RADIOACTIVE

Lyrics and Music Written by Muggle Band ‘Imagine Dragons’

Karaoke Video:

Lyric Video for Learning Song:

LYRICS:

"Whoa, oh, oh

Whoa, oh, oh

Whoa, oh, oh

Whoa

I'm waking
up to ash and dust

I wipe my
brow and I sweat my rust

I'm
breathing in the chemicals

I'm breaking
in, shaping up, then checking out on the prison bus

This is it,
the apocalypse

Whoa

I'm waking
up, I feel it in my bones

Enough to
make my system blow

Welcome to
the new age, to the new age

Welcome to
the new age, to the new age

Whoa, oh,
oh, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, oh, I'm radioactive, radioactive

Whoa, oh,
oh, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, oh, I'm radioactive, radioactive

I raise my
flag and dye my clothes

It's a
revolution, I suppose

We're
painted red to fit right in

Whoa

I'm breaking
in, shaping up, then checking out on the prison bus

This is it,
the apocalypse

Whoa

I'm waking
up, I feel it in my bones

Enough to
make my system blow

Welcome to
the new age, to the new age

Welcome to
the new age, to the new age

Whoa, oh,
oh, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, oh, I'm radioactive, radioactive

Whoa, oh,
oh, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, oh, I'm radioactive, radioactive

All systems
go, the sun hasn't died

Deep in my
bones, straight from inside

I'm waking
up, I feel it in my bones

Enough to
make my system blow

Welcome to
the new age, to the new age

Welcome to
the new age, to the new age

Whoa, oh,
oh, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, oh, I'm radioactive, radioactive

Whoa, oh,
oh, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, oh, I'm radioactive, radioactive"

How this could be adapted for a more Magical Performance:

Lighting:

The lighting for this piece needs to be hazy red and orange. To do this for the performance, you will need to enchant a muggle stage light with a simple spell, the Illuminating Stage Charm:

Incantation: Illuminaebrite “il-EW-mi-nay-BRITE”

Wand Movement: Circle the bulb end of the light with your wand three times as you incant slowly.

Mental Requirements: Imagine the colours red and orange in your mind as you complete the wand movement and speak the incantation.

Effects: If cast correctly (which it should be – only a real amateur could fail to cast this spell), the stage light’s bulb (inner circular section of seemingly clear plastic) should turn on and produce a red-orange light. The red-orange ration is determined by which colour you were focusing on the most.

*The levels of concentration, willpower and focus are zero for this simple spell.

A muggle stage light

Once you’ve got this done, simply fix the light where you want it to be. With the Illuminating Stage Charm, the light does not need to be connected to any muggle electricity source. However, the charm usually only lasts an hour and will need to be re-cast after this amount of time.

Stage Atmosphere:

There are several spells that could really help with dramatizing the effects of this song:

Synthetic Fire Spell:

Incantation: Mentiens Ignibae “MEN-ti-ens ig-bay”

Wand Movement: Like ‘incendio’, you kind of make a flame shape with your wand, except this movement does not have to be precise and can be just a wobbly triangle.

Mental Requirements:  No focus or concentration is needed, only a low level of will power, which determines the strength and size of the synthetic flames.

Effects: Once correctly cast (this is another easy spell, it doesn’t take very much skill), synthetic flames should begin to burn at the tip of your wand. The size of the flames varies from about 25cm – 2m in width and 75cm – 3m in height, depending on your level of willpower when casting the spell. Do not be alarmed by the size of the flames if they are large, as they cannot burn you and are only images of fire (they do not produce heat, only light and an imitation of a flame).

Once the flame is at the tip of your wand, you may move your wand to place it where you like. To drop it in the desired position, simply use the dropping charm (incantation: “Cado”, movement is a downwards jab). Then you are ready to cast another spell. If you want to destroy a flame, simply use ‘Reducto’.

*Note – the colour and appearance of the flame is always generic – meaning they’ll all be roughly identical in colour tone and structure.

The generic synthetic flame created by the above spell

Synthetic Dust Spell:

Incantation: Afa Caligus ‘Af-AH Ca-LI-guss’

Wand Movement: Start from in front of yourself and draw a circle round. When you have completed the circle, go from the finish position of the wand and draw a quick line down.

Mental Requirements: Moderate levels of concentration and willpower are needed for this spell and depend on the size and concentration of the airborn dust. 

Effects: The spell, if correctly cast, should produce a small but concentrated dust cloud that will disperse to be floating in the area. The dust catches the lights so will be visible to the audience. However, the dust, when in contact with human eyes, ears, nostrils, etc., does not affect these organs. It is synthetic, so more of an image (picture a muggle hologram) rather than a solid being.

Synthetic Dust created by this spell catching in stage lights

Costume for Performers:

For the costumes for this song regarding the performers, I would recommend dragon-hide or leather jackets, boots of the same material, and denim trousers/skirts. However, if these cannot be found, simply some tough-looking or worn clothes will do.

So, that’s the musical number for this week! I hope you enjoyed it and you learnt the spells to help on stage! Expect another one next week!

-Lilia Le Fay.

*Section put together/written by Lilia Le Fay. Song written by ‘Imagine Dragons’. NOTE – we do not own any of this song and do not claim to.