Nashville Skyline
Political parties seem to be totally tone-deaf when it comes to music's inherent messages. Reagan tried to appropriate Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the USA" in 1984 -- not realizing the song's lyrics ran totally counter to the Reagan campaign's messages -- only to have Springsteen ask that the campaign leave his song alone. Jackson Browne and Van Halen have done the same with their songs and the McCain campaign. Browne actually sued over the use of his song "Running on Empty" in an anti-Obama jab about gasoline, and Van Halen became angry over McCain using "Right Now" to introduce Sarah Palin at a recent rally.
As far as I know, any song that has been licensed for public performance can be used in such a manner -- although common practice has been to honor the artist's wishes. In any case, candidates know the value of music in stirring emotions. Sometimes the choices are not necessarily the wisest.
McCain has been heavily using country songs to appeal to that audience, including John Rich's specially-written "Raisin' McCain," which he took to St. Paul, Minn., for the convention. Rich also performed "Our America" at the Republican convention on Wednesday (Sept. 3), along with Cowboy Troy and Gretchen Wilson. Trace Adkins was enlisted to sing the national anthem there Thursday (Sept. 4) evening. Politicians know they don't necessarily need an endorsement from a prominent artist: Endorsement by association works well.
As my colleague Calvin Gilbert recently posited on CMT.com, the political campaigns are in sad need of good musical directors when "Only in America" has been the song of choice by both parties over three campaigns. A good music director could re-energize things. Musical directors, as movie fans know well, can make or break a film with astute music selection and placement. They do the same every day in many areas of popular culture and commerce. But the campaigns seem to invest about as much time into selecting music as they do in ... say ... vetting VP choices.
It's too late now to resurrect the McCain and Obama campaign songs for all but the last leg of the campaign. Just off the top of my head, I would like to offer some modest proposals for campaign music, at least for personal signature songs for the presidential and vice-presidential candidates.
For McCain's appearances: "The Ballad of Jed Clampett" by Flatt & Scruggs seems to fit both his personality and era. For Sarah Palin, it's definitely "Harper Valley PTA" by Jeannie C. Riley. If anyone ever seemed truly destined for a mini-skirt and go-go boots, it's Sarah Palin. She is Jeannie C. Riley, kicking up her heels and lecturing others about morality and small-time peccadilloes.
Joe Biden used John Fogerty's baseball song "Centerfield" when he ran for president in 2004, but I'm not sure that song fits him well. He might be better suited with Joe Jones' "You Talk Too Much" (and the song of the same title by Run-D.M.C.). And if ever a man were ZZ Top's "Sharp Dressed Man," that's Barack Obama.
As a further note, here are some spare song titles for you to use at your leisure: "Nowhere Man," "Dreams of the Everyday Housewife," "Lawyers, Guns and Money," "Shotgun," "Sara Smile," "Moose Nuggets for Christmas," "Small Town Saturday Night," "It Might Be You (Theme from Tootsie)."
Note to the campaigns: There's no charge for this expert advice.
Here's one good example of expert musical directing. David Letterman one day is listening to Sirius Satellite Radio. He hears a song he likes. He gets the singer on his Late Show show ASAP. He also tells his own music director Paul Shaffer to re-arrange the song and repeat the chorus. The singer sings it on TV that way. It's a huge success. And that's how Randy Houser and his fine song, "Anything Goes," leapfrogged the usual hurdles and ended up straightaway on network TV. Now, that is music direction. David Letterman has better ears than many in the music industry. Letterman could teach the political world a musical lesson or two, I suspect.
