šµ Love, Natalie
A glimpse into my grandparents' first year of marriage during the making of the atomic bomb in Oak Ridge, Tennesseeātold as it might have been written in a letter to my great-grandmother.
We all have those family storiesāthe ones shared in hushed voices. This is one of ours.
Iām writing this from a 100-year-old home in San Francisco. The matriarch of the family who lived here before us was a Nagasaki atomic bomb survivor. Our stories intersect now, just as they did then. My heart aches thinking about it.
In 1944, my grandfather, Bill, was a freshly minted UC Berkeley graduate in mechanical engineering. He and his new wife, Natalie, moved to Oak Ridge, Tennessee, for his first job. But this wasnāt the first year of marriage Natalie had dreamed of. Life during the war was hard. Bill couldnāt talk about his work, and suspicion ran high. Did she know what he was working on? I still donāt know. What I do know is that my grandfather carried the weight of both pride and guilt for the rest of his life.
This song was an ambitious storytelling effort, co-written with my friend David Seitz. Iāll always be grateful for his patience with my early songwriting and for recording the guitar that made this work tape possible.
We hope this song inspires you to learn more about the brave families of Oak Ridge and their untold experiences.
āWe very nearly have achieved our goal hereā -William (Bill) Salsig
written 4/2/45 (4 months before Nagasaki & Hiroshima)
Love, Natalie Written by: Jody Pritchard & David Seitz V.1 Thank God itās over And our boys are coming home I was blessed to have Bill by my side A lifetimeās passed since '41 But it's 1945 Mother Iāve missed you May this letter in your hands Share a bit about our year I'm dazed and trying to understand The box weāve opened here ______ C. Theyāre dancing on the cable cars at home A man stands in the mud and smokes alone In the hills of Oak Ridge Tennessee In a secret town on an unpaved street In a paper house I pack our things And I can barely breathe _______ V.2 Bill worked behind barbed wire By now, you know why With notebooks of equations Coming back at 5am with bloodshot eyes An hour before the sun Iād serve canned ham and biscuits Wait in line to take a shower Planned lessons as he tried to sleep With my Berkeley degree I spent the hours Teaching barefoot kids to read ______ C. Theyāre dancing on the cable cars at home A man stands in the mud and smokes alone In the hills of Oak Ridge Tennessee In a secret town on an unpaved street In a paper house I pack our things And I can barely breathe _______ V.3 We said our vows a year ago You blessed us with your prayers Now rationed words like sugar cane Silent dinners and secrets on the chairs Itās not how I thought itād be B. The stew is boiling over The kitchenās black with smoke I open up the window And hear him talking to himself I canāt wash this mud out Of our clothes in Tennessee When we leave for home Will he come back to me V.4 Weāll see you at Thanksgiving If the Plymouth makes the drive The Hornetās leaving Tokyo Bay And Bud and brother Bob are still alive Love, Natalie
This song is amazing and your voice is beautiful.