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Song Details
Duration: 3:37 
Release Date: 1981 
Lyrics By: J. Kent Clark (peterpuck9) 
Music By: Elliott Davis (peterpuck9) 
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Keywords: EARTHQUAKES 
Reviews:
Facts:
  • The song mentions three notable quakes: the Long Beach Earthquake of '33 (which was a 6.3), the Kern County quake of '52 (which was actually a 7.3) and the Good Friday Earthquake in Anchorage in '64 (which was a 9.2, the most powerful in U.S. history). (ChrisWolvie)
  • Song Lyrics:
    Charlie Richter made a scale for calibrating earthquakes
    Gives a true and lucid reading ev'ry time the earth shakes
    Increments are exponential; numbers O to 9
    When the first shock hit the "seismo", everything worked fine

    It measured one-two (1.2) on the Richter scale
    A shabby little shiver
    One-two on the Richter scale
    A queasy little quiver
    Waves brushed the seismograph
    As if a fly had flicked her
    One-two on the Richter scale;
    It hardly woke up Richter

    Nineteen-hundred thirty-three and Long Beach rocked and rumbled
    Schoolhouse walls and crockery and oil derricks stumbled
    Hollywood got hit but good; it even shook the stars
    Shattered glass and spilled martinis on a hundred bars

    It measured six-three on the Richter scale
    It rattled tile and plaster
    Six-three on the Richter scale
    A rattling disaster
    Waves bounced the seismograph
    As if a cue had clicked her
    Six-three on the Richter scale;
    It almost rattled Richter

    Came the turn of County Kern; the mountains lurched and trembled
    Bakersfield, which jerked and reeled, was almost disassembled
    Arvin town was battered down in rubble and debris
    Spasms racked the women's prison at Tehachapi

    It measured seven-eight on the Richter scale
    It fractured rails and melons
    Seven-eight on the Richter scale
    It fractured female felons
    Waves smacked the seismograph;
    A casualty inflicter
    Seven-eight on the Richter scale;
    It almost fractured Richter

    Came a cataclysmic quake at Anchorage, Alaska
    "Seisims" ran from Ketchikan to Omaha, Nebraska
    Polar bears were saying prayers; the tidal wave was grand
    Planted boats in California way up on the sand

    It measured eight-five on the Richter scale
    It loosened kelp and corals
    Eight-five on the Richter scale
    It loosened faith and morals
    Waves bashed the seismograph
    As if a mule had kicked her
    Eight-five on the Richter scale;
    It failed to loosen Richter

    Someday - pretty soon, we fear - our many faults will fail us
    Slide and slip and rip and dip and all at once assail us
    Seismic jolts, like lightning bolts, will flatten us that day
    When the concrete settles down, geologists will say:

    It measured eight-nine on the Richter scale
    It rocked them in Samoa
    Eight-nine on the Richter scale
    It cracked like Krakatoa
    Waves crunched the seismograph
    Just like a boa constrictor
    Eight-nine on the Richter scale;
    It really racked up...

    One-two on the Richter scale
    Three-four on the Richter scale
    Five-six on the Richter scale
    Seven-eight on the Richter scale
    Eight-nine on the Richter scaaaaaaale...

    It really racked up Richter!
    (ChrisWolvie)
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    Current Rating 9.4 (7 votes)
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