Spitball Army

from Variety, 31 August 1950

RCA VICTOR QUIETLY QUASHES ITS OLD MAN ATOM RECORDING

Victor has quietly withdrawn its Sons of the Pioneers plattering of “Old Man Atom” off the market. It is reported that RCA top tier execs feel that the lyrics of the novelty stresses capitulation as an ideal to be pursued by US foreign policy in light of present world conflict, with focus, of course, on Korea.

The tune was first etched by Sam Hinton, Professor of Oceanography at Scripps Institute, on the ABC Eagle label. That rendition has since been farmed out for Columbia distribution. Columbia hasn’t called in its version. Another rendition by Ozie Walters on the Coral label is still in circulation.”

from Atomic Platters:

This semi-satirical, talking blues folk tune is…a call to action to control and limit the proliferation of atomic weapons. It is, indeed, that rarest of early Cold War tunes, the anti-Bomb song. The first generation of atomic music…was overwhelmingly pro-Bomb, but this track is rarer still because Sam Hinton’s [1950 recording of the song] was actually popular. It was influential New York DJ Martin Block who broke the song on his ‘Make Believe Ballroom’ program and his audience ate it up. Soon Columbia had acquired rights to its distribution and The Sons Of The Pioneers issued their hurried-to-release, watered-down version of the tune. Reportedly, even Bing Crosby was going to record a cover for Decca, but right-wing attacks on RCA Victor and Columbia (condemning the labels for promoting a Communist ideology) influenced the labels to pull the song from distribution. Despite angry editorials over the labels’ cowardice published in The New York Times, Variety, Life, and The Saturday Evening Post, the record remained pulled. The song, however, rose again as part of the folk revival of the ’60s and was performed by numerous artists.

[audio:Sons_of_the_Pioneers___Old_Man_Atom.mp3]
“Old Man Atom” (1950) by Sons of the Pioneers

from “Old Man Atom:”

The answer to it all ain’t military datum,
Like who gets there firstest with the mostest atoms,
No, the people of the world must decide their fate,
They gotta get together or disintegrate.
I hold this truth to be self-evident
That all men may be cremated equal!