Campaign Theme Songs: A Tough Balance
WNYC News, February 02, 2008
It’s not exactly the Grammys, but as the presidential field winnows down, so does the list of campaign theme songs that might – come November – be crowned the Winning Presidential Anthem of 2008. WNYC’s Siddhartha Mitter evaluates the contenders.
REPORTER: They say one way we pick a presidential candidate is to imagine having a beer with them. But which candidate would you let take you to a party? And when you got there, what kind of music would they play?
MUSIC: ABBA, “Take a Chance on Me”
REPORTER: That, believe it or not, is campaign music.
REPORTER: Apparently, John McCain is a huge fan of ABBA, and “Take a Chance on Me” was his personal pick to replace Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode” on the campaign trail. I always thought the moment ABBA came on was the time to leave the party. But McCain’s doing pretty well in the primaries, so what do I know?
MUSIC: Theme from “Rudy”
REPORTER: Here’s another unusual choice. In the final weeks of his campaign, Rudy Giuliani would stride onstage to the theme from a 1993 movie called… “Rudy.” It’s the tale of a pint-size kid who beats the odds and makes it onto the Notre Dame football team. Great concept – if you happened to know the film. If you didn’t, it’s unlikely this solemn instrumental music was going to get your political juices flowing.
MUSIC: Brooks and Dunn, “Only in America:” One kid dreams of fame and fortune… One kid helps pay the rent… One could end up going to prison… One just might be president…
REPORTER: Not really subtle, but subtlety isn’t the point. Campaign music has to achieve a tough balance – just like the campaign itself. Keep your supporters happy, reach out to the undecided, and try not to alienate anybody. That’s how even a self-proclaimed candidate of change, like Barack Obama, ends up with this fairly cheesy country number by Brooks and Dunn.
REPORTER: Still, most of the Obama playlist is classic soul music – of the upbeat and uplifting type. It’s great stuff: Aretha Franklin, Earth Wind and Fire, and Stevie Wonder.
MUSIC: Stevie Wonder, “Signed, Sealed, Delivered”
REPORTER: Logistically, this is a great song to close a rally: the refrain comes very fast, so you keep the energy high, especially after one of those soaring Obama speeches.
MUSIC, Celine Dion, “You and I”
REPORTER: Of course the first major song of Election 2008 turned out to be kind of a disaster. When the Hillary Clinton campaign asked supporters to help them pick an official anthem, the pundits thought it was a great way to engage voters. How they ended up with Celine Dion is still a mystery.
REPORTER: Ms. Dion has long vanished from the playlist. The Clinton campaign has gone ecelectic instead. Songs in heavy rotation on the trail include Sheryl Crow, Big Head Todd & the Monsters, and this one from KT Tunstall, “Suddenly I See.”
MUSIC: KT Tunstall, “Suddenly I See:” Her face is a map of the world, a map of the world… You can see she’s a beautiful girl, a beautiful girl... And everything around her is a silver pool of light, people who surround her feel the benefit of it, it makes you calm, she’ll hold you captivated in her palm. Suddenly I see, this is what I wanna be…
REPORTER: Given the campaign context it’s hard not to see this as a wishful description of the candidate herself. Experience and competence are great traits in a president, but radiating a silver pool of light is a lot more cool. Who said we can’t have it all?
REPORTER: Now maybe none of these tunes work for you, and you’re still shopping for a candidate. How about Mitt Romney? His playlist changes too, but here’s a solid regular.
MUSIC: Elvis Presley, “A Little Less Conversation:” A little less conversation, a little more action please. All this aggravation ain’t satisfactionin’ me. A little more bite and a little less bark, a little less fighting a little more spark… Close your mouth and open up your heart and baby, satisfy me… Satisfy me baby…
REPORTER: Enough talk – Romney’s about business, and about Elvis. Maybe it’s something about the hair? And we’ll assume all that “satisfy me” stuff is about satisfying the voters’ expectations – nothing else.
REPORTER: In general with campaign music, you don’t really want to dig too deep into the lyrics – let alone the social context that the music was made in. Just because most campaign songs are well-worn classics, doesn’t mean they were made in a vacuum. Like this New York club anthem from the Seventies…
MUSIC: McFadden and Whitehead, “Ain’t No Stoppin’ Us Now”
REPORTER: Ain’t No Stopping Us Now – another Romney campaign pick. Nothing says chief executive like the music drag queens used to sashay to back at the Paradise Garage.
REPORTER: OK, so maybe campaign music isn’t as crucial as how each candidate plans to deal with the mess in Iraq, or fend off the subprime mortgage crisis. Still, a good song – or a bad one, for that matter – adds an emotional dimension to the race that a policy paper can never provide.
REPORTER: For WNYC, I’m Siddhartha Mitter.
