Ani DiFranco - The Atom (03.11.2008) Tampa

Ani's thought-provoking response to the folks who want to teach the miracle of Creation as science, but have no qualms about manipulating nature into the abomination of nuclear arms and power. Tampa Theatre, March 2008.

This track is on Ani's upcoming album Red Letter Year to be released September 2008 from http://www.righteousbabe.com

the glory of the atom
begs a reverent word
the primary design of the whole universe
let us sing its praises
let us bow our heads in prayer
at the magnificent consciousness
incarnate there

the smallest unit of matter
with its orbiting electrons
echoing off the solar system
like a hawk in the hills at dawn
the smallest unit of matter
uniting bird and rock and tree
and you and me

oh holy is the atom
the truly intelligent design
to which all of evolution
is graciously aligned
the one single structure
to which everything distills
the air, the wood smoke there, and the hills

oh leave me here surrounded
by everything that's real
far outside the boundaries
of the digitized ordeal
leave me here awake
leave me here to heal

human beings are a cross
between monkeys and ants
you can see us from your spaceship
melting the polar ice caps with our arrogance
summon a congress of angels
dressed in riot gear
we've got ourselves a serious situation down here

i had a great great uncle
who worked on the atomic bomb
he got a nobel prize in physics
and a place in this song
and i bet there were no windows
and no women in the room
when they applied themselves to the pure
science of doom

messing with the atom
is the highest form of blasphemy
whether you are making weapons
or simply electricity
someone fashion me a pulpit
i have been called to engage
with the maniacal heretics
of the nuclear age

let the religious get religion
let consumers get a clue
let scientists get perspective
let activists get their due
let industry get a conscience
let the earth inherit the meek
let the divinity of nature speak

the glory of the atom
begs a reverent word
the primary design
of the whole universe
oh let us sing its praises
let us bow our heads in prayer
at the magnificent consciousness
incarnate there

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Ani
• DiFranco
• Atom
• Tampa
• Todd
• Sickafoose
• anti-nuclear
• creationism
• intelligent
• design
• religious
• fundamentalism
• hymn
• nuclear
• energy

[lsudl]

Quit arguing. Don't judge her. Let her be...I'm a just out of college "frat boy" and I get Ani...She just wants good...let's all unite. The U.S. is not in the best looking sunny position, so we've obviously got to do something different than what we've been doing. Quit complaining, forget arguing, and being right. Lose your ego, find a forest, it never stops growing, ever. Only we can stop from growing.

[SnootyF]

Does it make me a giant nerd that this song ALWAYS makes me want to point out that electrons do not orbit the nucleus of an atom in the same fashion as planets do suns? That there is a big difference between gravity and weak atomic forces? omg, it does make me a nerd, doesn't it? lol! Damn it! I love this song and Ani regardless. ^_^

[AzureMonk]

This is a stupid song. It is not brilliant, noteworthy or particularly remarkable at all.

[AmyGonzalez85]

How selfish can people be when they demand an artist who has been creating and distributing music for over 20 years to stay miserable and angry for the sake of making miserable and angry people "happy"...... it makes me sad that you cant just kick back and appreciate an artist like Ani Difranco for all that she is and represents..... if you want sad and angry go watch another season of COPS!!!

[pragdru]

"pure science of boom" not "doom"

[CatWeakness]

What is beyond sight is quarks and leptons is an atom, is a molecule, is a chemical chain, is a cell, is an organ, is a body, is a family, is a community, is a country, is a continent, is a planet, is a colar system, is a galaxy, is a universe, is beyond sight. You've missed the intellectual and spiritual assertions embedded within these lyrics. I suggest a healthy dose of psilocybin mushrooms in lieu of the mechanistic Cartesian paradigm you were circumstantially born unto.

[CatWeakness]

Were you a truly psychonautical nerd like Ani you would 'withstand' the inherent fractal architectonics of the universe, and subsequently realize that self-similar processes express themselves differently in different domains.

[lovestopanic]

Seriously, if you guys can't see past the piety and poetically-licentious nuclear 'facts' in this song to see the faith and hope that Ani's really singing about, then clearly you don't love her as much as you all pretend to.

[brilobite]

Some people are so smart that they are dumb.

[brilobite]

Some people are so smart that they are dumb.