When Ken Daubert got over having his breath taken away by Saturday’s false missile warning, the Puhi man was reminded of a song he wrote 35 years ago.
A member of the band DMZ on Oahu, Daubert penned the words and lyrics to “Don’t Warn Me” in 1983 at the height of the nuclear arms race with the Soviet Union.
Between their nuclear arsenals, the U.S. and the Soviet Union had enough to wipe out the world several times over, Daubert said.
Daubert, now 65, remembers when drills were held when he was in school and students crawled under their desks.
“If we launched them all, forget about it,” he said.
A bass player and vocalist, he wrote the song as “a spoof kind of thing.”
“Not that I take it lightly,” he said. “The ridiculousness of drawing your window shades was too much.”
The Cold War was heating up and Daubert didn’t plan on worrying about it. It wouldn’t do any good, he figured.
“If they launch them, we ain’t getting away from this,” he said.
The song didn’t become a big hit, but the lyrics of “Don’t Warn Me” are especially pertinent after Saturday’s missile scare.
Here are most of the lyrics:
“Don’t warn me; don’t bother cranking up the sirens.
Don’t warn me; don’t want to know when I’m gonna go.
The argument is never ending.
It’s getting scarier each day.
The cost of war is in the zillions.
This time we all participate.
Don’t warn me; don’t bother cranking up the sirens.
Don’t warn me; ain’t gonna dig myself a hole.
Don’t get me wrong, I really care.
I’ll carry on, although I’m scared.
Don’t warn me — don’t warn me.
We’ve known the danger all these years.
And yes, I chose to close the blinds.
But now returning is the fear.
Its fuse is burning in my mind.
I guess I’ll write the president,
At least until election day.
I’d like to vote for Carl Sagan,
And get off the holocaustic train!”
Daubert, who was walking his dogs when he received the warning on his phone, said he looked up in the sky first. Then, he waited to see if sirens would sound.
When they didn’t, he figured he was safe. But still, he said, “It kind of put a flutter in my stomach.”
Just like 35 years ago.
