The baby blinks her eyes as the sun falls from the sky
She feels the stings of a thousand fires as the city around her dies
Some sleep beneath the rubble, some wake to a different world
From the crying babe will grow a laughing girl

Ten summers fade to autumn, ten winters' snows have passed
She's a child of dreams and dances, she's a racer strong and fast
But the headaches come ever more often and the dizziness always returns
And the word that she hears is leukemia and it burns

[Chorus]
Cranes over Hiroshima, white and red and gold
Flicker in the sunlight like a million vanished souls
I will fold these cranes of paper to a thousand one by one
And I'll fly away when I'm done

Her ancestors knew the legend, if you make a thousand cranes
From squares of colored paper, it will take the pain away
With loving hands she folds them, 6 hundred 44
Till the morning her stumbling fingers can't fold anymore

[Chorus]

Her friends did not forget her, crane after crane they made
Until they reached a thousand and laid them upon her grave
People from everywhere gathered, together a prayer they said
And they wrote the words in granite so none can forget

This is our cry, this is our prayer, peace in the world
This is our cry, this is our prayer, peace in the world
This is our cry, this is our prayer, peace in the world
This is our cry, this is our prayer, peace in the world
No more Hiroshima, no more Nagasaki
This is our cry, this is our prayer, peace in the world
This is our cry, this is our prayer, peace in the world
Sing a song of peace, dream a dream of peace in the world
This is our cry, this is our prayer, peace in the world
This is our cry


Lyrics submitted by Demau Senae

Cranes over Hiroshima Lyrics as written by Fred Small

Lyrics © FREDERICK E. SMALL D/B/A PINE BARRENS MUSIC

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Cranes Over Hiroshima song meanings
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    General Comment

    this song is about a girl who gets leukemia after the bombing of hiroshima. she dies and her friends and family fold 1,000 cranes to make the pain go away. the meaning here seems clear but the underlying message is one that we should have peace and the song pretty much is trying to get you to think about what happens when you drop an atom bomb. it isn't pretty.

    infinitypoolon March 24, 2012   Link

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