What Have They Done to the Rain- Joan Baez (Malvina Reynolds cover)

This is actually a song protesting nuclear testing above ground.

According to this site at Western Kentucky University, "People now think of this as a song about acid rain, but it was originally written as part of a campaign to stop aboveground nuclear testing, which was putting strontium-90 in the air, where it was washed down by the rain, got into the soil and thence to the grass, which was eaten by cows. When children drank the cows' milk the strontium-90, chemically similar to calcium but radioactive, was deposited in their bones. Mothers saved their children's baby teeth and sent them in to be tested by scientists who indeed found elevated levels of strontium-90 in their teeth. A year after this song was written, President Kennedy signed the treaty against aboveground testing."

Malvina Reynolds was one of the greatest writers of protest songs, ever, best known for her classic "Little Boxes." And who can cover this better than the incomparable Joan Baez?

What Have They Done to the Rain- Malvina Reynolds (1964)

Just a little rain falling all around,
The grass lifts its head to the heavenly sound,
Just a little rain, just a little rain,
What have they done to the rain?

Just a little boy standing in the rain,
The gentle rain that falls for years.
And the grass is gone,
The boy disappears,
And rain keeps falling like helpless tears,
And what have they done to the rain?

Just a little breeze out of the sky,
The leaves pat their hands as the breeze blows by,
Just a little breeze with some smoke in its eye,
What have they done to the rain?

Just a little boy standing in the rain,
The gentle rain that falls for years.
And the grass is gone,
The boy disappears,
And rain keeps falling like helpless tears,
And what have they done to the rain?