Hi, I'm a fairly experienced songwriter (I've been writing for almost a year now), but I've never actually been able to make connections to get a song recorded or released. I have dozens of songs drafted out, but as I'm in Running Start (18 credit workload) and the head of several clubs, I'm left with very little time to myself, let alone to network in my community.
I have a song, LOCKDOWN, inspired by a shooting threat made against my school last year (one of two in the same week before winter break), that I really would like to see brought to life, though I know I can't do that myself. I hear it to be very electronic alt-pop, with darker atmospheric elements.
If anyone is interested or has advice for what I'd fully need to do in order to produce this, that would be a lot of help!
Here is the song:
Verse 1
One minute, it was ten fifteen when I saw
Two police officers walking in the hall
The next, the school was panicked, and stressed
Mirror in the bathroom, someone wrote a gun threat
Look around, see the students losing it in fear
They whisper, “Who did it, what did you hear?”
Emails out, saying “Stay calm, it’s under control”
As parents fill the office, scared out of their souls
Pre Chorus
It’s something too many of us know
That everyday could be a horror show
Oh, but it could never, ever happen to you
You know, bullets don’t ask whether you want it to
Chorus
Lockdown, Lockdown, this isn’t a drill
Away from the doors, you better be still
Now Lockdown, Lockdown, run, hide, and fight
We live in fear, and fear for our lives
Lockdown, Lockdown, you could be killed
You’re trained for it, will you die on this hill?
Just Lockdown, Lockdown, and stay outta sight
Get down, get down, now the threat’s inside
Verse 2
It was eleven twenty when you heard the news
Everyone’s getting frenzied, the note said at “two”
And now nothing is safe, nowhere will ever be the same
Have you started to shake, or do you wear a happy face?
One foot behind the other, you’re flinching when a door slams
Now you’re left to wonder, “When the hell did I sign up for that?”
Like a thunder that never stopped striking, it’s crushing your chest
Leaving you underwater to fight and struggle for your breath
Pre Chorus
It’s something too many of us know
That everyday could be a horror show
Oh, but it could never, ever happen to you
You say, until the day the shrapnel hits true
Chorus
Lockdown, Lockdown, this isn’t a drill
Away from the doors, and we’ve gotta be still
Now Lockdown, Lockdown, run, hide, or fight
We live in fear, and fear for our lives
Lockdown, Lockdown, now someone’s killed
They trained you for this, but never for how it feels
So Lockdown, Lockdown, remain out of sight
Get down, get down, now the threat’s inside
Bridge
And on the big news, they say guns are a right
They say it’s really people who are the problem
Just keep off the lawsuits whenever students die
Everybody pretends that nobody could stop them
If we can’t go to class without having to think
“Is today the day I go to school and die?”
I rest my case, as you can see, the land o’ the free
Home of the brave, prima facie, it’s all a lie
Chorus
Lockdown, Lockdown, this isn’t a drill
Away from the doors, and we’ve gotta be still
Lockdown, Lockdown, run, hide, or fight
We live in fear, and fear for our lives
Lockdown, Lockdown, someone’s already killed
They trained you for this, but never for how it feels
Lockdown, Lockdown, and we’re all out of time
‘Cause now, ‘cause now, we hear gunfire in our minds
sound design (planned):
Doors slamming (percussion),
Intercom static (ambience),
Distorted acoustic tones (chords),
Gunfire (staccato beat),
sirens/alarms (sonic droning)