I Wrote a Song Based On: The Program - Suzanne Young

After doing "Messages From a Girl Who Writes Poetry," I decided to keep the trend going even though some of this stuff is considered personal. So far, no one's tried to throw tomatoes at my fake writing and I appreciate that.

I've been writing music longer than I've been writing poetry but they're so interconnected. My favorite thing to write are songs inspired by, you guessed it, books. So to date, I've written maybe seventeen songs? Give or take a few. Most of these aren't about books and are about life and depressing things like anorexia [which is a very important song] but then there are ones based off books!!!

Today, I'll be sharing a song I wrote known as, The Flaw. [If you've seen my Novel Melodies posts where I do lyric dissection, you'll know how this goes down.]

A while ago, I read The Program [and this was like last year... so a LONG while] and it really affected me. I have no words to how much I love that novel and how close it is to my heart still. The song is basically about The Program itself and what it stands for, in Sloane's perspective.

If you haven't read the Program, I would recommend either reading it or reading a recap of it because this song won't make as much sense if you don't know the general storyline. And yes, there most likely will be spoilers.

Also, listen to the song while looking at the lyrics because sometimes I can't understand what an artist is saying and I would hate to be the person who gives you that problem.

Lyrics

(1ST VERSE)
Is it gone?
When you've lost to the drug.
But you feel like you haven't lost a thing.
The program makes you forget your pain but tricks you into thinking you're perfectly happy.

Is it alright?
When you forget your page or place.
In a world we'd rather die than be erased.
People would rather die than lose their memory or die than be forgotten by the ones they love. Example: Miller [crap... that's his name, right?]

(PRE-CHORUS)
You took the memories,
That were not yours to take.
To be fixed,
Don't I,
Have to break?
The main thing is that the kids who are "depressed" aren't actually depressed. A system's been put into place to put suspecting suicide-prone teens into The Program and that puts them all in fear. Making them look suicide-prone. Problem?

(CHORUS)
I'll forget him.
I'll forget hope.
I'll forget the river we used as our home.
Direct mention to the book [him is my love James.]

In dark and now unharmed.
Is it better to restart?
Freedom's only as real as we're told.
Boom, this is the mandatory "deep" line from Nova.

It's a crack in the glass.
A pixel that's broken.
A fracture in the skeleton,
The flaw in the program.
I list off random little things that cause an entire system or network to break down. 

(2ND VERSE)
The one I love.
Is now a stranger in a crowd.
We can't recall we anchored each other while the world,
My heart hurt while writing this. James and Sloane are like my perfect couple.

Tested rounds,
With your clipboard and your notes.
You disassembled all the lights that only blinked.
"Lights that only blinked" meaning that everyone goes through sadness, but it doesn't mean their light won't come back on again. Sorry, that was cheesy. Proceed to hit me with a frying pan.

(PRE-CHORUS)
Contain the hurricane,
That is tearing us up.
One tear could sound the alarms!
Inspired by the lines from the book trailer, so no, I can't take credit.

(CHORUS)

(BRIDGE)
Who am I?
I don't know.
A sedated state.
Till we actually wonder.
Same thing as the first annotation. No one gets curious about who they are until afterwards.

Is it better to let it go?
Should the past stay in the past.
Is it worth hacking the system?
Is getting all the memories worth it? The pain? The happiness? Sloane has to deal with these kinds of questions.

The pill is gone and so is our pain,
Where did it go?
Where did I go?

(ALTN CHORUS)
Woke up with a scream.
This is not a scary dream.
Missing pieces are the holes which we breathe.

But I'm the joker in the deck,
Blank faces not written yet.
My past does not define,
Who I am.
Again, just because someone feels some way during one certain moment doesn't mean that they'll feel that way forever. Unless they've got REAL signs of committing suicide, taking them in and erasing their memory is downright wrong.

There's no way to be sure,
No way to be certain.
I could be the ruins after the storm,
If I take the treatment.
I ended it the way the novel ends, questioning. Should Sloane take the treatment and get all her memories back? Is it worth it? Or maybe it'll destroy her all over again... Lol, this suspense thing only works if you haven't read The Treatment. If you have, you're probably rolling your eyes at my failed attempt to be suspenseful.

Yes? Yes? I'm all about creating new post ideas so your feedback on this means everything. Currently, I have a song written about Divergent, This Song Will Save Your Life and a few others that are still works in progress! If this goes well, I'll definitely be continuing (: