Megan Watts, 16, wrote the song, “Remembered You Today”, she performed during the Freedom Blast last Saturday during Greer Teen Idol.
The lyrics (below) tell the story of a soldier leaving a family to fight for his country. Megan’s lyrics tell of a loving sister who had a sibling rivalry with her older brother who joined the Army.
The irony of the patriotic song is that Megan’s father, Lt. Colonel Thomas James Watts, a flight surgeon, has been deployed to Kandahar, Afghanistan. He is stationed at McEntire Joint National Guard Base outside of Columbia.
“I wrote the song three years ago when I dreamed the lyrics,” Megan said. “I wrote the song like God wanted me to do.”
Megan and her father correspond by Twitter and Facebook. Communication between Watts’ base in Afghanistan and Megan via Skype is often broken. Her father visits the Greer Idol Teen website to keep up with her performances.
“(My dad) is always so supportive,” Megan said. Idol Teen begins at 6 p.m. on Friday when it is 2 a.m. on Saturday in Kandahar.
GreerToday.com is streaming Greer Idol and Greer Idol Teen.
Idol contestants performed patriotic songs during Freedom Blast. Megan’s original proved to be popular with the judges and spectators. “I have a grandson who was sent to Afghanistan and that song reminded me of him,” said Kay Young, a voice and piano instructor.
“The first verse of my song was how we were younger and fought and how much I still loved my brother,” Megan said. “The second verse was of him leaving to fight for our country.”
Megan auditioned in Charlotte for American Idol Season 12 last month and was asked to perform a second song. “That’s as far as I got. I sang ‘I Can’t Make You Love Me’ by Bonnie Raitt and ‘American Honey’ by Lady Antebellum for the second song. I was happy with what I did. I wanted to experience the process,” she said.
Megan said she is in the competition to win it and move forward in the music industry. “I want to move to Nashville and share my music with the entire world,” she said. “I want to do what God wants me to do.”
Last year Megan was a finalist in the vocal category for The Nashville Connection, and is competing this year.
She has been singing with the South Carolina Children’s Theatre’s Glee for three years and performed in the Upstate in several community venues. Megan is a member of the Riverside High School Concert Choir and her group performed on the USS Intrepid docked at a New York City pier.
Megan’s “You and Me” song is available on iTunes.
Megan will compete this evening at Tunes on Trade beginning at 6 p.m. at Victoria and Trade Street. The other contestants and their ages are Kayla Kershaw 15, Catherine Warren 15, and Anna McCleer 13. True Heaven Heflin 12.
Voting for the contestants is available on site during Tunes on Trade and online at Greeridol.com.
Remembered You Today
By Megan Watts
When we were younger
we used to fight with each other
but you still meant the world,
to me
and as you got older you said,
I wanna be a soldier
and fight for the right to be free
and I remember looking into your eyes
remember walking by your side
remember you telling me
it was gonna be all right
and I think about you all the time
so much love and so much pride
you know I mean it when I say
that I remembered you today
We said our last goodbyes as
tears filled my eyes and
you smiled down on me
in that Army green
but little did I know that
you wouldn't come back home to
mama and me,
to our loving family
and I remember looking into your eyes
remember walking by your side
remember you telling me
it was gonna be all right
and I think about you all the time
so much love and so much pride
you know I mean it when I say
that I remembered you today
And so I thank the Lord for soldiers like you
the ones that fight for the flag red, white, and blue
and I don't know who was with you on your last night
but I hope he held your hand
as you walked into the light
and I remember looking into your eyes
remember walking by your side
remember you telling me
it was gonna be all right
and I think about you all the time
so much love and so much pride
you know I mean it when I say
that I remembered you today
