Midnight Hammer Blues

In the key of B2

Back in 1979, the Islamic regime of the Ayatollah Khomeini invaded the US embassy in Tehran, took 52 Americans hostage and held them for 444 days. Six hostages managed to escape by posing as Canadians, a caper dramatized in the movie Argo. Jimmy Carter mounted a rescue mission that failed, and the others were only released after the inauguration of Ronald Reagan in 1981.

One of the returning hostages was asked if he would ever go back to Iran. He pondered the prospect and calmly said, “only in a B-52.” President Trump’s Operation Midnight Hammer brought that to mind along with these lyrics, to the tune of Wilson Pickett’s “Midnight Hour” from 1965:

I’m gonna wait for the Midnight Hammer

When the bombs begin to fall

I’m gonna wait for the Midnight Hammer

When the Air Force gets the call

Iran’s the only regime I know,

That’s really got to go

By the Midnight Hammer

I’m gonna wait till the stars come out

When the B2s begin to fly

I’m gonna wait till the stars come out

Oh meeeee, oh myyyyy

We’re gonna drop ‘em all night long

As we sing this happy song,

Called the Midnight Hammer

And so on. Feel free to add verses in the comments. And check out Wilson Pickett and Tom Jones on a medley of “Barefootin’,” “Midnight Hour,” and “Hey Jude,” way back in 1970.

Wilson Pickett, perhaps best known for “Mustang Sally,” passed away in 2006. Here is Tom in 2021 on “Cry to Me,” a hit for Solomon Burke in 1962. Tom Jones is still going strong at 85, but as he said in 1967, he’s never going to fall in love again.