The Art of Selecting a Perfect Campaign “Theme Song”

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We’ve all seen or heard it before - candidate X wins primary Y in state Z and takes the stage in victory with music blaring and a crowd of supporters cheering. After a while the candidate settles on a “theme song” for these occasions, often times testing out a handful of selections before the final decision is made. However their happens to be much more involved in this process, which surprisingly is somewhat scientific.

Over the years we have heard a litany of campaign “theme songs”. Some have hit the mark, setting a positive and energetic tone, one which really gets supporters revved up (’92 Bill Clinton: Fleetwood Mack, “Don’t Stop”, John F Kennedy, Frank Sinatra “High Hopes”), while others - and this is putting it politely miss the mark (John McCain: Abba, “Take A Chance On Me” & Bill Richardson: Los Lobos, “Mess We’re In”). That said, a candidates goal is crystal clear when it comes to picking his or her campaign tune: strike a visceral chord with listeners, piggyback on the literal message in the title or chorus - and hope people don’t analyze the lyrics too closely.

Then there’s the whole issue of the artist approving the use of their material by a candidate. This may sound like nothing more then a technicality, but it’s the furthest thing from it. Musicians are often times protective of their work and we have seen instance after instance in which a artist demands a candidate stop using his or her song.

Some examples include John McCain, who had been playing “I Won’t Back Down,” but rocker Tom Petty asked him to do just that and stop using the tune for his campaign. Bruce Springsteen protested Ronald Reagan’s use of “Born in the U.S.A,” and Bobby McFerrin told George H.W. Bush to drop “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” in the 1988 presidential race. Isaac Hayes didn’t like it when “Soul Man” was rejiggered as “Dole Man” on behalf of Bob Dole.

But that was then, this is now - and I know that Obama’s fans are ready and waiting for his final decision regarding his official “theme song”. This however is not a decision that is fit to be rushed, a matter of fact the science behind picking a “winner” is quite complicated seeing as though it has been apart of our elections since the days of George Washington and his song of choice; “Yankee Doodle”:

“Historically, music had been presented to the candidates by the songwriters, not the other way around. As far back as the 1800 election with “Jefferson and Liberty,” clever lyricists provided party loyalists with issue-based odes set to familiar tunes. In 1920, Al Jolson’s pro-Harding tune “Harding, You’re the Man for Us” appeared. Irving Berlin gave Eisenhower “I Like Ike.” It wasn’t until 1932, when Franklin Roosevelt declared “Happy Days Are Here Again” to distract the country from the Great Depression, that a presidential candidate employed an existing song for his campaign. When the musical connection clicks—such as the way Sinatra’s “High Hopes” helped define JFK’s candidacy, or the mileage Bill Clinton got from Fleetwood Mac’s ’70s hit “Don’t Stop (Thinking About Tomorrow)”—it can make a major impact. So it’s probably not surprising that the McCain and Obama camps aren’t talking much about their next big musical moment: which songs they’ll use at their conventions. Perhaps Obama will pick from among his current favorites, including Stevie Wonder, Brooks & Dunn and Bruce Springsteen.”

So what’s it going to be for Obama. We have heard various songs used at various points of his campaign (a practice that is status quo for a candidate during Presidential primaries), some of the perceived finalists for the Democratic candidate include “Signed, Sealed, Delivered” by Stevie Wonder and Aretha Franklin’s “Think”, among a handful of others.

While many believe Obama is settled on his official “theme song”, others are not so sure. There is no doubt we have most likely heard whatever song he ends up choosing used before on the campaign trail, we cannot be positive until the Democratic Convention in Denver.

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