Presidential Groove: Weekend Update

Here are the biggest music related news items since we last met.

Your Top Story:

John McCain runs into music issues.

APPLETON, Wisconsin (Reuters) - Would Abba take a chance on him? Republican presidential front-runner John McCain is not so sure and said he opted against playing the 1977 hit "Take a Chance on Me" by the Swedish group at his campaign rallies because of licensing and other concerns.
"It's more difficult to play 'let's take a chance on me' than I thought," the four-term Arizona senator told reporters aboard his campaign plane.
"It gets expensive in a big hurry and if you're not careful you can alienate some Swedes," he joked. "If word gets out to Stockholm that we're using Abba music, then there'll be a worsening in U.S.-Swedish relations."
The hit disco song, which begins "If you change your mind, I'm the first in line," could sum up McCain's courtship of the powerful conservative wing of the Republican Party.

McCain also ran into issues using the theme song to "Rocky".

After playing the anthemic horns of the "Rocky" theme song at his rallies, the owner of the song's copyright telephoned the McCain campaign to politely complain it was being used without permission, McCain said.
"It wasn't a formal complaint or a letter. Someone just called on the phone and said 'Hey, that's our property,'" he said.

Follow-up story: Will.i.am follows up the popular Obama- themed YouTube video "Yes, We can" with a song called "We are the Ones".

The video is based on a line Obama delivered in a speech: "We are the ones we've been waiting for," and it features folks like Jessica Alba, George Lopez, Luis Guzman, Ryan Phillippe, John Leguizamo, Kate del Castillo, Malcolm Jamal Warner and Macy Gray.

Clinton backers respond:

Not to be outdone, the Clinton campain this week released its own Mexican cumbia, a Latino campaign theme song called "Hillary, Hillary Clinton," and featuring noted Tejano musician Johnny Canales. Latino supporters of Clinton in the Washington area also created a Spanish music video, called "Oye Hillary."

From the YouTubes:

Check out Roy Zimmerman and his song "Superdelegate". Like that? "Eine kleine Barackmusick" is even better.

Behold the Power of Obama? Checkout this Bollywood-themed video.

Let's not forget the GOP. There's Huckabee Girl.

On a more serious note:

In Ohio, Bill Clinton has been taking the stage to the Top Gun song "Danger Zone". In Texas, he is being accompanied by a Mariachi band.

Melissa Ethridge has changed her support from Clinton to Obama.

When he's not promoting his new album "Love grenade", Ted Nugent is writing a weekly article about the Presidential campaign for the Waco Tribune-Herald.

Finally:

This New Republic blogger speculates Obama is Jay-Z, Hillary is Cam'Ron

Presidential Groove: Weekend Update

Headline story:

The biggest music-related Presidential campaign story thus far has been the Obama/will.i.am video.

So, no surprise there is a John McCain parody video.

Even two.

Hillary Clinton has her own video response.

Other big stories this week:

Barack Obama wins a grammy for Best Spoken word album.

Tom Scholz from the band Boston asks Mike Huckabee to quit playing "More Than A Feeling".

Campaign theme articles:

An interersting and amusing article about campaign songs, and how the lyrics of the songs don't match the intent.

Clinton has regaled her backers with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' "American Girl", doubtless to evoke the image of a patriotic, down-home candidate.
But the lyrics tell an altogether different story of seeing a dream slip away: "God, it's so painful/ Something that's so close / And still so far out of reach."

Another article on theme songs used in this campaign.

(Clinton) offered nine songs to vote on, but many overzealous readers supplied their own suggestions, including Elton John's The Bitch is Back, Foreigner's Cold As Ice and The Rolling Stones' Sympathy for the Devil.

Assorted articles from this week:

Pitchfork ran an article on John McCain's daughter and her music bloggery.

Songwirter/satirist Tom Lehrer endorses Obama:

I asked Lehrer if there was anything he'd like to add, in this chat, about the current president. After a bit of pause he said, "Just tell the people that I am voting for Obama."

Wonkette reports that Paula Abdul endorses a female for President.

Wonkette also featured this picture of Barry Manilow fans for Hillary:

Have a good week.

