Crawl out Through the Fallout - Sheldon Allman

Episode Number 1

Song Facts:

Genre: Pop

Lyricist: Sheldon Allman

Rumors:

"Crawl out Through the Fallout" has been conjectured, perhaps a satirical mockery of the Cold War propaganda, and actually, of the ridiculousness of the civil defense measures recommended at that time.

Artist Info:

Sheldon Allman was a Canadian-born American singer, actor, and composer known for his low, rich voice and for being the writer of some of the weirdest, yet satirically best, music ever made.
Allman's work with the band did little to change that serious, pained image, but his contributions to the music were often playful renditions of poignant material, or dark subject matter tempered with a light-hearted, catchy pop sense. His work frequently mirrors the tensions, cultural undercurrents, and also the simple pleasures which either have been or are getting lost in the current pace.

Annotations and Meaning:

The lyrics, "Crawl out through the Fallout," put a macabre, irony-tinged laugh to the Cold War nuclear fears. The recurrence in this line of the words, "crawl out through the fallout, baby," implies a kind of casual attitude even to a nuclear apocalypse—hence sarcasm for the over-optimistic advice then being proffered by civil defense for the '50s and '60s.

The song played up in irony at the most serious situation—doomsday from nuclear fallout—with a pretty casual attitude and just finding solace in the arms of a loved one.
The reference to "radiation burns" and "strontium 90," which is a radioactive isotope, was a subtle reference to the grim realities of nuclear fallout. This was done in a whimsical way through the reassurance of their love.

Another ironic level is added to that line throughout the text, "‘Cause they said this bomb was clean," blaming people who, on the other hand, gave them false information or else innocently were too hopeful regarding nuclear safety and making sarcastic comments that every other bomb can be clean. The mention of "ICBMs" that would supposedly keep us is sarcastic, bringing out the idea of nuclear weapons being viewed in whatever strange light they will have shed on them: peacemakers. It even goes further to bring out limp absurdities of peace through mutual destruction. So, the music generally plays against the happy tune and even the darker comic lyrics, indicting mostly the paradoxes of the nuclear age, meaning the tension mostly between the horrific potential of nuclear war and petty hawking by the government on who can build a better bomb or duck and cover faster. The attitude is playful, serving as strange contrast to the vicious reality pointed at, so the song becomes the poignant satire of its day.