SUDAKO AND THE PAPER CRANES
(Tommy Sands)

          Sudako, let me make a paper crane for you
          Sudako, let me help to make your dreams come true

Sudako was a baby when the cruel bombs were burning
And the homes of Hiroshima turned to hell
But somehow she kept living and she seemed to laugh and play
Just like any little girl of ten
But lately, she's complaining of dizzy spells and headaches
And she's praying for an end to all these pains
And she hears the old folks whisper
Your wishes will be granted if you make a thousand paper cranes

She doesn't wish for chocolate cakes or dolls with coloured dresses
As lovingly she folds each paper crane
The only prayer she whispers, May this sickness go away
And poison bombs don't ever come again
Her hands are growing slower but her hopeful heart is racing
She has made six hundred cranes and forty-four
But the headaches keep returning, her fingers they are burning
She whispers, I just can't make any more

The children leave the classroom, they are crowding round her bedside
They are making paper cranes with loving speed
Soon there'll be a thousand and your wishes will come true
Sudako, are you smiling in your sleep
The pains of life are leaving and the only dream she's dreaming
Is a dream that bombs will never fall again
And that's the dream they carry as they gather at her graveside
And gently place a thousand paper cranes


No chords, I'm afraid, but a little more info:

[1995:] Sudako Suzaki was just a baby when the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. She survived but later developed leukemia as a result of the radiation. There's an old belief in Japan that if you make a thousand paper cranes (the crane being the symbol of health and long life), you can have any wish that you want. This is the true story of what happened. Today there is a statue of Sudako in the Peace Park of Hiroshima and children still go there with paper cranes. (I thank Patti Mohr from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania for bringing this story to my attention, and Fred Small for a beautiful song on the same subject.) (Notes Tommy Sands, 'The Heart's A Wonder')

[2005:] In the post-war years it was hard to find a Japanese child who did not know the story of Sadako, a young victim of the bombing who folded 1,000 paper cranes - a symbol of peace - as she lay dying from leukaemia. Today's 12-year-olds are barely aware of the importance of 6 August, says Ken Kobayakawa of the Hiroshima Institute of Peace Education. 'The farther you get away from Hiroshima the less children know what happened there.' (Justin McCurry, Observer 20 Feb)


I prefer the song 'Hiroshima Child' by Nazim Hikmet, translated into English by Jeanette Turner, made famous by Pete Seeger with the "Great Selkie" tune written by James Waters. Moves me to tears every time I listen.