Weekend Update

Top Ten Recent Stories

• Merle Haggard was on the Bill Maher show and said that he was disappointed that after he wrote "Let's Put a Woman in the White House" that Hillary went to Nashville to get other songwriters to write songs about her. Merle also joked about Hillary going on Willie Nelson's bus.
• Stevie Wonder campaigned for Obama in California
• The remaining members of the Grateful Dead were reuniting to campaign for Obama.
• A video put together by will.i.am of the BlackEyed Peas, and featuring Herbie Hancock, Common, John Legend, and Nicole from the Pussycat Dolls was a huge hit. The video which combined Obama's speech with music and sung vocals got 1.9 million views.
• Kim Gordon from Sonic Youth supports Obama
• The Beatles support Obama. Well, if Elvis supported Duncan Hunter...
• Speaking of the Beatles
• Arlo Guthrie is supporting Ron Paul
• John Mellencamp tells John McCain to quit using his songs. You'd think that making campaign appearences with John Edwards would have given some clue where Mellencamp's allegiances lie.

and lastly, the biggest music-related story of the last two weeks..

• In case, you didn't see it on every major news outlet, Obama Girl didn't vote for Obama. In fact, she didn't even vote at all.

Presidential Groove: Hillary Clinton

Who?: Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY)

Musician supporters: The Clinton family should know the power of music more than most. Who can think of the 1992 election and not picture Fleetwood Mac performing "Don't Stop Thinking about tomorrow".

Hillary supporters include: Madonna, Janet Jackson, Katherine McPhee, Melissa Ethrdige, Gail Zappa (Frank's widow), Merle Haggard, Babyface, Barbra Streisand, Barry Manilow (listed in Wikipedia, although I have also seen him listed as a Biden and a Ron Paul supporter), Quincy Jones, Clarence Avant, Berry Gordy, Carole King, Carly Simon, and 50 Cent.

That's a guest list any awards show would be envious of.


On the Record: Hillary has inspired Merle Haggard to write a song about her and lament "Why don't we put a woman in charge".

Hillary's YouTube supporters have a counterpoint to 'Obama Girl' with 'Hott4Hil'.

On her myspace, Hillary says her last music purchase was Carly Simon's Into White.

Hillary famously had her campaign song picked by voters on her website. "You and I" by Celine Dion won. Other options that were on her shortlist, but did not win were: KT Tunstall "Suddenly I see", SmashMouth "I'm a Believer", U2- "City of Blinding Lights" and "Beautiful Day", The Temptations- "Get Ready", Jesus Jones- "Right Here, Right Now", Dixie Chicks - "Ready to Run", Shania Twain - "Rock this Country", and the Staples Singers "I'll Take You There".

Will Hillary answer my question "What music are you currently listening to?": Want a quick answer to why Edwards took second in Iowa? I got a personal answer from the Edwards camp, and the Hillary camp sent an automated e-mail. The e-mail is addressed "Dear Friend" and states "Thank you for your message. I have received thousands of emails from people all over the country. Your comments are very important to me and I am excited that so many people are joining our conversation about how to change the direction of the country. Unfortunately, due to the high volume of comments, I am unable to respond to each email individually." beroe addressing ways that you can contribute to her campaign.

John Edwards

Who?: Former Sen. John Edwards (D-NC)

Musician supporters: Maybe more than other candidate, Edwards is popular with musicians. Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne, John Mellencamp and Kevin Bacon (The Bacon Brothers band) have all toured extensively to support Edwards. John also carries endorsements from Harry Belafonte and DefJam honcho Russell Simmons. In Iowa and North Carolina, appearances were preceded by Bluegrass legend Ralph Stanley.

What I assume is on his personal music player: Edwards seems hipper than most. I am not sure what he listens to, but I imagine his daughter Cate slips him some good suggestions as well (the Edwards website states the Allmans, Dylan, and Howie Day are on her MP3 player).

On the Record: John has probably the coolest campaign music of any of the campaigns. Examples: The late, great California band Granddaddy cover of "Revolution" by the Beatles. "Salt of the Earth" by the Rolling Stones (off Beggar's Banquet), Bruce Springsteen's "The Rising". Tom Petty's "I won't back down". Stevie Ray Vaughn "The House is Rockin'"

We're also told the mix-tape contains Kanye West, but we're not told what song.

Speaking of mix-tapes, we are told that contributors of %$50 or more to Edwards campaign gets this killer compilation of Edwards favorites. Merle Haggard, Gillian Welch, the Fairfield 4, Del McCoury, Emmylou Harris- I am not sure that offer still stands, but that sounds like an excellent disc.

