If you were there in the sub on that fateful day Would you had what it took to disobey The crisis hot, captain yelling “Bombs away!” One sudden choice, disgrace or a world in flames
Your tin can seethes, your breath boils, your sweat pours Maslennikov says this is it, this is war Torpedos burst, no info known this far offshore You think of Olga, Yelena, all you answer for
(J - will you do it x8 you must do it x7, then M - NO!)
Chorus: Let’s dance for Arkhipov, let’s pop a cork for old Petrov If we have to burn it down and start again At least have the sky and the birds and the wind
If I was there in that bunker in eighty-three And I got that early warning on my system screen Would I have known whether to turn the end-times key? A false alarm? Probably...but no guarantee
I like think I would have stayed focused and calm But I know, were I there, we would have dropped the bomb Who trains our hands for peace? A missing psalm So here’s to two heroes who saved us from the atom