# Disaster song! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 21, 2007, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disaster-song/393116 "2007-02-21T18:16:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2007, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disaster-song/393116/41 "2007-02-21T23:36:09Z")
“Swamp,” “Life During Wartime” – Talking Heads (apocalypse, war) “This World Over” – XTC (nuclear war) “When the Man Comes Around” – Johnny Cash (apocalypse, maybe Armageddon) “Good Morning Beautiful,” “Armageddon Days (Are Here Again),” “Lonely Planet” – The The (war, war between Christendom & Islamic world, overpopulation & climate change) ---
**Author:** ![ryobserver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b2d939/32.png) [@ryobserver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ryobserver)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2007, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disaster-song/393116/42 "2007-02-21T23:58:58Z")
“Springhill Mining Disaster” by Ewan MacColl and Pete Seeger, recorded by The Dubliners and Peter Paul and Mary, gutted by U2 who sang maybe 3 verses and omitted some of the best lines. The full song is not only terribly moving, it’s historically accurate, which can’t always be said of folk songs. When I read accounts of the actual Springhill disaster I could only identify two trivial inaccuracies: the actual depth of the mine (13-14000 feet) is rounded off to “two miles down” (poetic license) and the last stanza implies (at least, I took it to mean) that the dead were left in the mine. That has been done in other mining disasters, but not in this one; the retrieval took weeks and required sealed coffins, but the dead were brought out. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2007, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disaster-song/393116/43 "2007-02-22T00:00:51Z")
How about a space disaster (as metaphor)? David Bowie - “[Space Oddity](http://www.lyricsfreak.com/d/david+bowie/space+oddity_20036711.html)” And another (post-) Apocalyptic song: Talking Heads - “[(Nothing But) Flowers](http://www.lyricsfreak.com/t/talking+heads/nothing+but+flowers_20284496.html)”: _This was a Pizza Hut Now it’s all covered with daisies (you got it, you got it) I miss the honky tonks, Dairy Queens, and 7-Elevens_ ---
**Author:** ![Sonia\_Montdore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@Sonia\_Montdore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sonia_Montdore)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2007, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disaster-song/393116/44 "2007-02-22T00:14:36Z")
There’s Barry McGuire’s “Eve of Destruction.” For years after I saw the movie _On the Beach_, I associated “Walzing Matilda” with the end of the human race. ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2007, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disaster-song/393116/45 "2007-02-22T01:01:33Z")
july 6th, 1944; hartford, ct. stewart o’nan wrote a book on the fire called, “the circus fire.” very tragic. lest we forget the song about the slocum disaster. those of us who heard it on the general slocum disaster centennial sure haven’t. ---
**Author:** ![nashiitashii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7c8e57/32.png) [@nashiitashii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nashiitashii)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2007, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disaster-song/393116/46 "2007-02-22T01:31:11Z")
There’s a band in Iceland named \*Utangarðsmenn \* that wrote a song named Hiroshima. (Though nobody will be familiar with the band, they may be familiar with [Bubbi Morthens](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bubbi_Morthens), the lead singer who went on to have his own solo career.) I can’t quite remember the lyrics, but they’re definitely talking about the event the song was named after. There’s other songs about Hiroshima, but my internet connection is being wacky and Google doesn’t want to load its pages. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2007, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disaster-song/393116/47 "2007-02-22T03:36:47Z")
[QUOTE=Sonia Montdore] There’s Barry McGuire’s “Eve of Destruction.” [/QUOTE] The disaster is somewhat muted because the song was released more than 40 years ago, and we’re still here. I hope Barry didn’t bet his royalties. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2007, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disaster-song/393116/48 "2007-02-22T03:45:55Z")
[QUOTE=dropzone] Let’s not get political, folks! Let’s keep it cheerful. For instance, there could be a thread just listing songs about the sinking of the Titanic. 😉 _The Titanic_ by Lead Belly, based on the UL that black boxer Jack Johnson was denied passage. Written in 1912 but not recorded until 1948: \*Jack Johnson want to get on board, Captain said, “I ain’t hauling no coal,” Cryin’, “Fare thee, Titanic, fare the well,” \*. \* [/QUOTE] I mentioned in the OP Jaime Brockett’s “Legend of the USS Titanic,” which interpolates the Ledbelly tune into a 15-minute hyperspeed rant that says the disaster happened because the crew had been smoking pot. [Here are the lyrics](http://www.rkdn.org/titanic%20lyrics.htm), but you have to hear it to get a feel for how insane it all was. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2007, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disaster-song/393116/49 "2007-02-22T04:01:03Z")
