‘Determination: A Vision’
After deciding on several catchy nicknames last week, I was ready to tackle the second step in my election campaign: Choosing a song.
Here in the Virgin Islands, every candidate seems to have one. Some use a ready-made hit — “Eye of the Tiger,” say — but most candidates no longer settle for that. Instead, they have a song written just for them.
These songs are played repeatedly at rallies, and they seem to be a major part of many campaigns.
Take Virgin Islands Party at-large candidate Zoe Walcott-McMillan, who recently broke into her song’s lyrics during a speech. “Have you heard about this woman, with her banner standing tall, securing justice, freedom and peace for one and all?” she asked, referring to herself.
Now that’s powerful. And I wanted something equally powerful for my campaign. Unfortunately, I have no song-writing experience.
So I called Devon Osborne, the Ninth District hopeful who, to my knowledge, is the only candidate who wrote and sang his own campaign song.
This year, Mr. Osborne is using a newer, hipper version of the song he used for the 2007 elections, when he won 46 votes.
It’s called “A New Beginning,” which is also his campaign slogan. The lyrics, which are set to a soca rhythm, start like this: “People of the Ninth District, I want you hear me. Time to make a change starting from today. I tired of watching; I must do my duty. Times getting bad is no time to play.”
The hook
“How do you do it?” I asked Mr. Osborne.
He explained that he’s been a musician for years.
“Not too much energy goes into writing the songs, because once you have a knack for it, it just comes easy,” he said.
I admitted that I might not have a knack for it, and asked if he had any tips for a beginner. He did: The most important part of the song, he said, is the “hook.”
His is this: “Vote for Devon; look for the symbol of the sun.” This is repeated as a chorus throughout the song.
I asked for advice on choosing an equally catchy hook of my own.
“The hook comes basically from anything that comes from, like, a title: something that makes headlines,” he said, adding, “It has to rhyme. Many songs rhyme. It has to rhyme.”
I considered a few possibilities for my hook:
• “Elect Freeman; then you’ll see, man!”
• “Who could resist? Vote for a columnist!”
• “Teens, grown-ups and codgers, please choose Rogers!”
I finally decided on an option that uses a high school nickname and highlights the need for healing in the territory: “Vote Free: He’s the remedy!”
Choosing a tune
Then, of course, I had to find a tune to accompany my lyrics.
“Most of us use soca,” Mr. Osborne said. “That’s the culture that we have here.”
However, he added, this trend may be changing slowly. This wasn’t news to me, because I’d heard one of National Democratic Party candidate Myron Walwyn’s campaign songs.
Set to the tune of DJ Khaled’s 2010 hit “All I Do is Win,” it starts: “We gonna vote for Walwyn, win, win! No matter what, NDP fight for the people. They never givin’ up, ’cause when NDP runs the country, the quality of life goes up!”
This song is clearly designed to appeal to young voters, which seemed like a good idea.
So I chose a recent hit from a young Virgin Islander: Iyaz’s 2009 “Replay.” The song — which is about melodies that get stuck in your head — tends to get stuck in your head.
Writer’s block
After I chose the hook and the tune, I got writer’s block.
Luckily, Mr. Osborne had put me in touch with professionals in case I needed any more advice: Brothers Marcus and Martino Mark often work together to create campaign songs for various candidates for a fee.
Marcus said he has produced about seven so far this year, including Ms. Walcott-McMillan’s and one of Mr. Walwyn’s. So I knew I could trust his advice when I asked for tips on composing the verses.
“You want to start hitting with the very influential points, points that could really hit home,” he said. “Points that make you say, ‘ah.’” He also recommended using words like “vision” and “determination.”
His brother, who recently wrote the campaign song for VG candidate Hubert O’Neal (hook: “Vote Bertie and the NDP”) further boosted my confidence.
Writing a campaign song, Martino told me, is “kind of like what you do, but make it rhyme, put in little puns. It’s a piece of cake.”
I was still a little nervous about writing the song myself, but after Martino told me his rates, I realised I didn’t have much choice.
So I got to it. In my song, I highlighted proposed solutions to some of the territory’s biggest problems. Then I touted one of my strongest traits as a candidate: my honesty.
Determination: A Vision
(To the tune of “Replay,” by Iyaz)
Vote Free — he’s the remedy
‘cause he thinks
so far outside the box!
It’s as clear as this verse:
If you give him all your funds to disburse,
he really couldn’t do any worse!
Who woulda ever knew
the new hospital would be a farce?
But he’ll take the empty shell, and he won’t stop until
it’s transformed into a giant bar!
(Chorus)
Though sewage is in the streets,
you’ll never find him stooping
to dirty politics, or closed-door tricks:
He’ll simply outlaw pooping!
(Chorus)
You’ll never catch a glimpse
of deceit behind his smile:
He’ll tell you in advance, your taxes will finance
his opulent lifestyle!
(Chorus)
My people, if this song doesn’t convince you, nothing will: Vote Freeman “DJ Hype Premier” Rogers in 2011!
Disclaimer: Dateline: Paradise is a column and occasionally contains satirical “news” articles that are entirely fictional.