Will John answer my question "What music are you currently listening to?": With all but a handful of the major candidates left, this excercise has generally been a bust. If you send an e-mail to a Presidential candidate asking about their favorite music, you generally get no response in return.

This begs the issue: What are the candidates going to do when they face the tough questions?

So, I wasn't expecting a response, but guess what? The Edwards camp came through, answering my question within about a 24-hour turn-around.

Here is a paraphrase of that answer:

John is a huge Springsteen fan, and listens to a lot of Bruce. He is also a huge U2 fan. He is also a fan and friend of John Mellencamp and will be appearing with him in Des Moines.

Very cool to hear from the Edwards campaign. Great to get an answer, and also discover John has good taste. We are doing this as impartial as we can, but given the friendliness of the Edwards camp, and the quick response, we give Edwards our highest endorsement.

Bill Richardson

Who? Gov. Bill Richardson (D-NM)

Musician supporters: Oddly, Toby Keith. Richardson also insists that he has celebrity endorsers to be named later.

Musician relatives: Wikipedia insists Backstreet Boy Kevin Richardson is related, although I couldn't find anything definitive on this.

What I assume is on his personal music player:
Richardson seems kind of hip. I could definitely see him listening to a lot of Triple-A artists.

On the Record:

Louie Bello recorded this song, which proves just about every candidate has a theme song. It's not half-bad.

At the DNC convention, Richardson picked "Lean on Me" (the Club Nouveau version) as his theme song, and "Baby, I love your Way" (neither the Frampton or Will to Power version, but the salsa version by Fuerza Juvenil) as his exit music.

Bill gets major points from us, by being a vocal supporter of arts and music.

Will Bill answer my question "What music are you currently listening to?": I submitted my question by e-mail on Bill's website. It immediatley took me to a page asking me how much I wanted to contribute to Bill's campaign. I never did get an answer back from the Richardson campaign (maybe, because I didn't donate).

Mike Gravel

Who? Former Sen. Mike Gravel (D-AK)

Musician supporters: n/a

What I assume is on his personal music player: Hard to figure. I can see Gravel listening to Glenn Miller, and I can see Gravel listening to Frank Zappa.

On the Record: Mike has targeted the gamer vote through his commercials, and was the first candidate to hit Second Life.

One person thinks of "F--- tha Police" when they hear the phrase "I support Mike Gravel for President".

Most importantly, Gravel has entered the world of spoken word mash-up. He is the closest thing that this campaign has to Gil Scott-Herron:




Will Mike answer my question "What music are you currently listening to?": Mike has a unique spot on his website, where he asks people to submit questions, and then he will answer the question on his weekly YouTube post. Pretty cool idea. Interestingly, Gravel lays out, thaqt he will treat any kind of threat or disparaging remark seriously, and that he has yer IP address, so don't even think about it.

I did submit the question, but as I haven't seen too much recent activity, I suspect i won;t get an answer. I will keep you tuned in, should that change.

Barack Obama

Who: Senator Barack H. Obama (D-IL)

Musician supporters: Nas, Common, Will Smith, and Wyclef Jean all showed early support for the "Draft Obama" campaign. Billie Joe Armstrong gave a half-endorsement. Donnie McLurkin made a controversial campaign appearance.

What I assume is on his personal music player: Obama has been probably the most followed candidate on the trail, so we sort of know this answer already.

On the Record: CNN reported that Obama likes Earth, Wind & Fire, Stevie Wonder, and Beyonce.

Barack has inspired the song "Obama Girl" we all know, but also the song "The World Votes for Obama". He also is probably the most name-dropped candidate in rap music. What rhymes with Tancredo?

A punk supergroup featuring Greg Hetson and members of Goldfinger, Guttermouth and the Dee Dee Ramone Band have named themselves Black President.

Obama's website includes many meet-up groups inclusing Muusicians for Obama and Soul Music Lovers for Obama, to name two.

Obama addressed the Essence Music Festival in New Orleans, which is pretty cool if you ask me.

Obama has criticized hardcore rap music, but he is still the candidate most likely to nominate Ludacris to be Attorney General.

Obama has taken money from the RIAA, yet has criticized internet proviers who try to limit P2P action.

