It ain't me, it ain't me.....
Recently, a headline read that Trump was temporarily halting his campaign spending in Michigan. But like Coke or Pepsi buying ads during the Super Bowl, is there anyone unfamiliar with Donald Trump and beyond that, have an opinion on him.
We are very familiar with President Trump, as we are his Democratic challenger Joe Biden. I enjoy writing about the Presidential primaries as we are often learning about the candidates. But this general election, there’s not much to excite me.
Those who have read my blog know I do like the unusual and the musical, and we recently saw two stories get headlines
One was about the music used at Donald Trump’s campaign rally.
Now, until recent years, I doubt anyone but me wrote a word about campaign music. But Trump has had several high profile news stories about musicians not liking the fact they are using his music, most famously The Rolling Stones and the estate of Prince.
Not surprisingly, The Stones (and music publisher BMI) were pursuing legal action for Trump using “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” (What is he trying to say?). Perhaps the surprise is that Trump changed it to “YMCA”. (The Village People have asked Trump not to use their music either).
Trump arrived at a weekend rally to Creedence Clearwater Revival’s classic “Fortunate Son”.
Yes, CCR are one of America’s greatest bands. Yes, their music has become a meme as it has appeared iconically in Apocalypse Now, Born on the Fourth of July, and Forest Gump and at least a handful more period pieces.
I probably don’t need to tell you any more but in case, you aren’t familiar with the song or it’s background, I will let the songwriter John Fogerty say it.
Back in those days, we still had a draft, and something I was very upset about was the fact that people of privilege, in other words, rich people, or people that had a position, could use that to avoid the draft and not be taken into the military. I found that very upsetting that such a thing could occur, and that's why I wrote 'Fortunate Son.'
Surely, a troll by someone who knew the implication.
(Not for the first time, I wrote last week of GE Smith choosing to open with a Bowie song at the 2016 Republican convention, but not ''Let's Dance", "Fame", or even "Space Oddity", but the one about 'the side effects of the cocaine').
The Dems have a different problem. Everyone is surely aware that they could get just about any musical backer they wanted. John Legend, Jimmy Buffet, the Chicks, James Taylor, Billy Porter, Jennifer Hudson, Cher, Sheryl Crow, Neil Young, Madonna and Willie Nelson ate some of the many and varied performers who have spoken in favor of Biden.
But they have also a Septuagenarian on the top of the ticket, and have run a traditional campaign so having say, Billie Eilish at the Democratic Convention feels like a “How do you do, Fellow Kids” moment.
I wondered if that was the bottom of the depths that the Dems might go.
I want to make it clear that my criticism is not the standard Conservative critique that the pansexual depressive Eilish (and her multi-colored hair) that popped up immediately after her Convention appearance. Instead, it lies with the nominee, whose biggest contribution to music is fighting Napster.
But no, it looks like the low point will be Biden in Florida opening his phone to play Despacito in front of a group of Latino voters. Biden embarrassingly stated “If I had the talent of any of those people, I’d be elected President by acclamation.”
What got lost in Biden’s ‘Dukakis in a tank” moment, was that Biden had been immediately preceded by the song’s singer Luis Fonsi (Ricky Martin also attended and spoke).
Because this is 2020, the story doesn’t stop there. Donald Trump tweeted a version of the video, but replacing the song with NWA’s “F—- the Police.”
Trump suggests a lawless and orderless Biden Presidency, though I hesitate to say it makes Biden cooler (in the ironic white senior citizen 'Betty White cursing in Lake Placid' kind of way).
What’s left in the way of more music-related news on the campaign trail? Likely more with Grammy winner Kanye West on the ballot in 12 states and classical pianist Jade Simmons running as an independent with ballot access to 10 states. Nor are all the candidates on all 50 state ballots from the age of Nelson Riddle and Perry Como. (You can find my article on the Jo Jorgensen playlist here)
Perhaps our future headline is to come as the news of Cardi B, a former Sanders supporter coming to Biden’s camp is followed by the fact that her song WAP (Wet-A— P—-y) is the biggest song in the nation. I will wait to write that article when those two facts inevitably intersect, but for the moment, can we just appreciate the bizarre juxtaposition of the two in interview for Elle magazine?
Comments
Post a Comment
Contact us