In "Tommy Made The News," HARDY mourns a school shooting that cuts short a boy's ordinary morning and a town's future. The fried egg waiting at home turns into hollow points in the hallway, and Tommy is found on the bathroom floor. The image of little red ribbons and candlelight vigils shows grief hardening into memorial, while the repeated question of what Tommy could have become, a husband, a deacon, a CEO, aches with unlived possibility. The song lands on the unbearable shame that a child's death becomes just another headline.
Tommy Made The News Lyrics by HARDY
Tommy woke up for school this morning
Put everything he needed in his old backpack
Kitchen had a fried egg waiting for him
And then he pulled out the drive just to never come back
‘Til 10 a.m., it was just another Monday
‘Til everybody went to running and locking their doors
Hollow points rained like hell in the hallway
And they found Tommy on the bathroom floor
Tommy made the news, Heaven sang the blues
Tommy’s momma cried, the whole damn town did too
What a mess the devil made, what a hell to have to go through
Lord, ain’t it a shame Tommy made the news?
Well Tommy could have been someone someday
A CPA or a CEO
Husband and a dad and a deacon on Sunday
Ah, but thanks to a bullet, we’ll never know
Never know ’cause
Tommy made the news, Heaven sang the blues
Tommy’s momma cried, the whole damn town did too
What a mess the devil made, what a hell to have to go through
Lord, ain’t it a shame Tommy made the news? Yeah
Tommy made the news (Ooh, ooh)
There’s little red ribbons on everyone’s mailbox
Signs in the yards saying, “Wildcat Strong”
Thirteen candlelight lives on the sidewalk
That Tommy took with him ‘fore he took his own, mm
Tommy made the news, Heaven sang the blues
And Tommy’s momma cried, the whole damn town did too
What a mess the devil made, what a hell to have to go through
And Lord, ain’t it a shame Tommy made the news? Yeah
Tommy made the news, mm
Tommy woke up for school this morning
Put everything he needed in his old backpack
