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Talkin' Fallout Shelter Blues

by L. Don Ōkami

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about

In 2019 I participated in a project and workshop coordinated by Tampere University and funded by the Kone Foundation on how childhood Cold War memories could be a path to understanding. One of my memories was a family friend proudly showing us his new fallout shelter in the early 1960's in the small-town South, and it seemed like a talking blues was the best way to put it into song. After talking about the visit with my brother, we remember certain details differently, so I can't promise that this is exactly what it looked like, but I do remember the combination of excitement and fear.

lyrics

In nineteen hundred and sixty-two
Marion was where we lived and grew
5000 people, most necks red
Roadsides lined by tobacco sheds
Tobacco………..cotton…………deep Dixiecrat South….

Daddy was a Methodist preacher, you see
Smart young man with a masters degree
And one of his friends, just a couple of blocks
Was a church member and our family doc
Money……… education ….but right wing as he could be

We’d go and hang out with their sons
And play outdoors and have some fun
But most of all what we wanted to see
Was whatever was on that color TV
Round edges……… green faces ……… but it was color!

We were drinking lemonade and watching a show
When the doc said, come on everybody, let’s go
Head on out to the back yard now
I got something there gonna make you say “wow!”
Back yard eh…………..hmm………….you sure this is better than The Flintstones?

Well we went out back saw a concrete shed
Where there used to be a croquet bed
Not very big, about 7 feet tall
A shorter door in one of the walls
Strange looking thing………. What’s it for?........... is it better than croquet?

Well he opened the door and said “come in”
We went down some steps and into a “den”
“It’s a fallout shelter” he said with pride
When the Rooskies bomb us, this is where we hide
Commies………….Rooskies……….the buzz words that made us all go pale

Well the room was dim and the walls were bare
But 10 beds were spread around there
Two months’ worth of food and drink
A diesel generator, a toilet and a sink
Pretty basic………..and dark………but oughta be safe

Well I didn’t know, should I be scared
Or just impressed while I stood and stared
“If newkewlar war comes, we won’t whine
We’ll stay right here then come out fine”
Come out fine eh? After nuclear war….. what are we gonna come out to?!

credits

released March 8, 2021
guitar, banjo, vocal - L. Don Okami
Track art: fallout shelter sing, New York City, licensed under GNU Free Documentation License

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L. Don Ōkami Tampere, Finland

L. Don Ōkami is the nom de banjo of Tampere transplant Don Lupo from South Carolina via Switzerland, Germany, Japan and Ireland. Don has been playing American for 45 years and clawhammer banjo for over 30. After many years focusing on traditional music from the southern US, he has started exploring the space between folk music, drones, noise and banjo with the aid of loopers, effects and friends. ... more

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