Song Of The Wagon Master - Sons Of The Pioneers

I’m gonna preach you all a sermon

About Old Man Atom, that’s me

I don’t mean the Adam in the Bible datum

I don’t mean the Adam that Mother Eve elated

I mean that thing that science liberated

The thing that Einstein says he’s scared of

And when Einstein’s scared

Brother, you’d better be scared

If you’re scared of the atom, here’s what’s you gotta do

You gotta gather all the people in the world with you

'Cause if you don’t get together and do it

Well, first thing you know I’m gonna blow this world plum too

Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Alamogordo, Bikini

Now life used to be such a simple joy

My cyclotron was just a super toy

And folks got born, they’d work and marry

And «atom» was a word in the dictionary

And then it happened

The science boys, from every clime

They all pitched in with overtime

And before they knew it

The thing was done

And they’d hitched up the power of the Golden Sun

And put a harness on Old Sol

Splittin' atoms

While the diplomats was splittin' hairs

Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Alamogordo, Bikini

But the atom’s here in spite of hysteria

Flourishes in Utah as well as Siberia

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

The question is this, when you boil it down

To be or not to be, that’s the question

The answer to it all ain’t military datum

Like who gets there firstest with the mostest atoms

No, the people of the world must decide their fate

They gotta get together or disintegrate

I hold this truth to be self-evident

That all men may be cremated equal

Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Alamogordo, Bikini

Yes, it’s up to the people

'Cause the atoms don’t care

You can’t fence me in, I’m just like air

I don’t give a hoot about any politics

Or who got what into whichever fix

All I want to do is sit around

And have my nucleus bombarded by neutrons

Now the moral is this, just as plain as day

That Old Man Atom is here to stay

I’m gonna stick around and that’s for true

But, ah, my dearly beloved, are you?

So listen folks, here is my thesis

Peace in the world or the world in pieces

Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Alamogordo, Bikini