"Hope for America"
That's the title of the song written specifically about Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul by a supporter and musician named Steve Dorr. Yes, dear friends, it's primary season, and I've been glued to CNN on many a night, awaiting caucus results with absolute fascination. No, I have to confess, my interest is not purely political (although there is a LOT of interest going on there...) - rather, I wait with baited breath to hear what music the candidates play at their rallies and concession speeches.
A quick glance at Hillary Clinton's list shows quite a variety, running the gamut from the Police's "Every little thing she does is magic" to Dolly Parton's "Working 9 to 5" (I particularly like the line of pouring yourself a "cup of ambition"). Both Mitt Romney and Barack Obama have used Stevie Wonder's "Signed, sealed delivered", and several candidates play Bachman-Turner Overdrive's "Takin' care of business". Anyone in PR or marketing can tell you, music is crucial to the "sell", a subtle and subconscious way to get a message across, set a mood, project an image. In fact, quite a bit has been written about the effect of the candidates' musical choice - I particularly like University of California musicology professor Robert Fink's take on U2's "Beautiful day":
"The effect [of the U2 song] is uniformly reported to be exhilarating, and you can see how a song that relies for its feeling on the simultaneous sensation of fast-forward motion and slowly changing harmonic scenery -- old and new at the same time, moving very fast, yet feeling safe and secure -- would appeal to candidates trying to appear both energetic forces for change and reassuring figures of stability."
(For a pretty comprehensive list of tunes, check out the tail end of this article).
For me the most memorable campaign tune is Fleetwood Mac's "Don't stop (thinking about tomorrow)", which became the anthem for Clinton/Gore in 1992 - a song so identified with the campaign that President Clinton persuaded the then-disbanded group to reform to perform it for his inaugural ball in 1993. (I confess a lot of the memorable-ness has to do with the fact that it was the first election I ever participated in...)
Which all makes me think, if we could have a song (or any piece of music, really) start playing the minute we walked into a room, what would it be?
Mine? Cheryl Lynn's "Got to be real".
A quick glance at Hillary Clinton's list shows quite a variety, running the gamut from the Police's "Every little thing she does is magic" to Dolly Parton's "Working 9 to 5" (I particularly like the line of pouring yourself a "cup of ambition"). Both Mitt Romney and Barack Obama have used Stevie Wonder's "Signed, sealed delivered", and several candidates play Bachman-Turner Overdrive's "Takin' care of business". Anyone in PR or marketing can tell you, music is crucial to the "sell", a subtle and subconscious way to get a message across, set a mood, project an image. In fact, quite a bit has been written about the effect of the candidates' musical choice - I particularly like University of California musicology professor Robert Fink's take on U2's "Beautiful day":
"The effect [of the U2 song] is uniformly reported to be exhilarating, and you can see how a song that relies for its feeling on the simultaneous sensation of fast-forward motion and slowly changing harmonic scenery -- old and new at the same time, moving very fast, yet feeling safe and secure -- would appeal to candidates trying to appear both energetic forces for change and reassuring figures of stability."
(For a pretty comprehensive list of tunes, check out the tail end of this article).
For me the most memorable campaign tune is Fleetwood Mac's "Don't stop (thinking about tomorrow)", which became the anthem for Clinton/Gore in 1992 - a song so identified with the campaign that President Clinton persuaded the then-disbanded group to reform to perform it for his inaugural ball in 1993. (I confess a lot of the memorable-ness has to do with the fact that it was the first election I ever participated in...)
Which all makes me think, if we could have a song (or any piece of music, really) start playing the minute we walked into a room, what would it be?
Mine? Cheryl Lynn's "Got to be real".
Labels: contemporary culture, music and politics
posted by Sarah at
4:33 PM
2 Comments:
Ah, the old "choose your theme music" gambit. But am I supposed to pretend to be a politician for this exercise? (In other words, does the song have to in some way connote my electability?) If so, I'd consider "America Town" by Five for Fighting, or maybe "These Are Days" by 10,000 Maniacs.
But if it's just a rockin' theme song that follows me around the world, I'd probably go with "The Laws Have Changed," by the New Pornographers.
I can only ever do the first thing that pops into my head for these things:
If I was a politician, I'd go with the beginning of "Yeah" by Usher (now that's an entrance!) that fades into "Ain't No Other Man" by Christina Aguilera.
My personal theme song would be, and is, One Mint Julep by Ray Charles. ;)
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