Story of a Song:
Hiroshima Nagasaki Russian Roulette, by Jim Page
interview by Robert Allen
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Lyrics to Hiroshima Nagasaki Russian Roulette, by Jim Page
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"Way back in the mid 70's we had a governor here in
Washington state named Dixie Lee Ray. She had been chairman
of the Atomic Energy Commission under Nixon and was full of
herself. She loved nuclear power and hated
environmentalists, and she invited everyone to send their
waste here to Washington to be dumped at the Hanford site.
She was famous for her superiority complex and would ask
for your credentials if you challenged her on anything.
Well, the Hanford site leaked and every once in a while it
would hit the papers and the environmentalists would get on
her case. One time after a particularly embarrassing
incident she made the announcement that she was going to
close Hanford until this could be taken care of. It was a
startling proclamation. The next day on the local news
there was a doctor from the University Of Washington cancer
hospital saying that they would have to stop treating
people because they now had no way to deal with the
low-level isotopes that they used. Everybody's sick mother
was held hostage and the response was instantaneous.
Hanford was immediately reopened.
I was having a heated discussion about this with a friend
of mine when it occurred to me that if you get exposed to
too much radiation you would likely get cancer and that
they would then treat you with radiation. And that all
these power plants, unstable and poorly built as they are,
were accidents waiting to happen. It was like playing
Russian Roulette, that strange game where a gun is passed
around with only one bullet in it and everybody puts it up
to their head, bets are taken, and the lucky winner loses.
Only this was a nuclear version. This was
Hiroshima-Nagasaki Russian Roulette. I wrote the song that
night (in 1974).
Several years later, in 1979, I was in Ireland at the
Ballisodare Festival. I had learned that there was a strong
anti-nuclear movement in the country mobilized to try to
stop a power plant and uranium mining. I figured that if I
could get an encore I would then play Hiroshima and it
would get heard. It worked. Christy Moore was there and he
asked for the lyrics so he could sing it. And I was invited
down to the Carnsore Point Anti-Nuclear Festival that next
weekend.
Soon Christy put together an electric band called The
Moving Hearts, and they took the country by storm. Their
first big song was Hiroshima, which they had adopted for
their seven piece rock/folk/jazz sound. It was recorded on
their first album which entered the charts at number one.
It remained a signature song in their repertoire for the
duration of Christy's involvement with the band, and after
leaving he continued to use it in his solo shows. It has
since become almost a part of Irish folk culture, like
another drop of water in a big river. And the success of
the anti-nuclear campaign gives the whole story its depth,
a demention of struggle and music. Maybe a song can be a
weapon after all.
Then I found out that there was a big anti-nuclear movement
in Ireland and that there was, in fact, a major gathering
planned for the following week. So I figured if I could get
an encore in my second set, the next day, I would play
Hiroshima-Nagasaki Russian Roulette. It worked. On my way
up to the stage I got a little nip of whiskey to calm my
nerves and settled into things. I don't remember what my
last song was but I got my encore and did the Hiroshima
song. The place went wild and I was brought out for another
song. I was invited to the anti-nuclear gathering coming up
at Carnsore point
(http://www.iol.ie/~pcassidy/carnsore/welcome.html), and
changed my return ticket so I could go to it. The door had
opened.
My first national tour was opening for Planxty, a wonderful
four-piece folk band with Christy Moore, Donal Luny, Andy
Irvine and Liam O'Flynn. It wasn't until the second show
that I had sense enough to get nervous. Planxty were like
the Rolling Stones of Irish music. The gigs were great -
high energy and always wild. We wound up doing an
incredible unrehearsed version of Hiroshima at the end, and
they had me playing guitar on some reels.
Hiroshima had this amazing pipe and sax duet in the middle
of it that made it an instant classic. I practically
stopped playing the song after hearing it. Landlord was
severely re-arranged but I got used to it - it was like a
halloween piece instead of the blues thing I had made. The
folk process.
I remember sitting in the Baggot Inn one night when they
were playing. They played there two nights a week for ages.
The place was jammed like always. I was talking with a
traditional singer friend of mine. "How do you like the
band,?" I asked her. "I don't like them," she said,
"politics and music don't mix." I didn't say anything, just
nodded. The place was packed every time they played there.
Their album was released at number one. Politics and music
seemed to be mixing very well."
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Jim Page interviewed by Robert Allen
Jim Page was interviewed by Robert Allen. A full interview-feature with the man will appear in a
forthcoming edition.
Jim Page has been writing and singing songs professionally
for over 30 years. Originally from the California Bay Area
he wound up in Seattle by way of New York City in the early
1970s. Soon after hitting Seattle, he led the movement to
successfully legalize street singing in 1974 and sang his
case to the Seattle City Council and a packed Council
Chambers of cheering free speech advocates, friends and the
wildly curious. A Shot of the Usual was released in 1977 on
his own label and received considerable acclaim. A
circuitous, tree-lined, sometimes rocky and wonderful road
of people and music unfurled in front of Jim. The
intervening years, he has said, "include too many records,
compilations, awards, arrests, lost and found lovers,
grammy nominations, near death experiences, and prancing
ponies to begin to list". His 17th full-length recording,
Human Interesting, is a portrait of a journey through over
30 years of Jim's musical incarnations. His music is
available from his website .
Robert Allen is the author of Dioxin War: Truth & Lies About A Perfect Poison, Pluto Press, London/Ann Arbor/Dublin and University of Michigan, US, published in July 2004. Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com.
Book Description
This is a book about Dioxin, one of the most poisonous chemicals known to humanity. It was the toxic component of Agent Orange, used by the US military to defoliate huge tracts of Vietnam during the war in the 60s and 70s.
It can be found in pesticides, plastics, solvents, detergents and cosmetics. Dioxin has been revealed as a human carcinogen, and has been associated with heart disease, liver damage, hormonal disruption, reproductive disorders, developmental destruction and neurological impairment.
The Dioxin War is the story of the people who fought to reveal the truth about dioxin. Huge multinationals Dow and Monsanto both manufactured Agent Orange. Robert Allen reveals the attempts by the chemical industry, in collusion with regulatory and health authorities, to cover up the true impact of dioxin on human health. He tells the remarkable story of how a small, dedicated group of people managed to bring the truth about dioxin into the public domain and into the courts - and win.
Robert Allen is the author of No Global: The People of Ireland versus the Multinationals, Pluto Press, London/Ann Arbor/Dublin, published in April 2004. Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com.
Book Description
Ireland's economy has seen phenomenal growth since the 1990s, as a result of an earlier decision by the state to chase foreign investment, largely from US corporates. As a result, manufacturers of raw chemicals, pharmaceuticals and highly dangerous substances came to Ireland, where they could make toxic products free from the strict controls imposed by other nations.
Robert Allen's book reveals the consequences to human health and the environment of the Irish state's love affair with the multinational chemical industry. The cost to Irish society was a series of ecological and social outrages, starting in the 1970s and continuing into the 2000s.
No Global is a lesson for countries who seek to encourage multinationals at the expense of the health their population and the delicate nature of their ecosystems. It is also a heart-warming record of the successful campaigns fought by local people to protect themselves and their environment from polluting industry
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