In times of perceived doomsday reckoning,
people looked to religion as a form of comfort whereby they would seek deliverance or a sort of salvation in the event that the world ended.
This is no different from times of old where the general populace would bear the brunt of such a cataclysm. In this case, religious undertones would seep into popular culture, through fine art, shows, gossip and most pertinently, music.
Songs with religious undertones took a sombre yet light-hearted approach to the whole nuclear situation.
Most, if not an overwhelming majority of songs, came from Christian individuals and groups who drew references to scripture and Biblical figures, be it subtly or directly. Unsurprisingly, many of the songs that talked about this were from either country singers or groups who sang the songs in a gospel-esque manner or simply drew lots of Biblical references even though they were not gospel singers.
Many of these songs encapsulated the mood of the time, whereby people believed, and rightfully so, that the dropping of the bombs would signal armaggedon. One of the songs says that the world would be destroyed in fire and many Christians thought that the nuclear bomb would be a means to that end. Jesus Christ would also come to the righteous and the believers to bring them salvation.
Atom and Evil
Golden Gate Quartet
Not long after the bomb was dropped,
In 1946, The Golden Gate Quartet came up with their new song “Atom and Evil” drawing numerous striking parallels to the Biblical story of Adam and Eve.
The song starts off much like a pastor talking to his flock, with “Now brothers and sisters. I’m troubled to say. Brother Atom is gone astray”, which is what pastors, or at least religious people would say when one of their flock or fellow religious adherents conducts himself in a sinful or unbecoming manner.
The next stanza follows up with
This is the story of Atom and Evil.
Their courtship is causin' a great upheaval.
Now Atom was a sweet young innocent thing.
Until the night that Miss Evil took him under her wing
which relates itself to the story of Adam and Eve, where Eve was his partner. However, Eve shares the forbidden apple with Adam and thus commits the original sin, casting man down to earth. This personifies Eve as Evil and Adam as Atom, potentially causing Atom to go astray and cause mankind a great catastrophe once more.
Finally the chorus sings
I'm talkin' 'bout Atom, and Evil. Atom and Evil.
If you don't break up that romance soon.
We'll all fall down and go boom, boom, (boom), boom!
The parallels show that, much like Adam and Eve, humanity would go down the same path of destruction if Atom and Evil are not separated
Jesus Hits Like The Atom Bomb
Lowell Blanchard
In the wake of the USSR having its first successful atomic bomb test, the danger of an atomic war became a significantly more acute. With the Berlin Airlift and formation of NATO as a clear sign of this. This sets the context of how “Jesus Hits Like The Atom Bomb” was composed.
The opening stanza sings
Everybody's worried. 'Bout the atomic bomb.
But nobody's worried. 'Bout the day my Lord will come.
When he'll hit. Like an atom bomb.
In this case there are no religious undertones, but blatantly spells out that while people fear nuclear war, they fear not the day that the Lord signals the Day of Judgement, or the Second Coming.
Another notable part of the song is
Well now, God told Elijah, He would send down fire, Send down fire from on high.
He told the brother Noah by the rainbow sign, There'll be no water, but fire in the sky.
Now don't get worried, just bear in mind, Seek King Jesus and you shall find.
Peace, happiness, and joy divine, With my Jesus in your mind.
This part draws again from the Bible of how Elijah, a prophet in Abrahamic religions, was told that Armageddon would come in the form of fire and one way that could come to be was nuclear war. The song directly correlates nuclear war with the coming of Christ and its strong religious tone and lyrics clearly show this.
The Great Atomic Power
The Louvin Brothers
The 1951 song, “The Great Atomic Power”, by The Louvin Brothers at the height of the Korean War, painted the mood as to the uncertainty that the world was facing at that point. As referenced to the book “Country Music Goes to War” by the University Press of Kentucky, the song has to be listened to in its entirety to grasp the nuances of the song.
The gist of the song can be summarised in the chorus and ending line which goes
Are you ready for that great atomic power?
Will you rise and meet your Savior in the end?
Will you shout or will you cry when the fire rains from on high?
Are you ready for that great atomic power?
Much like “Jesus Hits Like The Atom Bomb”, it makes the listener question themselves as to whether they are prepared to meet their maker, in terms of their own good merit and whether they have sinned. As such, the song induces self-reflection in its listeners as to whether they are worthy of salvation in the event of a nuclear war.
Ultimately, as time passed, the religious dimension of nuclear war subsided and gave way to more liberal, not-so-religious songs of detente and denuclearisation, instead of whether one would be allowed salvation in the event of a nuclear war. This diminished the amount and the popularity of this genre of songs relating to the bomb.