Bleeding Heart (Uvalde) -  Story

Bleeding Heart (Uvalde) will be the first release from catalog of originals, written over a number of years. Some songs written years back were on topics of social justice or societal plagues brought to my attention from a news event, or tv interview with those directly impacted, or of an activist sharing their stories.

This song began on May 24, 2022 in the watching of news that evening. It was similar to my memory of the day when news of Columbine was being reported on April 20, 1999 (twenty three years earlier), in that, I remember where I was each day, who I was with when the news broadcast began, and the personal shock of seeing what was being reported. As the news unfolded on May 2022, two things were particularly troubling, one was the reporting that a student at Rob Elementary had put their classmates blood on themselves to pretend to be already wounded or deceased, in order to avoid being shot by the attacker. My initial thought on hearing that was wondering where have we come as a society, where a young child would need to know and do something like that to save themselves! Twenty three years since Columbine and a child needs to play dead, but thankful that the child’s parents or loved ones gave them the guidance that likely saved their lives. The second thing that was very moving to me, was watching Angel Garza as he held his daughter Amerie’s picture and was interviewed on CNN hours after the massacre. Everything that I watched that day, was heart breaking to see.

Words immediately came to me, which I wrote down and transferred to word processing on my computer, and I then did nothing with the lyrics for the next seven months, until returning from a family vacation to Nashville. I then completed the lyrics with music for the initially titled “Robb E’s Bleeding Heart”, which was changed to “Bleeding Heart (Uvalde)”. The song was written to be a message from a victim the day of the shooting, but also including some pointed communication to authority figures who don’t seem to be capable of doing any meaningful actions to stop these tragedies from happening over and over again.

The previous assault weapons ban, in effect from 1994 until it expired in September 2004, didn't seem to impact my personal life much when it was law, and I don’t remember ever having anyone trying to take my personal guns from me or do anything that jeopardized my rights regarding the Second Amendment. Although, I don’t know that re-enacting the previous laws would be enough to protect our public with the number of weapons that have already been sold. I do feel that there needs to be age limits enacted to purchase these types of weapons, as well as a much longer vetting period before ownership, and also a much higher registration cost, which should be required at the initial purchase, but also continuing in following years to maintain ownership. Gun owners of assault weapons should have continued vetting in years following any purchase, to ensure there are no emotional or personal issues that puts the public at risk. 

Some organizations supporting a call for action and change:

• Doctors4GunSafety
• Giffords
• March For Our Lives
• Moms Demand Action
• Lives Robbed
• Students Demand Action