So, the Democratic National Committee met yesterday in Washington to discuss Very Important Stuff.When this cycle's crop of presidential candidates spoke, they each got to choose which moldy old song would accompany their apperances.
I remember when Bill Clinton was running for president back in 1992, and his campaign theme song was "Don't Stop (Thinking About Tomorrow)," a 1977 hit for Fleetwood Mac. Not bad; the song was only 15 years old by then; the message was pretty positive. Still. Eww. Icky pseudo-grooviness.
Barbara Boxer ran for the Senate the same year, and came up with a much hipper tune: Jesus Jones' "Right Here, Right Now," which was only a year old then. Good message (sample: "watching the world wake up from history" — it was "The Year of the Woman," after all), and irresistably less mainstream than the frumpy songs all the other folks were using. Of course, we all suspected that Boxer's daughter Nicole, then in her early 20s, might have suggested the musical choice for her mom. Fine. Oh, and romantic footnote: Nicole went on to marry Bill Clinton's brother-in-law — right, that would be Hillary's brother, Tony Rodham. Whatever. The marriage didn't last.
Fast forward to 2007, and the uber-cool (ow, crap, I just stuck my tongue right through my cheek; no, seriously, I'm bleeding) Hillary Clinton has pressed her jukebox buttons for her DNC appearance. And the winner was (envelope, please) "Right Here, Right Now" by Jesus Jones.
Jesus. Gimmeabreak. You can't tell me she doesn't know Boxer already used that one as a campaign song. Sure, it doesn't matter at all in the greater scheme of things (I mean, how many politicos stride onto the platform to the tune of "Happy Days Are Here Again," for instance), but it's just a creepy sign of things to come.
Maybe things could be worse. John Edwards appeared to the jingle from a car ad, "Our Country" by John Mellencamp.
Maybe things could be better! Barack Obama decided not to use music at all, to stress his no-foolin' attitude.
Alas, things could be worstest. I must add that Hillary Clinton chose two songs for her appearance yesterday. The other one was "You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet" by Bachman-Turner Overdrive (1974), and b-b-b-baby, are you as horrified as I am?
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13 comments:
LOL! OK...so what would you recommend for Hil?
Oh, totally Hollaback Girl.
:D
I'm with Barack. Theme songs for campaigns are lame, lame, lame. However, theme songs for blogs are way cool. Mine is going to be Clifford Brown's rendition of Portrait of Jenny.
You?
Miss Hillary was also talking about bombing Iran at the latest AIPAC dinner the other night. What demonic theme song would go comfortably with that, I wonder.
they need your musical help!! Kudos to Obama, going tuneless... he should keep up the "not like the other folks" thing, it's refreshing. And the weirdest part, my evangelical republican father loves him. He might be the only thing this hardcore bleeding heart liberal and her father have in common, that and our love of Prairie Home Companion... weird!
Tammy: Easy. The theme from Ms. Pac-Man. She's mad; she eats.
SFMike: I'm thinkin', I'm thinkin'.
Stacie: But, but, music is fun! I have a suspicion Obama will come up with a campaign theme song eventually. Any ideas for him?
Love the suggestion of "Hollaback Girl." But then I started thinking that Hil needed something even more girly. My first thought was PCD but that's just a bit too sexual for her. Then it came to me -- Danity Kane's "Showstopper."
"We in the car, we ride slow
We doin' things that the girls don't do.
The boys stare, we smile back.
All my girls in the rainbow Cadillacs, yeah.
Bet you ain't never seen
Chicks ridin' this clean.
Louis Vuitton seats.
We do it deadly.
This how we keep it poppin'.
Make sure that bass knockin'.
So when you see us ridin'
We call it show stoppin'."
OK. Maybe I spend too much time with the kids.
Thanks for that, Dagny. I like your choice: much more positive than a playground scuffle. :-)
God, I hate that Jesus Jones song. However, I must admit that I always cheered up when Kerry/Edwards would play U2's "Beautiful Day" -- that was them, wasn't it? Anyway, although I agree with y'all that theme songs in general for campaigns are stupid, unless they're custom-written, I think the Democratic candidates are missing a big opportunity by not using Talking Heads' "Road to Nowhere."
A-a-a-and... Snark of the Day goes to (Bong!) DairyQueen! See, I'm not a huge fan of U2, so that one didn't do it for me (and, sigh, Kerry didn't do it for me either -- nor the rest of the country, it would seem).
I am so riveted by your suggestion of Road to Nowhere that I'm actually a little frightened. What if... what if... nah.
There are only a few songs that are considered campaign worthy. I had to put together a mix once for a victory party that ended up being a crying fest, and it wasn't easy.
"It's the end of the world as we know it" by REM, and Daydream believer" by the Monkees. And "Go your own way" by Fleetwood Mac. You can see what kind of campaign we were running.
I'm afraid, very afraid.....
But, I've just been listening to some old Viet Nam protest songs, give me a minute, maybe I can come up with some suggestions....
Ohgod, Katie. You are as old as me. I spell Vietnam as two words most of the time too!
So let me know what you think of.
KathyF: So fatalistic. So real. Ratz.
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