Josh Ritter - The Temptation of Adam lyrics

"If this was the Cold War, we
Could keep each other warm, "
I said on the first occasion that I met Marie
We were crawling through the hatch that
Was the missile silo door
And I don’t think that she really
Thought that much of me

I never had to learn to love her
Like I learned to love the bomb
She just came along and started to ignore me
But as we waited for the "Big One
" I started singing her my songs
And I think she started
Feeling something for me

We passed the time with crosswords that
She thought to bring inside
"What five letters spell 'apocalypse?'"
She asked me
I won her over singing, "W W-I I I"
And we smiled and we both
Knew that she’d misjudged me oh, Marie
It was so easy to fall in love with you
It felt almost like a home
Of sorts or something
And you would keep the warhead
Missile silo good as new
And I watched you with my
Thumb above the button

Then one night you found me
In my Army-issue cot
And you told me of your flash of inspiration
You said fusion was the broken
Heart that’s lonely’s only thought
And all night long you drove
Me wild with your equations

Oh, Marie
Do you remember all the time we used to take
Making love and then ransack the rations?
I think about you leaving now
And the avalanche cascades
And my eyes get washed
Away in chain reactions

Oh, Marie, if you would stay then we could
Stick pins in the map
Of all the places where you thought
That love would be found
But, I would only need one pin
To show where my love's at
In a top-secret location 300
Feet under the ground

Oh, we could hold each other close
And stay up every night
Looking up into the dark like
It’s the night sky
And pretend this giant missile is
An old oak tree instead
And carve our name in hearts into the warhead

Oh, Marie
There’s something tells me things just
Won’t work out above
That our love would live a
Half-life on the surface
So at night while you are sleeping
I hold you closer just because
As our time grows short
I get a little nervous

Oh, I think about the "Big One, " W W-I I I
Would we ever really care
The world had ended?
You could hold me here forever
Like you’re holding me tonight
I think about that great big
Button and I’m tempted