Sunday Discussion Group

August 21, 2005

If the 2004 presidential campaign were decided on campaign songs, Kerry would have won in a landslide. Our guy had Springsteen’s “No Surrender” — which, not incidentally, Springsteen performed live at several Kerry rallies — while their guy had “Still the One,” which led to rock legend John Hall issuing a cease and desist order against the Bush-Cheney campaign.

In fact, ’04 was a pretty good year for songs, as election cycles go. Edwards used some Mellencamp to reinforce his campaign theme (“Small Town”) and Dean had Elvis (why he dropped “a little less conversation and a little more action” I have no idea).

If you were advising a campaign, which song would you pick?

Certainly not “Walking Down to Washington (To Shake Hands With President Kennedy)”, JFK’s atrocious ditty. I guess that’s proof that campaign songs don’t matter much.

I don’t know … could anyone write campaign lyrics to “Au fond du temple saint”, the gorgeous, uplifting and GOP-free duet from Bizet’s “Pearl Fishers”? Could some computer geek synthesize the voices of Robert Merrill and Jussi Björling to belt it out?

With apologies to Arthur Sullivan, here’s one for the GOP: “Onward, Pharisaic soldiers (Money-changers All)”.

  • Since the repubs control all branches of the federal goverment, a ‘throw out the bums’ theme should help the Dems. I nominate Ray Charles’ great Hit The Road, Jack.

  • Go back and listen to Chicago’s “Dialogue Parts I and II” … lyrics written over 30 years ago … still frighteningly relevant.

  • I dunno about current choices but my absolute all-time fave was Lamarr Alexander’s appalling choice of the Talking Heads’ “Once in a Lifetime” for the them of his 1996(?) primary campaign. Presumably inspired by the repeated line “Same as it ever was,” which I guess the astute Mr Lamarr and his handlers thought would work as a kind of conservative rallying cry. Yeah, kinda. But there were an awful lot of other lyrics in that song that tended in a rather different direction. “You may find yourself/Living in a shotgun shack.” Now THERE’S an honest campaign promise for a Republican candidate–why don’t people take these guys at their word? “You may say to yourself/My God! What have I done!” You may indeed, if you vote for one of these criminals. And finally, of course, “You may ask yourself, well, how did I get here?” A question NOBODY in the GOP wants people to think about.

    Other classic examples: Reagan’s equally tone-deaf attempt to appropriate of “Born in the USA.” Conservatives just do seem to be utterly impervious to irony.

  • Didn’t Bobby McFerrin ask GHW Bush to stop using “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” in 1988? That “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” is considered an appealing political viewpoint explains a lot about politics in our country.

  • How about Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing.”

    There’s not enough arena rock out there anymore.

  • How about the Psychedelic Furs song “President Gas”?

    you have to have a party
    when you’re in a state like this
    you can really move it all
    you have to vote and change
    you have to get right out of it
    like out of all this mess
    you’ll say yeah to anything
    if you believe all this but
    don’t cry, don’t do anything
    no lies, back in the government
    no tears, party time is here again
    president gas is up for president

  • The song Howard Dean should have chosen: “Fight the Power.”

    Maybe the Rethugs could use a different Talking Heads song – “Life During Wartime”?

    Or if the energy situation continues apace, we could break out the 1970s Kinks song “Gallon of Gas” – “I can score you some coke or some high grade hash but I can’t get a gallon of gas. . .”

  • I have two songs that I think would make great campaign themes. The first is “Dream On” by Aerosmith and the second is “Teenage Wasteland” by The Who.

  • I’ve always thought “The Walls Came Down” from 1983 was very powerful musically. The end especially, after the lyrics end but the vocals continue, are sure to rev up a crowd to action. (na-na-na-NAA-na-na-na!) (OK, transcribed it looks silly. Listen to the CD.)

    But in recent years its lyrics are particularly apt:

    It’s a song of assassins
    Ringing in your ears
    We got terrorist thinking
    Playing on fears

    And then there’s the immortal line that with just a little tweeking would fit perfectly into 2005:

    I don’t think there are any Russians
    And there ain’t no Yanks
    Just corporate criminals,
    playing with tanks

    Maybe a little too subversive?

  • Gee whiz … three hours have gone by and no one’s mentioned one of the best recent songs, for Bill Clinton, Fleetwood Mac’s

    Don’t stop, thinking about tomorrow,
    Don’t stop, it’ll soon be here,
    It’ll be, better than before,
    Yesterday’s gone, yesterday’s gone.

    It was a perfect campaign song and still is (unless you’re a GOP).

  • I couldn’t think of a campaign theme song but I found one that would be fitting if we can ever get Bush chimpeached, How about “The End” by The Doors. Just close your eyes and imagine the song being played while Bush is walking towards the impeachment proceedings.

    I thought that a couple of the verses of the song were interesting.