A couple of fictional ones: Billy Joel, **Miami 2017** , remembering the destruction of New York Steely Dan, **King of the World** , after a nucular holocaust. There’s also Tom Lehrer’s **So Long, Mom** “I’ll look for you when the war is over, an hour and a half from now!” ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2007, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disaster-song/393116/50 "2007-02-22T04:12:53Z")
[QUOTE=Krokodil] “Enola Gay” by OMD [/QUOTE] Add to that 10,000 Maniacs’ **Grey Victory** \*There was light and atomic fission Swelling wind, rising ash, tides of black rain Cement seared shadow traces Reminiscent of their last commands Instantly one thousand flames arising The ill scent of burning hides surrounding A settlement debased entirely Enola Gay had made a casual delivery\* ---
**Author:** ![Wee\_Bairn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90db22/32.png) [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2007, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disaster-song/393116/51 "2007-02-22T14:02:23Z")
[QUOTE=whole bean] I really think your wrong. Not to continue this hijack, but cite one offensive passage. There’s nothing about killing Arabs or blaming the attacks on anyonje else. So what if he references prayer? A Christian singing about a his reaction to an event is no more offensive than a Jew singing about a Jewish reaction to an event. Would you find a Kaddish as offensive? A review of my posts to this board will show that I’m hardly an evangelical fundie, nor I am a huge pop-country fan. Jackson’s song seems to me to be a sincere reflection on the events of Septemebr 11, 2001. I really wish you would back up your accusation with something – some actual pasage that you find jingoistic, or as Superman accuses, “hatefule”. As for the title, I guess you take simmilar issue with [W.H. Auden](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funeral_Blues) . I am not suggesting that the artstic merit of the two is comparable but they certainly employ a similar metaphor. [/QUOTE] I agree there is nothing hatefule in the lyrics, I just persoanlly don’t buy into the proud American Christian bullshit, but that’s just me. And the emphasis on prayer reminds of something Todd or Rod Flanders said once “Dear Lord, thank you for sending Lisa to save us from the bug you sent (to get us)”. I just don’t understand prayer in this case, whereas if you belive God created the world and is in total control of it, then He must have casue 9-11, right? But no hard feelings- in the words of Ron Burgundy- agree to disagree. And I persoanlly find all songs like this to be lame, even things like Tears in Heaven. I think it is near possible to write a song like this and have it not be lame. ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2007, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disaster-song/393116/52 "2007-02-22T14:53:39Z")
_ **Ruben James** _ by the Kingston Trio. It’s about the first American ship lost to hostile file during WWII, even though the event predated Pearl Harbor by a few weeks. It was torpedoed off Iceland on 10/31/41 while protecting a convoy. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2007, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disaster-song/393116/53 "2007-02-22T15:30:37Z")
[QUOTE=Wee Bairn] I agree there is nothing hatefule in the lyrics, I just persoanlly don’t buy into the proud American Christian bullshit, but that’s just me. And the emphasis on prayer reminds of something Todd or Rod Flanders said once “Dear Lord, thank you for sending Lisa to save us from the bug you sent (to get us)”. I just don’t understand prayer in this case, whereas if you belive God created the world and is in total control of it, then He must have casue 9-11, right? [/QUOTE] I take as him praying to act out of love, not revenge or hate. I’ve heard atheists can reflect on acting that way too. The only reference to being American is “did you burst out in pride at the red white and blue”, which doesn’t say one way or another whether that is what you SHOULD do. I know, agree to disagree. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![whole\_bean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/96bed5/32.png) [@whole\_bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whole_bean)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2007, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disaster-song/393116/54 "2007-02-22T15:36:50Z")
