Welcome to regular readers and new subscribers! Thank you for joining me for today’s song, “Hiroshima, Nagasaki Russian Roulette” by Jim Page (1974). Below, you’ll find my interpretation of the lyrics which are written in italics and a YouTube video of the song below the article. For Japanese students, vocabulary words in bold are provided in Japanese below.
✳️NOTE:The majority of articles here on Social Issues in Song are written for learners at a TOEIC550 英検Pre-1 CEFR B2 level. However, because the vocabulary in the song is advanced, the level of this article is for learners at TOEIC 780, Eiken 1, CEFR C1.
(1,045 words)
During World War II, the United States dropped two atomic bombs over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima, on August 6, and Nagasaki, on August 9, 1945.
The song was written by Jim Page in 1974 and was part of “The Best of Broadside”, a recording of songs about social issues at the time, the Vietnam War, inequality, etc. Several singers and groups have recorded this song since then.
They dropped the bomb in forty-five to end the world war
No one had ever seen such a terrible sight before
And the world watched with eyes wide to see where it would lead
As the politics of power passed around the seed
It was a time to remember that we never can forget
They were playing Hiroshima-Nagasaki Russian Roulette
The song tells the story of the designing of the world’s first atomic weapon.
The power of their progress was inspired in their blood
Making nuclear explosives out of isotopic mud
To expand upon their methods to improve and to refine
Using all the mighty resource of their scientific minds
Speaking always of the enemy who lurked across the seas
While moving in among us like a carrier disease (a disease that can be transmitted from person to person)The pressure to build it before Nazi Germany could was the most important thing at the time. The politicians who urged the development of this weapon told the public that atomic energy was the way of the future. It would help with curing diseases, and at the same time, act as a deterrent, meaning that other countries would not attack first because they knew they would be attacked in return.
“They” in the first line below refers to the scientists who developed the atomic bomb. I know the minds behind them, they are riddled full of holes
They arose like the saviors of our modern human race
With radiation halos that hung above their face
With the key to the sure cure and treatment of our ills
A hot shot of cobalt and a pocket full of pills
And the ones that died of fallout that fell along the way
Well, they were too far gone, they would have died anyway
The researchers worked steadily to create the first nuclear weapon amid tight secrecy.
Down deep inside the bunkers of the concrete and lead
Einstein’s disciples working steadily ahead
Building heavy metal power plants to fire the city lights
And all you hear is the underground, humming in the night
And the walls of tight security circle all around
Where they spill out all the poison and they bury it in the ground
During the processing of the uranium needed for the weapon, many toxic materials were created. These were buried in sites around the U.S. At the time, researchers did not fully understand the dangers of exposure to low-level radiation. There were no laws regarding how radioactive materials should be handled.
In the next verse, Page talks about submarines. In the early 1960s, nuclear-powered submarines were still new. There were accidents involving some submarines built by the US and also some built by the USSR. These accidents often involved radiation leaks from the nuclear reactors inside the ships.
Holed up in the harbors, hidden secretly away
The warheads and the submarines await to make their play
And the military masterminds improve on their designs
While the soldiers get all doped up (taking medicines or drugs that make you feel different than normal) and stumble through the lines
And the leaks in the water get carried by the tide
They call it National Security, I call it attempted homicide
Government officials were aware that government contracts helped many companies make money. In order to keep this system working, they needed the support of the population. So, they told the public that there was nothing to be afraid of and that there would be good things that would result later.
Governors and statesmen on congressional pay
Quick to please the hand that feeds, they are careful what they say
They call out experts to assure us and to wave their magic wands
This is the power of the future, and the future marches on
And they gather up their favors and political gains
While the spills fill the rivers and settle in the plains
They are not to be trusted with their hands at the controls
Their eyesight is twisted with the glory of their careers
And the heaped praise of flattery is music to their ears
And to listen to them talk about how it hasn’t happened yet
Is like playin’ Hiroshima-Nagasaki Russian Roulette
Because the scientists themselves did not understand the dangers of nuclear explosions, they, too, were affected by the radiation. The people working at the test site were exposed to radiation. After the test was run, fallout spread over a wide area.
Stafford Warren, head of radiation safety, reported five days after the test that the actual contaminated area covered 2,700 square miles, which was 70 times larger than predicted (Alvarez, 2024)
Those who brought the deaths of millions, for it was their stock in trade
They are afflicted with the fallout that they themselves have made
They have sealed their own inevitable doom, and it will surely come
And not even the moons of Jupiter will be far enough away to run
When the world that they’ve assaulted begins to turn around
And the unavoidable gravity pulls them to the ground
The 2010 CDC study found that radiation levels near homes in some “hot spots” after the test had reached “almost 10,000 times what is currently allowed in public areas,” and that, northeast of the test site, visible radioactive particles settled in a “white mist” in ravines above grazing cattle. (Blume, 2023)
The testing and its aftermath led to countless animals and humans being exposed to radiation.
The bombing of Hiroshima caused between 90,000 and 160,000 deaths and in Nagasaki, between 60,000 and 80,000 were killed.
The nuclear weapons race continues. The bombs dropped in Japan had the power of between 15 and 21 kilotons of TNT. One weapon today has between 100 and 475 kilotons. The “Tsar Bomba” detonated in 1961 in the USSR had the power of 57 million tons of TNT.
Leaving a comment is a good way to practice your writing skills.
Vocabularyarose 生じた
savior 救世主
radiation 放射線
fallout 放射性降下物
bunker 掩体壕
lead 鉛
disciple 弟子
hum 低い唸り音
toxic 有毒な
exposure 被曝
holed up 立てこもった
warhead 弾頭
mastermind 首謀者
doped up 薬物漬けの
attempted homicide 殺人未遂
statesmen 政治家たち
plains 平原
riddled full of holes 穴だらけの
twist 曲がっている
heap 山積み
flattery おだて
stock in trade 常套手段
afflicted with ～に苦しむ
inevitable doom 避けられない破滅
assault 暴行
ravine 渓谷
cattle 牛
NOTE: You can read an interview with Jim Page about his writing this song at http://www.europeansocialecologyinstitute.org/site/reviews/2004/allen-3-2004.html
Jim Page in concert:
In the video above, Page refers to yet another version:
Christy Moore has a version, too.
Sources
Alvarez, R. (2024, February 1). The fallout never ended. Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. https://thebulletin.org/2024/02/the-fallout-never-ended/ Accessed 28 July 2026.
Blume, L. M. (2023, July 17). Collateral damage: American civilian survivors of the 1945 trinity test. Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. https://thebulletin.org/premium/2023-07/collateral-damage-american-civilian-survivors-of-the-1945-trinity-test/ Accessed 28 July 2026.
Pomeroy, R. (2023, August 3). How strong of a nuclear bomb could humans make? - JSTOR DAILY. JSTOR Daily. https://daily.jstor.org/how-strong-of-a-nuclear-bomb-could-humans-make/ Accessed 28 July 2026.
Simon, S., Land, C., & Bouville, A. (2006, January, Vol. 94, No. 1). Fallout from nuclear weapons tests and cancer risks | American scientist. American Scientist. https://www.americanscientist.org/article/fallout-from-nuclear-weapons-tests-and-cancer-risks Accessed 28 July 2026.
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#TOEIC 780 #Eiken 1 #CEFR C1
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