Having recently borrowed Sing Out Vol. 26 for PHJim's Fret Buzz Blues request I stumbled upon this song and felt obliged to share it with others. It's a simple song but fun.

It was written by Dave Williams of DeKalb, Illinois for an anti-nuclear rally held at Seabrook the previous spring (spring of 1976) as what became part of the Clamshell Alliance movement. It was apparently sung with increasing frequency "as the tempo of anti-nuclear protests increase[d]."

There are dots to the song in the book as well, but it's a simple melody in 2/4 time with 2 sharps. It starts with a 1 beat pickup measure of two eighth notes and remains eighth notes for most of the melody, where the singer holds a quartet note more or less exactly where you'd expect to, sometimes followed by an eighth rest. I'll underline held words here, and include the key changes as provided in the book.

NUCLEAR POWER BLUES
(Dave Williams)

Well they (D) found some funny rocks [rest] out (G) on the Utah (D) flats
And they (D) thought they'd make some money so they (A) hired some bureaucrats
And they (D) said it's what we need [rest] to (G) keep us free from (D) care
Now we all got Nuclear Power radi-(A)-ation every-(D)-where