The glory of the atom begs a reverent word   The primary design of the whole universe   Yeah, let us sing its praises, let us bow our heads in prayer   At the magnificent consciousness incarnate there      The smallest unit of matter with its orbiting electrons   Echoing off the solar system like a hawk in the hills at dawn   The smallest unit of matter   Uniting bird and rock and tree and you and me      Oh, holy is the atom, the truly intelligent design   To which all of evolution is graciously aligned   The one single structure to which everything distills   The air, the wood smoke there and the hills      Oh, leave me here surrounded by everything that's real   Far outside the boundaries of the digitized ordeal, yeah   Leave me here awake, leave me here to heal      Human beings are a cross between monkeys and ants   You can see us from your spaceship   Melting the polar ice caps with our arrogance   Summon a congress of angels dressed in riot gear   We've got ourselves a serious situation down here      I have this great, great uncle who worked on the atomic bomb   He got a Nobel Prize in physics and a place in this song   And I bet there were no windows and no women in the room   When they applied themselves to the pure science of boom      Yeah, messin' with the atom is the highest form of blasphemy   Whether you are making weapons or simple electricity   Someone fashion me a pulpit, I have been called to engage   With the maniacal heretics of the nuclear age      Let the religious get religion, let consumers get a clue   Let scientists get perspective, let activists get their due   Let industry get a conscience, let the earth inherit the meek   Let the divinity of nature speak      Oh, the glory of the atom begs a reverent word   The primary design of the whole universe   Yes, let us sing its praises, let us bow our heads in prayer   At the magnificent consciousness incarnate there