They're hosing down trucks at the border under a rainbow sign --

the raindrops falling on my head burn into my mind.

on a hillside in the distance there's a patch of green sunshine

ain't it a shame

ain't it a shame

about the radium rain.



Everyday in the paper you can watch the numbers rise,

no such event can over take us here, we're much too wise

in the meantime don't eat anything that grows and don't breathe when the cars go by

ain't it a shame

ain't it a shame

about the radium rain



Big motorcycle rumbles out of the rain like some creation of mist.

there's a man on a roof with a blindfold on and a hand grenade in his fist.

i walk stiff, with teeth clenched tight, filled with nostalgia for a clean wind's kiss.

ain't it a shame

ain't it a shame

about the radium rain.



A flock of birds writes something on the sky in a language i can't understand.

God's graffiti -- but it don't say why so much evil seems to land on man

when everyone i meet just wants to live and love, and get along as best they can.

ain't it a shame

ain't it a shame

about the radium rain.



(Cologne, May 8, 1986.)