Acceptable Risks

20 years back
Out at Yucca Flats
Our trucks were winding down
To the testing site
They had a bomb out there
I still see it clear
It turned night to day
And day to endless night

11 hundred soldiers
Easy duty, come back paid
Truck down to watch that fireball
I still see it clear as day
But it wasn't what they showed us
It was what they didn't say
And if I knew what I was getting into
Nothing could have dragged me down
To pay the price I've got to pay today

Oh, they told me it was safe
And they swore that it was true
They said the risks are all acceptable
Acceptable to who?
They can't cover up the truth no more
I feel it in my bones
You can fool yourself with numbers
But you pay the price alone

Well, they marched us down
Sat us on the ground
And I think they knew
What they never said out loud
Our only shelter there
Was the desert air
With our hands on our faces
Our backs to the deadly cloud

Then the world went wide
I swear I saw the bones in both my hands
The ground was glowing cherry red
So hot we could not stand
And something deep inside me knew
Just what the army planned
'Cause that deadly time bomb started clickin'
Deep within my bones it's tickin'
You hear that sound
You're quick to understand

But they told me it was safe
And they swore that it was true
They said the risks are all acceptable
Acceptable to who?
They can't cover up the truth no more
I feel it in my bones
You can fool yourself with numbers
But you pay the price alone

20 years passed, this year's my last
And I still can't quite believe just what they did
20 years passed slow, and all I got to show
Is a lousy pension for my widow and my kids

So I thought you would hear this warning
Of one who's been hit hard
About their testing sites and their power plants
With their fences and their guards
'Cause that time bomb, it's a-tickin' still
And it's right in your backyard
And if you knew what you was gettin' into
What it finally all comes down to
Maybe you'll believe it when I'm dead

Oh, they'll tell you that it's safe
And they'll swear to you it's true
They'll say the risks are all acceptable
Acceptable, acceptable, acceptable to who?
They can't cover up the truth
When it is burned in your bone
They can fool you with their numbers
But you'll pay the price alone, alone, all alone