Music serves different purposes for the different
parts of our lives. It’s the background score for all of us from the cradle to
the grave and every moment in between. Music serves to soothe us, to heal us
emotionally, to inspire us religiously, and this week it serves —hopefully---
to motivate us to action.
You won’t hear lullabies being used for
campaign songs. Why is that? The people who plan these things don’t want to
soothe and calm us right now, they don’t want us to fall asleep---they want us
to get up and vote and make phone calls and go door to door, to get out there
and cheer for the guy with the best message and the best song.
“Music connects on so many levels,” says James
Elliott, chairman of the songwriting program at Belmont University in
Nashville. “There’s patriotism, there’s maybe an element of nostalgia, pride,
and just a love for country and a love for fellow man.” Music can stimulate all
of that, and politicians on both sides are well aware of it.
“Since the nation's founders rocked out to “God
Save George Washington,” music has been an integral part of our political
system,” writes Mike Burr for Prefix Online Magazine. “Songs have drawn attention to problems in
society, served as rallying points for the citizenry and opened discussions on
topics that were otherwise unapproachable.”
In the past years, after “Tippecanoe and Tyler
Too” caught the attention of the nation in 1840, songs have become an important
part of the campaign process. Most songs weren’t written specifically for the campaign---candidates
just pick something they think expresses their message. Mike Burr picks “This Land is Your Land” by Woody
Guthrie as the most important patriotic song in our nation’s history. George H.
Bush used that one in 1988. George W. Bush’s song pick didn’t work out so well:
Tom Petty threatened to sue him if he didn’t stop using his song “I Won’t Back
Down.”
Texas billionaire Ross Perot used the Patsy
Cline hit “Crazy” for his campaign. Other political songs range from ABBA’s
“Take a Chance on Me” to Fleetwood Mac’s “Don’t Stop” and of course, Bruce Springsteen’s
“Born in the USA.” Campaign songs come from all genres, all political
orientations, and all age groups.
The one thing they have in common is that they
are definitely not lullabies. We’ll get back to that next time---after the
election is over.
Sweet dreams,
Jane
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