What to do
Here’s all you need to know about what to do.
The most important thing is that you contact us as soon as you can, once you have decided that you might want to be included in this project, so we can provide guidance and support.
We’ll set up a Zoom meeting with you to talk things through and deal with any questions you may have. You’ll be talking to one of our volunteers – this is very much a volunteer-driven endeavour, and as an aside if you want to volunteer to help in any way, please let us know.
The points that follow are the key things we’ll be talking about on that Zoom meeting, just to give you a heads-up on what you can expect to be discussed during the conversation and what you’ll need to do:
First of all, before you start doing anything get in contact so we can try to provide whatever help and guidance you need.
Choose your piece of music, which can be a reworked set of lyrics to an existing song, or a something completely new – it can be in any genre, it can be any song.
Very important – no swearing is allowed in the lyrics – that’s a firm rule – this is a family-friendly endeavour and if all goes to plan there’ll be children submitting their songs too, and watching other people’s performances, so ‘keep it clean’ – excuse the pun.
Perform your piece of music, and video yourself/your group/your band doing so. The video recording could be ‘professional’ quality or it could be something ‘cheap and cheerful’ e.g. something on Zoom – it really doesn’t matter, nobody’s going to be judging the technical competence or the musical proficiency – all that really matters is the message – that water companies need to stop doing what they’re doing, and that the individuals responsible need to be held to account
Very important – before you start your song, introduce yourselves, mentioning things such as
- Who you are
- Where you are
- Why you decided to get involved with Singers Against Sewage
What you think of the water companies; etc – and again, no swearing!
There’s no hard and fast rule but an intro of about a minute or two before the delivery would be about right – feel free to be longer/shorter than that if you wish…
… and also say a few words afterwards if you want; perhaps how you feel having done it, or whatever comes to mind – just be your relaxed and natural self/selves.
Send us your recording and so long as it meets the criteria described above and we’ll include it on the website, and raise awareness of it through social media and so on.
If you are connected to a relevant campaign group, such as Surfers Against Sewage, Whitstable SOS, Mayday Action Group and so on, we’ll ask you to provide a high-resolution image of your logo and a description of your organisation’s activities, up to a maximum of 200 words.
We’ll include your logo, wording and a link to your website on our website.
Also, if relevant, we’ll explain how it would be great if your campaign group raised awareness of this endeavour amongst your membership – this is all about a multiplicity of collaborations, we’ll all be supporting each other’s endeavours because we’re all authentically aligned to the central mission – to stop the water companies behaving badly.
And who knows, your membership may want to submit more than just one entry, that’s perfectly allowed – the more the merrier.
We’ll also explain how we are planning some ‘battle of the bands’ type events where people will perform their songs about the sewage scandal. They’ll be mildly competitive but mostly just a bit of fun really – good for raising awareness of the campaign, good for creating a team spirit amongst people involved with the project, and good for bringing the campaign groups together.
If all goes to plan there’ll be one in each of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland; and just for fun we’re hoping to run them in iconic music venues.
And of course, we’ll deal with any questions you have.
In case it helps, here’s an example of what to do, it’s our first submission – enjoy!
And in case they might give you ideas, here are the lyrics in full:
Let’s Get’em Locked Up!
Is it so hard, to keep rivers clean?
Water Companies stink, they’re so damn mean
They’ve been polluting our neighbourhood
Before they did, it looked so goodWe oughta hold ‘em, hold ‘em to account
Let’s get ‘em locked up, and throw the keys outThis is a crime, against you and me
But the criminals are still walking free
All their sewage, oh, it’s making me sad
It must be jail for them, I’d be so gladWe wanna hold ‘em, hold ‘em to account
Let’s get ‘em locked up, and throw the keys outIs it so hard, to keep our seas clean?
Water Companies stink, their conduct’s obscene
They’re pumping sewage into waterways
Our seas and rivers pray for better daysWe’ve gotta hold ‘em, hold ‘em to account
Let’s get ‘em locked up, and throw the keys outThey’ve not responded to our criticisms
So we’re turning to some activism
All those infringements, oh, they’re making me mad
Those PE bosses, they’re so, so badWe’re gonna hold ‘em, hold ‘em to account
Let’s get ‘em locked up, and throw the keys outWe’re gonna hold ‘em, hold ‘em to account
Let’s get ‘em locked up, and throw the keys out
…USE YOUR VOTE!
And please note you are welcome to reuse all or some of those lyrics if you wish; and any ‘variations on a theme’ would be very welcome too!
Please remember, all you need to do to begin with is to make contact so we can organise a Zoom meeting to talk everything through and we can go from there.