Atlas Choking - Richard Shindell

Ayn is dead, she died in her bed

At the end of a terrible illness

Her oxygen berth untethered from earth

She drifted up into the stillness

Eleven years later, good old Yul Brenner

Found himself there in the ether

Dead Ayn Rand took Yul by the hand

And said, how does it feel to be free

Meanwhile on the planet the devil’s still at it

Making a killing churning out addicts

Everybody everywhere sucking in Ayn’s air

Atlas choking

Big tobacco sent flowers around

With a note and basket of options

If you know what’s good for you hold on to these

Cause everything’s going to go up up up

Greenspan and Stockman leading the horsemen

The party was just getting started

The Marlboro man rode into Japan

And looked over the water to China

All over the planet the devil’s still at it

Making a killing churning out addicts

Everybody everywhere sucking in Ayn’s air

Atlas choking

Rational greed, the national creed

Will keep things smoking along

So keep watching those shares, but don’t you dare share

The poor are that way for good reason

So everyone hush, utopia’s flush

And beckoning off in the long-run

Meanwhile on the planet the devil’s still at it

Making a killing churning out addicts

Everybody everywhere sucking in Ayn’s air

Atlas choking