New song – Hey police! You’re Being Used

This song is my first collaboration (of sorts) and represents an exciting new turn in my songwriting which has really delighted me.

The words are taken from a beautifully written speech by Jan Yarker, which was sent to me by chance. The speech appeals to the police to break ranks and stop policing climate protest unfairly, pointing out that they were acting on behalf of a corrupt system that is killing the planet.

I loved the ideas and the words so much that within a few hours I had created a song version of her speech, using only quotes from the speech, changing the minimum possible.

This was an entirely new form of songwriting for me, because it involved giving voice to somebody else’s message and to ideas that I never would have thought of myself.

I recorded it quickly that day and sent it to Jan straightaway. She loved it (what a relief) but after a back-and-forth and some additional feedback from a couple of friends, I decided to change a line or two, and re-recorded it the next day. So, this was a very open collaborative process from start to finish.

The speed with which a song could come into being in creative response to somebody else, then fed back upon and edited and finished, was exhilarating to me. It occurred to me how much the idea of “copyright“ has taken us away from that pure joy of working together on something without worrying about whose property that something is. Jan had expressed something in her speech that perhaps a lot of people have thoughts but not put into words. I then put to song what she had put into words. Making a song from her words allowed me to get inside the meaning of them and see her point of view in such a way as I would never have done if I had listened to her speech, meaning I could see new things that I had never seen before. We were able to share a creative space and a perspective on the world for a moment.

This new writing process has required me to be brave. It took a leap of faith to choose to write, knowing that if Jan didn’t like it, I would not be able to/want to use it. So, it felt brave to do this and to send her the song. It also felt brave to be writing a song quickly, recording it on my phone and putting them out into the world where it can be useful, rather than waiting to get into the studio and record at high quality, by which time the moment may have passed. As a trained musician, and as a Masters tutor, it goes against my instincts to be putting up material which is so fresh and lo-fi, however I have come to value being able to be responsive over my need to produce the best presented “product“. Because Jan was thrilled with the song, and immediately wanted to share it with friends, what use would it have been for me to say “no, wait till the album comes out”?

Hope you enjoy this song, recorded the day after it was written, on my phone in my living room, with my trusty protest ukulele. It’s only two chords (G and F by shape but actually A and G at concert pitch), so hopefully even if you are just a beginner you will be able to learn it too if you want to.

Love & Rage -Kimwei (he/him)