In Case Of Emergency, Read Blog

Last month, I posted some YouTube videos of songs I think are particularly resonant and representative of the ideas raised in this blog. Afterwards, I received a couple of suggestions from readers below which I thought I would post:

Bruce Hennes —

My nomination for Best Preparedness Song, Nuclear Division is Tom Lehrer – Who’s Next? (Video below). All right, it’s a stretch, I admit. But, what, 45 years, give or take a year, after it was written and recorded, it’s still right on target.

Jon Abolins–

First song that came to my mind is “Jerusalem”, which is sort of an unofficial English anthem. Often sung at English soccer games and was an often sung at Women’s Institutes meetings. for The latter half does talk about preparing & persevering.

Bring me my bow of burning gold:
Bring me my arrows of desire:
Bring me my spear: O clouds unfold!
Bring me my chariot of fire.

I will not cease from mental fight,
Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand
Till we have built Jerusalem
In England’s green and pleasant land.

By the way, one of the lines is the basis for the title of the movie ”Chariots of Fire”. I don’t know if many others would see this as a citizen preparedness song. It is quite rooted in England’s culture, especially one for non-English. Also, the song has strong church hymn overtones and some Christian references. (The first half refers to an old English legend.)

A nice video of the song:

A more contemporary song that can serve for citizen preparedness is Bruce Springsteen’s recent song “Working on a Dream”. Video below:

“Working On A Dream is also a song I would add to my own list. Another one is “How To Save A Life” by The Fray.