    Of our elaborate plans, the end
    Of everything that stands, the end
    No safety or surprise, the end
    I’ll never look into your eyes…again

    Lost in a Roman…wilderness of pain
    And all the children are insane
    All the children are insane
    Waiting for the summer rain, yeah

  • If I can add my own submission, I’ve always thought Van Halen’s “Right Now” would work for a campaign.

    (Right now) Hey! It’s your tomorrow
    (Right now) Come on, it’s everything
    (Right now) Catch that magic moment
    And do it right, right now (Right now)

    It’s what’s happening
    Right here and now
    Right now, it’s right now
    Tell me, what are you waiting for?
    Let’s turn this thing around

  • I’m not so good on Dem ones, but here are some for the GOP:

    “Here Comes President Kill Again” –XTC.
    “I Wanna Be Sedated”–The Ramones.
    “Blind”–Talking Heads

  • in 2000, had Gore not been afraid to link himself to those awful Clinton years of relative peace and unprecedented economic success, he could have used INXS’ “Don’t Change.”

  • How about “Sunrise” from Duran Duran’s latest album “Astronaut”?

    now the time is come, the music between us
    though the night seems young – is at an end
    only change will bring you out of the darkness
    in this moment everything is born again
    reach up for the sunrise
    put your hands into the big sky
    you can touch the sunrise
    feel the new day enter your life

    now the fireball burns, we go round together
    as the planet turns into the light
    something more than dreams to watch out for each other?
    coz we know what it means to be alive
    reach up for the sunrise
    put your hands into the big sky
    you can touch the sunrise
    feel the new day enter your life

    (Reach Up for the) Sunrise

    Duran Duran

  • If a candidate really wanted to raise a fuss, there’s Tracy Chapman and Talkin’ about a Revolution.,

    Don’t you know you’re talking about a revolution
    It sounds like a whisper
    Don’t you know they’re talking about a revolution
    It sounds like a whisper

    While they’re standing in the welfare lines
    Crying at the doorsteps of those armies of salvation
    Wasting time in unemployment lines
    Sitting around waiting for a promotion

    Poor people are gonna rise up
    And get their share
    Poor people are gonna rise up
    And take what’s theirs

  • I think that just about anything by James Brown would be an excellent choice. “Cold Sweat”, “Super Bad”, and of course the ever relevant “I Don’t Want Nobody to Give Me Nothing (Open Up the Door I’ll Get it Myself)” spring immediately to mind.

    And sorry Carpetbagger, but “Right Now” was a crappyass song then, and it’s just gotten crappier over time. Then again, I really hated that Fleetwood Mac song of Clinton’s, yet that seemed to do the trick for some reason.

    But I’d just prefer something with a good beat that gets your toes tapping and your ass out of the seat, over something with lame lyrics that supposedly inspire. It’s about the feelings, not about the logic; at least as far as music goes. And pumping people up is the name of the game. Especially when the music is from Soul Brother #1.

  • Just for fun, you can hear snippets of 43 presidential campaign songs here. Included are such oldies as “Follow Washington” (actually not bad), “For Jefferson and Liberty” (hard to sing), “Buchanan and John Breckenridge” (… ” will surely win the day”). More recently, the terrible “Marching [sic] Down to Washington” (pronounced “Washingtown”) I mentioned above, “Hello, Lyndon” (to the tune of “Hello, Dolly”), Carter’s “Why Not the Best?” (not much of a song), and of course Clinton’s “Don’t Stop Thinking About Tomorrow” (still the best, imho, though it’s hardly Fleetwood Mac).

    The songs are all sung and strummed by Oscar Brand. He’s one of my favorite folk singers from the 1950s and ’60s. Famous for a long series of albums entitled “Bawdy Songs and Backroom Ballads, No. #” and a host of other raunch-filled LPs. Thanks to his records my old music group used to be able to perform about four hours of unrepeated raunch for private parties. At the same time Brand was putting out all that funny filth he was also taking awards for best childrens programming over New York’s PBS station.

  • Lately I’ve been thinking that “Special” by Garbage applies to Bush Jr. And of course “New Dress” by Depeche Mode comes to mind everytime Faux News covers a missing white girl instead of Iraq or Rovegate.

  • I meant to add that I think one of the things which has really hurt campaign music of late is the death of the National Conventions. The ones they ran on black & white TV were still largely unscripted, and they had “spontaneous demonstrations” all over the place – twenty minutes or more of mayhem in support of a candidate or cause. Those often featured a boom-boom razzle-dazzle song written for the occasion. Some would carry over into the campaigns. Now everything’s so scripted and boring no self-respecting musician would bother, I think. Okay, maybe Barry Manilow or someone like that. For the GOP.

  • For dems:

    A couple of years ago, soul/gospel singer Solomon Burke put out a record called “Don’t Give Up On Me” that had a really cool social protest song on it. The title escapes me, but the chorus goes: “If one of us are chained, none of us are free.” It’s a really driving track, with backup vocals by The 5 Blind Boys of Alabama. In the same vein, “Inner City Blues” by Marvin Gaye would work great. In general, classic R&B works well with diverse audiences, as it is inoffensive but not square. For campaign stops in white parts of the south, “Song Of The South” by Alabama would be a good choice-lots of FDR New Deal references(“Daddy got a job with the TVA / We got a washing machine and a Chevrolet”). For younger, progressive audiences, I would suggest Rage Against The Machine’s version of Springsteen’s “Ghost of Tom Joad.”

