A Song for the Outage: These Plants Are Your Plants

These Plants Are Your Plants

Finally, a sing-along! Gail H. Marcus, former president of the American Nuclear Society (among other achievements and honors) wrote These Plants Are Your Plants. She posted the lyrics on her blog, Nuke Power Talk. She has written other songs, too, like Neutron Doodle.

Marcus was inspired to write nuclear songs by the way the depression-era hydro projects were encouraged by songs. The best song was Roll on Columbia by Woody Guthrie: "Your power is turning our darkness to dawn."

These Plants are Your Plants

(sung to the tune of "This Land is Your Land," by Woodie Guthrie)

Lyrics by Gail H. Marcus

Copyright Gail. H. Marcus

These plants are your plants

These plants are my plants

From their cooling towers

To their nuclear islands

From the U.S. Heartland

To its coastal waters

These plants were made for you and me.

As I was walking

That ribbon of highway

I saw before me

A smogless skyway

And sparkling waters

Were flowing my way

These plants are good for you and me.

The children were laughing

And people were singing

At all the wonders

The power was bringing

The lights were shining

And the bells were ringing

These atoms split for you and me.

And at the plant sites

The workers labored

To use the atom

To help their neighbors

With clean safe power

To fuel all nations

These plants bring joy to you and me.

These plants are your plants

These plants are my plants

From their cooling towers

To their nuclear islands

From Europe's vineyard

To Asia's water

These plants were made for you and me.

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The Original

Warning: The verses about the hydro projects and the river locks (for navigation) are terrific. However, some of the Guthrie lyrics are very distasteful. The "wild Indian warriors"? Ouch. We forget how prejudice was part of standard speech, back in the Good Old Days.