"Let’s all go play Nagasaki."
That line hits like a physical weight every time Jesse Lacey sings it. It’s not exactly the kind of hook you hum while doing the dishes. It’s abrasive. It’s uncomfortable. Honestly, it’s meant to be. When Brand New dropped Science Fiction out of nowhere back in 2017, the track "137" immediately became the dark, radioactive heart of the record.
People are still obsessing over the Brand New 137 lyrics nearly a decade later because they tap into a very specific kind of existential dread that hasn't gone away. If anything, it’s gotten worse.
What’s in a number?
The title isn't just a random digits. You’ve probably heard a few theories, but the most direct one involves Caesium-137. This is a radioactive isotope that literally didn't exist on Earth in any significant way until we started detonating nuclear weapons. It’s a man-made ghost. It lingers in the soil of Chernobyl and the Pacific testing grounds. It’s the "byproduct" of our own capacity for self-destruction.
But if you’re a science nerd, you know 137 goes deeper. It’s the approximate denominator of the fine-structure constant ($1/137$). Physicist Richard Feynman famously said that every good theoretical physicist should have that number tattooed on their brain because nobody knows where it comes from, yet it governs how light and matter interact. If it were even slightly different, we wouldn't exist.
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Jesse Lacey takes these two concepts—the number that allows life to exist and the isotope that ends it—and mashes them into a five-minute slow burn.
The "Inside Joke" with God
The second verse is where things get really heavy. Lacey shifts from the physical reality of the bomb to a theological interrogation.
Before the garden, when you were all alone
You made the atom, was that some inside joke?
He’s basically asking God if the "building blocks" of the universe were always intended to be used as a suicide switch. It’s a bleak thought. The song suggests that the potential for the atomic bomb was "concealed" within the path of human progress, like a loaded gun left in a nursery.
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There’s a clear parallel between the Atom and Adam. In the biblical narrative, God created Adam, and from Adam came the fall of man. In the scientific narrative, God (or the universe) created the atom, and from the atom came the potential to vaporize everything. Both are "firsts" that led to an inevitable end.
Why the Nagasaki line matters
"Let’s all go play Nagasaki, we can all get vaporized."
Some critics called it insensitive when the album first came out. They thought it was shock value. But when you listen to the way the song builds—that long, haunting bridge where you can hear the faint sounds of sirens and radio chatter—it’s clear he’s not mocking the tragedy. He’s mocking our collective nonchalance.
We treat the end of the world like a game of "make-believe" until it actually happens. The "nursery rhyme" melody of the chorus makes the horror feel childlike. It’s a cynical take on how world leaders treat nuclear brinkmanship like kids playing with toys in a sandbox. Except the sandbox is the planet.
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The relief of the end
The most disturbing part of the Brand New 137 lyrics isn't the radiation or the history. It's the "relief."
Lacey sings about "turning to ash" so that "no one has to say goodbye." It’s a romanticization of total annihilation. If we all go at once, there’s no grief. No mourning. No one is left behind to pick up the pieces. For a band that spent twenty years writing about the agony of being alive and the messiness of human relationships, the idea of a "blink of an eye" solution to all problems is the ultimate, dark escape.
Then the solo hits. Vin Accardi’s guitar work in the final two minutes is arguably the best of his career. It doesn't sound like music; it sounds like a meltdown. It’s chaotic, screeching, and massive. It’s the sound of the atom finally being split.
How to actually engage with the track
If you're trying to wrap your head around what this song is doing to your brain, try these steps:
- Listen with headphones: The field recordings (the radio samples of a soldier talking to his parents) are buried in the mix. They tell a story of a guy realizing his "job" is about to end the world.
- Look up Psalm 137: While the science connection is the strongest, Brand New loves a biblical callback. Psalm 137 is about exile and the desire for retribution—"Happy is the one who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks." It fits the song’s brutal tone.
- Watch the 2017 live visuals: If you can find footage of them playing this on their final tour, the backdrop was a series of nuclear test films. It puts the "romantic" lyrics into a terrifying, real-world context.
Ultimately, "137" is about the loss of control. Whether it's God, the government, or just the laws of physics, we're all just waiting for the bird to scream across the sky. It’s a grim way to end a career, but for Brand New, it was the only honest way out.