to hear it with the innocence of that time. The silly, slightly surreal lyrics cause tears to well and the gooseflesh to rise.
There is a similar process at work in the “Pride of Man/Babylon is Fallen” mashup, since the latter is very old, and was originally a paen to Christian triumph. I do not believe that it retains that meaning very well.
The images in the piece are some of the most famous of the Hiroshima images, but I imagine that there were similar artifacts to be found in the Nagasaki debris; whether they have been saved, I do not know. Again, the justipositions of words and images simply slide into place once they are in proximaty.
“The Big Flash” does not actually exist as a unified work; it is only phrases in the original story, and I put them together for one of the original Bérubé WAAGNFNP threads.
“Angel” is the song behind the Dead Sheep video that I linked to a couple of months ago.
I did some searching for song lyrics and other poetry that would fit the mood, and while there were a lot of songs about the matter, most do not survive the removal of the music. It’s possible that some of these do not, either, but I have the music in my head, so there we are.
If a wand were waved and all nuclear weapons turned to lead, never to be used again, the dead would still be dead. Whether their deaths altered the course of the war, they would still be dead. Some died without knowing; some died seeing sights that had never before been seen by human eyes; some took years to die, but they are all still dead. If I cry for them, I hope it is not really just myself for whom I weep.
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on 06 Aug 2007 at 12:25 pm 4. James Killus said …
Ah, and one more thing, not included because it’s pretty well perfect the way it is:
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 happensWe 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 themAsia’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 usWe’ll save Australia
Don’t wanna hurt no kangaroo
We’ll build an All American amusement park there
They got surfin’, tooBoom 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
And there’ll be Italian shoes for meThey all hate us anyhow
So let’s drop the big one now
Let’s drop the big one now–”Political Science” Randy Newman
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on 06 Aug 2007 at 2:58 pm 5. Seattle said …
Have any of you seen “Grave of the Fireflies”?
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on 06 Aug 2007 at 4:01 pm 6. Bill Benzon said …
Yes, I’ve seen “Grave of the Fireflies.” I own the DVD. It is very intense. I recommend you have a box of facial tissue ready and open when you watch it. “Barefoot Gen” is also intense, but a rather different treatment of a similar subject. GF is about the firebombing of Kobe while BG is about Hiroshima. Both are about how children cope with loosing their parents in these circumstances.
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on 06 Aug 2007 at 4:44 pm 7. Seattle said …
Best anti-war movie I’ve ever seen. One of those movies you can only stand to watch once-at least that was where I was at. Being a parent didn’t help.
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on 06 Aug 2007 at 4:55 pm 8. Bill Benzon said …
I’ve watched it three or four times. Last time I started to watch it, I quit 10 minutes in. (BTW, I have a professional interest in cartoons, so I’m more than willing to watch them more than once or twice.)
Oh, did I mention that it’s a cartoon? That is, made with hand-drawn pictures? & I can’t imagine the story being made with human actors. Robert Ebert has some perceptive comments about GF at his site. He thinks it’s one of the best anti-war films ever made.
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on 06 Aug 2007 at 11:31 pm 9. JP Stormcrow said …
That is, made with hand-drawn pictures? & I can’t imagine the story being made with human actors
I must admit that I came very late to the notion of the use of cartoons for serious themes or drama. Owe it to my kids for dragging me there to some extent. I did not watch it, but both of my son swear by the TV version of Monster as the most “intense” TV show they have ever seen.
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on 06 Aug 2007 at 11:47 pm 10. JP Stormcrow said …
Not meaning to go from the profound to the ridiculous (but as someone who got married on Hiroshima Day without realizing the import of the date at the time, I feel entitled to some leeway.), but this guy (”The Radioactive Boy Scout”) seems like quite the piece of work - this time he was collecting smoke detectors.
It reminds me of some nutjob who posted the following over at Bérubé’s place back in the day:
I mean, anyone can beat a sword into a ploughshare, the trick is to do it in reverse. To that end, by my calculations, if we collect 300 billion of the right kind of smoke detector - we can obtain the 60 Kg of Americium needed for Critical Mass (I assume we can find an assembly video on YouTube.) Alternatively, we build the Mother of All Smoke Detectors that can detect the GNF in time to crank up White Rabbit and enjoy a last margarita at The Shed.
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on 07 Aug 2007 at 9:55 am 11. Seattle said …
Hiroshima Day always takes me by surprise. I’m always caught up in birthday party plans for my youngest, who turned 8 today, and my own birthday and then suddenly…explosion day catches up with me in the middle of it.
Taking one look at Hahns face tells me all I need to know about reasons not to play with radioactive materials.
Saw an interesting documentary on TED last night.
http://www.ted.com/index.php
My fifteen year old is into watching documentaries right now so he’s forcing me to be exposed to stuff that’s been passing me by-another vote in favor of parenthood in my not so humble opinion. Anyway, TED looks like a lot of fun, if you have a lot of money. Bit elitist when you start reading the financial details of membership-which is limited-and the faces in the crowd were looking pretty monochrome. But the ideas were interesting. Look what happens when people rub brainpans…. -
on 07 Aug 2007 at 9:55 am 12. James Killus said …
Ah, The Radioactive Boy Scout:
Rocket Boys Meet the Radioactive Boy Scout
I’ve been thinking of hoisting that particular essay to my blog. It would also be appropriate here, but I don’t want to monopolize the nuclear blogging, personal obsessions notwithstanding.
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on 07 Aug 2007 at 10:36 am 13. Oaktown Girl said …
James - right now you are our premier (and only) regular nuclear contributor. It’s not a monopoly - we’re lucky (and very happy) to have you.
(And since it’s now Aug. 7th, I give myself permission to lighten up a bit:)
All new-job-business excuses aside, the Ministry of Justice is awaiting your revisions for that other GNF piece we spoke about. You know how on Family Guy Stewie always verbally jabs Brian about not having finished (or even started) that novel? You know how Stewie’s voice gets higher and higher and higher? So… how ya coming along on that GNF post revision? Making a little progress? Getting a little bit done every day?
(Notice how the YouTube link is not to the one where Brian finally smashes Stewie in the face with a large book). -
on 07 Aug 2007 at 12:22 pm 14. James Killus said …
Well, Oaktown Girl, if you’re referring to the Gamma Laser post, the one that needed some background and stuff, the problem was that I now have four connected (and somewhat repetitive) essays that need to be boiled down to a single lump. So we’re talking editing, not writing. So there.
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on 07 Aug 2007 at 4:21 pm 15. James Killus said …
Ach, just caught a bad link. The link to Mohammed Mosaddeq duplicated the one to Mordechai Vanunu. Fixed now.
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on 07 Aug 2007 at 9:40 pm 16. JP Stormcrow said …
For some great apocalypse-related humor I highly recommend clicking on this link and reading David Rees post Cormac Ignatieff’s “The Road”. Good stuff. via Atrios.
Italics from an Ignatieff supporting Iraq essay.
“A sense of reality is not just a sense of the world as it is, but as it might be. Like great artists, great politicians see possibilities others cannot and then seek to turn them into realities. . .”
Winston Churchill is Leonardo daVinci. George W. Bush is Thomas Kinkade. Michael Ignatieff basically helped us buy a half-trillion dollars’ worth of Thomas Kinkade paintings. Thanks.
And those of you who
have no lifehave been paying attention, will recall that Oaktown Girl suggested that Thomas Kinkade had a special relationship to the Twelve Mementos of Sweetness and Light. It just goes to show, as someone is going to say some time, There is nothing old under the nebular collapse created by a supernova shock wave.
