“Lights On” Music Video Lyrics
Brooklyn: My name is Brooklyn. I’ve got straight A’s. I be in the studio on some great days. When I see my friends, I’m like, “what’s up, yo?” When I see my friends, I’m like, “What’s up, bro?”
Kaitlyn: My name is Kaitlyn. It starts with a K. At the James Jordan is where I come to play.
Aiden: I be with my sis, I be with my bro. Try to mess with them, that’s a no-no.
[Chorus] I’m so fun. You are fun. We are fun. Cadets never run.
[Chorus] Keep the Club lights on. I’m not ready to go home.
Zeke: When I’m in the stu, I feel love. Shout out to the Boys & Girls Club. I don’t even want to be a thug. I don’t even want to sell drugs. I’m just trying to get my money right to have a good life.
[Chorus] Keep the Club lights on. I’m not ready to go home.
Jordan: When I hit the stu, after school, with the crew, it put me in a good mood. Grateful to have something to do. Get in the booth and I feel cool. At the Club and I get groovy. Good friends and good music. I’m 11, and I’m still getting to it.
Koreyanna: In the studio recording. Remember when I couldn’t afford it. Chilling at the James Jordan. Making hits don’t cost a fortune. I’m avoiding all misfortune. All this love feels like a fortress. After-school programs are important. After-school programs are important.
[Chorus] Keep the Club lights on. I’m not ready to go home.
Behind the Music
"This is the reason I come to the Club," Zeke said. "I want to be a rapper."
The Notes for Notes studio at the James R. Jordan Club is a reason many Club members, like Zeke, show up at the Club every day. It gives them a safe place, and a unique space, to create music.
Zeke, 14, is one of the members who helped write the "Lights On" song in the Club's recording studio, which was featured at the 2022 Youth of the Year Competition & Dinner. With his fellow Club members, they wrote the song inspired by their time spent at the Club, and then with professional videographers, created a music video that premiered at Youth of the Year.
"To have this on the West Side of Chicago, it is speaks volumes to what this Club offers, to what this organization offers to this community," James R. Jordan Club Director Will Edmondson said.
Though this studio offers a time for some young teens to harness their craft, for others it's just a place to release energy and fun. For the cadets, ages 5-7, they also get access to the instruments and equipment. They have learned how to read music and play instruments, like the drum set.
"I get to sing and make YouTube videos and play the drums," Aiden, 7, said. "I like performing and singing on the stage."
Club members have also learned how to write lyrics, create beat-making, songwriting, engineering, how to play the keyboard and much more.
"It gives them tremendous pride to see something, from start to finish, and it's something that they created," Edmondson said.
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