    For Republicans:
    “War Pigs” by Black Sabbath
    “Asshole” by Dennis Leary
    “Liar” by The Rollins Band
    “Snake Oil” by Steve Earle
    “Bomber (Closet Queen)” by The James Gang
    “M-O-N-E-Y (How Do You Spell Love?)” by The Fabulous Thunderbirds
    “KKK Bitch” by Ice-T & Body Count-written about Tipper Gore, works better for Katherine Harris
    “Pills” by Bo Diddley/The New York Dolls-if, Yahweh forbid, Rush Limbaugh ever runs for office

  • I’ll go with Dylan: “All Along the Watchtower”

    There must be someway outta here
    Said the Joker to the Thief
    There’s just too much confusion
    I can’t get no relief

    You can do your own casting – depending on your Party Affiliation

    Hendrix (of course) does the definite version

  • Any election featuring Dubya ought to include Eric Clapton’s “Cocaine”:

    If you wanna hang out you’ve got to take her out; cocaine.
    If you wanna get down, down on the ground; cocaine.
    She don’t lie, she don’t lie, she don’t lie; cocaine.

    If you got bad news, you wanna kick them blues; cocaine.
    When your day is done and you wanna run; cocaine.
    She don’t lie, she don’t lie, she don’t lie; cocaine.

    If your thing is gone and you wanna ride on; cocaine.
    Don’t forget this fact, you can’t get it back; cocaine.
    She don’t lie, she don’t lie, she don’t lie; cocaine.

    She don’t lie, she don’t lie, she don’t lie; cocaine.

  • Actually, my secret hope would be that soon we could hear WasNotWas singing “Hello Dad? I’m in Jail…”

    I know, not likely, but it would be just – and a guy can dream…

    -jjf

  • Personally, I thought Kerry should have used either Van Halen’s “Mine All Mine,” see lyrics below, or Pat Benetar’s “All Fired Up.”

    Mine All Mine

    Ow! Forgive me father, for I have sinned
    I’ve been through hell and back again
    I shook hands with the devil
    Looked ‘im in the eye
    Looked like a long lost friend
    Ow-ah, anything you want, any dirty deeds
    He’s got everything ‘cept what I really need
    Keepin’ me temporarily satisfied
    But not one thing I’ve tried
    Filled me up inside or felt like mine

    Mine all mine

    Yeah, the search goes on
    The more I look, my world keeps gettin’ smaller
    Staring at the sun, searchin’ for the light
    Almost ended up blind Some only see what they wanna see
    Claiming victory, oh but that’s not me
    Gimme truth, gimme somethin’ real
    I just wanna feel like it’s mine all mine

    Mine all mine

    All the words on the wall look the same in the mirror
    Every riddle and every clue
    Ow, you’ve got Allah in the east
    You’ve got Jesus in the west
    Christ, what’s a man to do?
    They’ll find a cure for anything
    Just kill the pain or numb my brain
    We see a man speakin’ the word of God
    Provin’ to be a fraud. his own church applauds
    Stop lookin’ out, start lookin’ in
    Be your own best friend
    Stand up and say “Hey! This is mine!”

  • Dick Gephardt also misappropraited “Born in the USA” in the 04 primaries. Hip, he is most definitely not.

    I think Right Now is a great one.

    Oh, and as a die-hard fan of The Who, I should add that “Baba O’Riley” and “Won’t Get Fooled Again” are both most excellent tunes, and would make great campaign songs, however, they are in fact two different songs.

    Baba O’Riley is the one with the “Teenage Wasteland” chorus, which, on second thought, might not be so palatable for a campaign.

  • I’m not sure who wrote it, but dropkick murphys covered it:

    “Workers Song”

    Yeh, this one’s for the workers who toil night and day
    By hand and by brain to earn your pay
    Who for centuries long past for no more than your bread
    Have bled for your countries and counted your dead

    In the factories and mills, in the shipyards and mines
    We’ve often been told to keep up with the times
    For our skills are not needed, they’ve streamlined the job
    And with sliderule and stopwatch our pride they have robbed

    [Chorus:]
    We’re the first ones to starve, we’re the first ones to die
    The first ones in line for that pie-in-the-sky
    And we’re always the last when the cream is shared out
    For the worker is working when the fat cat’s about

    And when the sky darkens and the prospect is war
    Who’s given a gun and then pushed to the fore
    And expected to die for the land of our birth
    Though we’ve never owned one lousy handful of earth?

    [Chorus x3]

    And all of these things the worker has done
    From tilling the fields to carrying the gun
    We’ve been yoked to the plough since time first began
    And always expected to carry the can

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