# Songs for chemical warfare? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 12, 2013, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-for-chemical-warfare/668636 "2013-09-12T04:22:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2013, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-for-chemical-warfare/668636/1 "2013-09-12T04:22:05Z")
The world’s had me in an _exceedingly_ foul and grisly mood the last few days, so I thought I’d ask for suggestions…for a “songs for chemical warfare” playlist! Criteria are either songs about, or mentioning, chemical weapons and warfare; or, as my inner ghoul keeps suggesting, ones that work for a decently sick joke. So far, I’ve got: •[The Second Ypres](http://www.amazon.com/The-Second-Ypres/dp/B001B83HYG)—The Greater Curse [A chance recent discovery of mine—tres spooky!] •[Chemical Warfare—The Dead Kennedys](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nK5fKFFqJe4) •[Chemical Warfare—Slayer](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5L7GyZeazM) •[Nerve Gas—Kill Hannah](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArxXfoa_Ezo) •[Mustard Gas—Darkest of the Hillside Thickets](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2kYJZz05Es) •[Mustard Gas—The Dear Hunter](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0K2pxn62B0) •[Phosgene—Carpeduke](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YN1qPvByEyw) …for the first category. And for the second? •[Jumpin Jack Flash—The Rolling Stones](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQSGw0hMd_I) (It’s a _[GAS, GAS, GAS!](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JummB7AIDRY&t=16m56s)_) •[Something in the Air—Sarah Brightman (featuring Tom Jones)](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whxttoRrNbA) •[Take My Breath Away—Berlin](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUis9yny_lI) ('Tad obvious, I know) And no, for the record…biological weapons do _not_ qualify for the list. And radiologicals are _right out_. Soooo…anyone? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2013, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-for-chemical-warfare/668636/2 "2013-09-12T04:31:21Z")
That Girl is Poison ---
**Author:** ![stui\_magpie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stui_magpie/32/11010_2.png) [@stui\_magpie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stui_magpie)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2013, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-for-chemical-warfare/668636/3 "2013-09-12T04:35:40Z")
Anything by “My Chemical Romance”?😛 ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2013, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-for-chemical-warfare/668636/4 "2013-09-12T04:55:46Z")
It is good and proper that “The Latin One” should be on this [list.www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOEcl-9yNhg](http://list.www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOEcl-9yNhg) ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2013, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-for-chemical-warfare/668636/5 "2013-09-12T05:13:08Z")
[Nuclear Annihilation](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilh-C1jlmAw) by **Bolt Thrower** mentions “toxic chemicals” but isn’t really isn’t about chemical warfare. If you’re willing to interpret instead of having a blatant reference, lots of **Bolt Thrower** songs might be about chemical warfare since ALL of their songs are about warfare. I’m pretty sure there’s some **Gama Bomb** songs about chemical warfare too but my GB discs are still in boxes atm. Oh yeah, don’t forget **Skinny Puppy** ’s [VX Gas Attack](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nem_uP-bpFs)! It’s late and I’m tired; sorry I can’t offer more. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2013, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-for-chemical-warfare/668636/6 "2013-09-12T05:20:39Z")
Steel Pole Bath Tub - Chemical Warfare (cover of the Dead Kennedys one, album: Virus 100). Queensrÿche – Chemical Youth (We Are Rebellion) (probably not, although the two terms are topics in isolation). Mr. Bungle - Chemical Marriage (it’s instrumental, but Mr. Bungle is apeshit enough so why not?) PJ Harvey - Let England Shake (the whole album, maybe minus one track - no explicit references that I remember, but mostly about WWI, so mustard gas is bound to be implicit). ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2013, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-for-chemical-warfare/668636/7 "2013-09-12T07:21:19Z")
Shakin all over - Johnny Kidd & the Pirates Blowing in the wind - Bob Dylan (kind of changes the whole meaning of the song if you think about it) ---
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2013, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-for-chemical-warfare/668636/8 "2013-09-12T07:30:21Z")
Taken from a Mad Book in the 70s (sung to the tune of the US Marine Corp song) From the ants in our petunia beds to the crabgrass in our lawn. We will fight them off with chemicals till the bug and weeds are gone. We will use quarts and quarts of poison spray and we won’t stop till we’re through. All the bugs and weeds are dying now but the plants and trees are too. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2013, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-for-chemical-warfare/668636/9 "2013-09-12T07:51:59Z")
Cole Porter’s _I’ve Got You Under My Skin._ Tom Lehrer’s _We Will All Go Together When We Go._ ---
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2013, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-for-chemical-warfare/668636/10 "2013-09-12T07:54:17Z")
Poisoning Pigeons in the Park doesn’t count? ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2013, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-for-chemical-warfare/668636/11 "2013-09-12T10:30:49Z")
Hopefully I didn’t miss it in the links above (using Tapatalk on a phone and it turns them into YouTube images and gets rid of the link text), but how about The Cure’s “Killing an Arab”? It’s just a reference to Camus’ “The Stranger,” but was at one time on a BBC ‘banned songs’ list as a result of the title. Lyrics don’t reference chemicals, just the author standing in the sand holding a gun and an ‘Arab’ laying at his feet. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2013, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-for-chemical-warfare/668636/12 "2013-09-12T10:53:53Z")
Whether or not defoliants count is somewhat debatable, but if you’re the sort that thinks they’re chemical weapons then “The Agent Orange Song” by Country Joe McDonald would be one. ---
**Author:** ![Meurglys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2013, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-for-chemical-warfare/668636/13 "2013-09-12T10:55:49Z")
[Porton Down](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yy1w--obS8k) by **Peter Hammill** mentions mustard gas, together with other WMDs. It’s the name of the UK’s research facility into stuff like that since WW1. ---
**Author:** ![Accidental\_Martyr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ce7236/32.png) [@Accidental\_Martyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Accidental_Martyr)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2013, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-for-chemical-warfare/668636/14 "2013-09-12T11:05:03Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > Whether or not defoliants count is somewhat debatable, but if you’re the sort that thinks they’re chemical weapons then “The Agent Orange Song” by Country Joe McDonald would be one. Also, “Orange Crush” by R.E.M. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2013, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-for-chemical-warfare/668636/15 "2013-09-12T21:17:26Z")
> [@the\_diego](#): > > Poisoning Pigeons in the Park doesn’t count? Only if you’re a pigeon. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2013, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-for-chemical-warfare/668636/16 "2013-09-12T21:53:18Z")
> [@Accidental\_Martyr](#): > > Also, “Orange Crush” by R.E.M. Ah, didn’t consider non-intentional poisoning. In that case, _Agent Orange_ is a band. No more exact fits, but take out the intentional warfare part, and _the Dead Kennedys’_ “Cesspools in Eden” and “Moon over Marin” also count, as in about environmental chemical damage. Forbidden by the OP, but “Government Flu” references biological warfare. Also _the Dead Milkmen_, “Watching Scotty Die.” ---
**Author:** ![Werekoala](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/7993a0/32.png) [@Werekoala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Werekoala)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2013, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-for-chemical-warfare/668636/17 "2013-09-12T23:43:58Z")
> [@stui\_magpie](#): > > Anything by “My Chemical Romance”?😛 Dammit. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2013, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-for-chemical-warfare/668636/18 "2013-09-12T23:55:58Z")
“Sarin, you’re the poet in my heart” ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2013, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-for-chemical-warfare/668636/19 "2013-09-13T00:14:56Z")
“Air” from _Hair_ could work, possibly with a little substitution of lyrics. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2013, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-for-chemical-warfare/668636/20 "2013-09-13T00:21:20Z")
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