I wrote a song after a young man OD'd after experiencing the joys of recovery and entered into the Life Center Stage KNOCK OUT Opiod Abuse Songwriters Scholarship Contest. I was traveling when it happened and didn't find out until I got back a few weeks later. I wrote this song to process my own grief and connect with the rest of the community.
Please vote for me here if this music touches you!
https://www.lifecenterstage.org/kooa-contest
Too Young, 21
Words and music by Kathy Moser
The first time that I saw you, you were so angry
Hiding in the back row of the room
Last time that I saw you, laughing in the front row
I hugged you and I said I'll be home soon.
You came so far, makes it so hard
That you're gone just as the light was coming through.
Your father and your mother, your sister and your friends
We all buried a piece of us with you
Too young, 21, over when it's just begun
Too young, damage done, 21
I wonder what your mom did with your favorite sweatshirt
I never saw you wear anything else
Did she give it to your sister, throw it in the garbage
Or fold it up and put it on a shelf
Under Oath, overdose
You almost made it, it was so close
under oath, overdose
When you hurt yourself
you hurt the ones you love the most
Too young, 21, over when it's just begun
Too young, damage done, 21
Now you'll never know the good
you could have done
For someone somewhere Tim,
you could have been the only one
Here we are in heaven, here we are in heaven
We turn it into hell inside our minds
In these suburban basements, our safe suburban bedrooms
The inner city ghetto's what you'll find
There's people dying to get in while we're dying to get out
While we're dying here with everything we need
These lives that we are living leave us bursting at the seems
Give us everything but nothing to believe
Too young, 21, over when it's just begun
Too young, damage done, 21
I wonder what your mom did with your favorite sweatshirt I wonder what your mom did, I wonder what your mom did
Life Center Stage KNOCK OUT Opiod Abuse Songwriters Scholarship Contest
LIFE Center Stage, Community Coalition for a Safe & Healthy Morris, Morris County Stigma-Free, Morris County and Partnership for a Drug-Free New Jersey are looking for songwriters to use the power of music to engage the community in this much needed call to action to Knock Out Opioid Abuse. The Knock Out Opioid Abuse Songwriters Scholarship Contest was developed to help raise awareness of the opioid epidemic that has adversely impacted far too many lives. If you are truly passionate about this cause, making a difference with your music or if this epidemic has affected you, your family, friends, co-workers or classmates we invite you to submit an original song – lyrics and/or musical composition. You do not have to personally be in recovery to enter.