[QUOTE=Wee Bairn] I agree there is nothing hatefule in the lyrics, I just persoanlly don’t buy into the proud American Christian bullshit, but that’s just me. And the emphasis on prayer reminds of something Todd or Rod Flanders said once “Dear Lord, thank you for sending Lisa to save us from the bug you sent (to get us)”. I just don’t understand prayer in this case, whereas if you belive God created the world and is in total control of it, then He must have casue 9-11, right? But no hard feelings- in the words of Ron Burgundy- agree to disagree. And I persoanlly find all songs like this to be lame, even things like Tears in Heaven. I think it is near possible to write a song like this and have it not be lame. [/QUOTE] ::last bit of hijack:: I appreciate your reply and your point of view, though I don’t share it. So you don’t like prayer or the resort to it. That’s fine. Then this song wouldn’t be for you, and no one who does like it should be insulted when you give this as your reason for disliking it – no accounting for taste and all. But, calling it hateful or jingoistic is inaccurate. I think the song can come across as a bit schmaltzy, depending on your frame of mind, but leave your insult of jingoism and hatefullnes for songs like Toby Keith’s “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue.” Those who do pray (a pretty large segment of the American public) might relate to the song and the sense of loss and helplessness conveyed by the lyrics. Cynics might say he cashed in on the event. I guess the same might be said for anyone who has penned a song for commercial release in the aftermath of a disaster. Do all of U2’s royalties for “Pride” go to SCLC? Does XTC donate the royalty’s from “Peter, Peter Pumkin Head” or the Birds for “He Was a Friend of Mine” to the JFK Foundation? Folk writers are essential to society in part because they preserve a part of public reaction that doesn’t make it into the four volume tome on “American History from 1947 to 2007.” It’s funny how academics today will praise the honesty and grit of bluegrass or old timey music but revile many of the same values when expressed in modern music as being pedestrian or simple. I am glad you responded as I had thought of opening a thread on this, but didn’t think it deserved that much attention. To those who didn’t want to read this but are too anal retetnitve to skip over it, I appologize for the disruption. :: end hijack:: ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2007, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disaster-song/393116/55 "2007-02-22T15:42:02Z")
[QUOTE=nashiitashii] There’s other songs about Hiroshima, but my internet connection is being wacky and Google doesn’t want to load its pages. [/QUOTE] [Here’s](http://nwfolk.com/songlists/hiroshima.html) one, including [“I Come and Stand at Every Door”](http://www.peteseeger.net/Icomeandstand.htm). ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2007, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disaster-song/393116/56 "2007-02-22T15:50:58Z")
[“The Johnstown Flood”](http://www.jaha.org/edu/flood/story/img/music/pages/SONG1.html) - Joseph Flynn ---
**Author:** ![M\_A\_S\_H\_City\_Rockers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f0a364/32.png) [@M\_A\_S\_H\_City\_Rockers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/M_A_S_H_City_Rockers)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2007, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disaster-song/393116/57 "2007-02-22T23:39:15Z")
Alright I finally caved and signed up so I could post on this thread Atom Tan by The Clash is about nuclear war or at least a pending nuclear war, also speaking of The Clash, 1977 is about the downfall of england into an orwellian government. ---
**Author:** ![Boulter\_s\_Canary](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@Boulter\_s\_Canary](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boulter_s_Canary)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2007, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disaster-song/393116/58 "2007-02-27T16:05:01Z")
[QUOTE=ryobserver] “Springhill Mining Disaster” by Ewan MacColl and Pete Seeger, recorded by The Dubliners and Peter Paul and Mary, gutted by U2 who sang maybe 3 verses and omitted some of the best lines. The full song is not only terribly moving, it’s historically accurate, which can’t always be said of folk songs. When I read accounts of the actual Springhill disaster I could only identify two trivial inaccuracies: the actual depth of the mine (13-14000 feet) is rounded off to “two miles down” (poetic license) and the last stanza implies (at least, I took it to mean) that the dead were left in the mine. That has been done in other mining disasters, but not in this one; the retrieval took weeks and required sealed coffins, but the dead were brought out. [/QUOTE] In the Gresford fire in Wales the bodies were left in the mine: “Down there in the dark they are lying They died for nine shillings a day…” (_Gresford Disaster_) The Albion Band performed that one. Other mine disaster songs: _Number Two Top Seam_ - June Tabor _Coal Creek Mine_ - Oysterband ---
**Author:** ![Cuckoorex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Cuckoorex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cuckoorex)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2007, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disaster-song/393116/59 "2007-02-27T18:00:42Z")
Do potential future disasters count? If so, then Tool’s _Aenima_ ---
**Author:** ![Stringer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Stringer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stringer)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2007, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disaster-song/393116/60 "2007-02-27T20:34:07Z")
I always thought Modest Mouse’s _ **Shit Luck** _ was a great disaster song. _This building is totally burning down!_ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disaster-song/393116.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disaster-song/393116.md?page=4)