Will Obama answer my question: "What music are you currently listening to?": Barack is a rock star. Politicians get dozens of e-mails a day. Rock stars get 100's of e-mails a day.

The Obama campaign know this, so they have tried to anticipate questions, and have a pretty extensive FAQ section on their webpage.

After sending an e-mail, I got a quick reply back, that was a standard response; still credit for acknowledging something. The response began "Thank you for contacting Obama for America. The volume of messages we are receiving has exceeded all expectations. While it is difficult to respond to thousands of messages a week as efficiently as we would like, the level of interest and nature of the comments reflected in these communications are very gratifying. Your thoughts on our campaign and America's future are greatly appreciated."

Joe Biden

Who? Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE)

Musician supporters: n/a

What I assume is on his personal music player: A liberal Senator who grew up in the 60's. I suspect that he listens to a lot of British invasion, maybe some Motown thrown in.

On the Record: I have been unable to find anything on this. Although, if Biden does listen to Cd's, he has made it clear, he would go to Best Buy to buy them, as opposed to downloading it off a P2P network. So, he may still pick up that elusive Lars Ulrich endorsement.

Joe also inspired Red State Update's "Fightin' Joe Biden" for whatever that is worth.

Will Joe answer my question: "What music are you currently listening to?": I have yet to hear back from the Biden campaign. At this point, this blog cannot endorse Joe Biden for President. Should we hear anything from the Biden campaign, we will update this post.

Dennis Kucinich

Who? Rep Dennis Kucinich (D-OH)

Musician supporters: Ani DiFranco, Jello Biafra, Willie Nelson

What I assume is on his personal music player: Way to the left and big with the granola crowd, of all the candidates, Dennis is the one most likely to own Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain.

On the Record: Dennis has pretty impressive credentials for the diy/indie crowd, while he brings support from Ani DiFranco (who he has appeared onstage with) and Jello Biafra (ex-lead singer of the Dead Kennedys). He has also got a near-endorsement from Def Jam co-founder Russell Simmons, though Simmons has since backed off.

Kucinich also should pull in the Polka vote, as one can access several polka sites from Dennis' congressional webpage.

Unsurprisingly, Kucinich's (unofficial) Myspace page plays all the great protest singers of the last 20 years- Lennon, Dylan, Marvin Gaye, Neil Young, even up to Wyclef Jean and Rage Against the Machine. The official webpage has an impressive list of friends: Green Day, Springsteen, Smashing Pumpkins, and Bob Marley (who has yet to endorse a candidate).

Dennis is probably the only candidate in this election who has his own genre of music. Okay, that may be stretching it, but he does have his own soundtracks (not one, but three inspired by the former Cleveland mayor).

Kucinich- bringing together punks, hippies, country legends, hiphop moguls, and polka dancers.

Will Dennis answer my question "What music are you currently listening to?"

I got a quick reply from the e-mail I sent. It came from an intern who said she had no idea what was on Dennis's MP3 player. She said that she was in Iowa, and so she never sees him.

Interesting to note the quote about Dennis and Iowa, as most candidates are spending every free moment here, and even one (Dodd) has temporarily moved his family here.

No answer, but positive marks for the quick response (within an hour or two) and the friendly tone. The e-mail was signed "In hope and peace".

I suspect that Duncan Hunter doesn't sign his e-mails that way.

Chris Dodd

It was Chris Dodd who helped inspire this project. He had a section on his website in which he asked people to send in their iPod selections

I have to give a respect to anyone who would take up my suggestions to listen to Hank Williams III, Gogol Bordello and the Kronos Quartet (assuming he would). Think of the possibilites. Wonkette has.

Sadly, I don't see that on his website anymore. Although if you know to look for it, it's there.

I did see him when he appeared in my home town, and I asked him what he had been listening to.

The following is not an exact transcript, but is as very close as possible to his word-by-word answer.

"Someone just sent me some Pearl Jam.... Paul Simon is a good friend. I listen to alot of Paul Simon.... I'm probably dating myself here.... That guy from Massachusetts...umm (thinking)....James Taylor.... Also, Bono is a friend of mine."

I give Sen. Dodd credit for being a good sport and answering. I don't know if I tipped my hand by being there. If it wasn't a 30-something asking the quetion, would he have said Bono and Pearl Jam. We have to give him the benefit of the doubt.