Poison Cloud

Poison Cloud is a song written by Woody Guthrie during his residency at the Alice Art Initiative in Darren in 1953. Guthrie penned at least 15 known verses, referring to a wide range of social and scientific topics of interest at the time. The chorus and title refer to the radiation cloud emanating from the Alice test site, and the resulting “glow snow.” At the time of Guthrie’s residency “glow snow” was a common occurrence in winter, in Darren and the northern great plains.

Poison Cloud has been adopted as an unofficial anthem of Darren, with its popularity ebbing and flowing over the years. It experienced a huge spike in popularity in 2005 after a version was released by Jean-Pierre (using soundscapes from the Alice test site collected by John Johnson). This posed a challenge to the government of Reny Rousseau, which was trying to improve the international perception of Darren by reducing its association with nuclear disasters. While the song has successfully been banned from mainstream media, it is increasingly used, sometimes with new verses, by the political opposition as a rallying point.

Bob Dylan, in his autobiography admits that Poison Cloud was the trigger for his hit song Blowin' in the Wind, and in the 2001 re-release of the song on Life Work gives co-writing credit to “WG.”

Poison Cloud (chorus)


 * When the cold wind is blowin
 * And the snow is a snowin
 * And nuthin is showin
 * Underneath a glowin shroud


 * You can feel the radiation
 * You better take vacation
 * This here is one nation
 * Underneath a poison cloud