A song about the world's worst nuclear accident at Chernobyl.
A bright light in these dark times
The Magic Ox Band were a spin off of the Magic Ox Theatre Group - a zany bunch of performers who used to do wild things at the old Albion Fayres.
Although the Band split up long ago, I feel the songs we did back then still deserve a listening today. Folk never goes out of fashion - it just matures nicely :-)
Story behind the song
I was out all day hiking in the mountains of Wales and when I came home I was told I'd been out in the Chernobyl cloud. This song was born from the outrage and fear I felt over the incident.
Lyrics
Cloud of Silence
On a small family farm north of Kiev,
One morning in spring, a songbird sang upon a well
Kolya, only six, was delighted by the song,
Putting out her tongue to catch the first rain as it fell.
And the rain felt like rain and the wind felt like wind,
There was nothing in the air to give a warning
And when her mother towelled her dry,
Kolya cried and cried,
For the rain had felt so good that April morning.
CHORUS
She couldn’t see it, couldn’t smell it
Couldn’t taste it, couldn’t feel it
But each breath she drew brought its sting into her chest.
It won’t happen in a moment, it won’t happen of a sudden,
But if the damage is done, she’s under sentence…
Sentence of death
It had been a routine shift at Chernobyl
Michael Ivanovich was in the middle of a joke
When a bang and a siren, delivered the punch line,
In seconds he was fighting for his life through the dense smoke.
As he stumbled outside, thanking God he was still alive,
His stinging eyes caught site of the reactor.
Shouting “What in hell could’ve made that hole?
Everything was in control”
Everything that is, except the human factor.
CHORUS
He couldn’t see it…
The weatherman reassured us all this evening.
The wind had turned back east and blown the cloud across the sea.
Which meant a double dose for the Swedes and for the Finns.
“But there’s no need to fear here!” said the fat man from C.E.G.B
“The rain’s not fit to drink. But the milk’s OK we think!”
Another expert came on next to tell us.
“The levels are really low. Safety standards, they’re below!”
How would we know, if they’re lies that they sell us?
CHORUS
We wouldn’t see it…
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