Abba, Yes; Jackson Browne, No
Given that Jackson Browne is probably one of the most politically active members of the rock star set (and not for GOP causes), one might have thought that Republicans would have hesitated to use one of his songs in a television ad.
But one would be wrong.
Nothing in the southern California troubadour’s catalog even made the list of Sen. John McCain’s favorite songs, according to the September issue of Blender magazine. But two Abba songs did, and those 30-year-old chestnuts appear to be the most recent songs on his top ten:
1. Dancing Queen – ABBA
2. Blue Bayou – Roy Orbison
3. Take a Chance On Me – ABBA
4. If We Make It Through December – Merle Haggard
5. As Time Goes By – Dooley Wilson
6. Good Vibrations – The Beach Boys
7. What A Wonderful World – Louis Armstrong
8. I’ve Got You Under My Skin – Frank Sinatra
9. Sweet Caroline – Neil Diamond
10. Smoke Gets In Your Eyes – The Platters
Hard to argue with some of those songs, even if they’re not on your iPod running songlist.
According to the Blender story, Sen. Barack Obama’s list has a few more recent songs on it (you can be the judge if they’re hip or not and how man voting blocs he’s trying to appeal to), though his list also has some classic rock and Frank Sinatra:
1. Ready or Not – Fugees
2. What’s Going On – Marvin Gaye
3. I’m On Fire – Bruce Springsteen
4. Gimme Shelter – Rolling Stones
5. Sinnerman – Nina Simone
6. Touch the Sky – Kanye West
7. You’d Be So Easy to Love – Frank Sinatra
8. Think – Aretha Franklin
9. City of Blinding Lights – U2
10. Yes We Can – will.i.am
The U2 pick is kind of puzzling — is that his favorite U2 song of all time, or just the week he was asked by Blender for a list?
Not saying he should pick Pride in the Name of Love, since that would be kind of obvious (and on a sidenote: that’s one of my favorite U2 songs and I now have an unfortunate association with the song and Sen. Joseph Lieberman because they were playing it — full blast, and it sounded great — when he came onstage at the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles in 2000 to give his speech as the vice presidential nominee. Not trying to dis Lieberman here; just don’t want to think about him when I hear a great song that has absolutely nothing to do with him).
So I’m assuming that when McCain comes out to give his speech at the GOP convention, we’re going to get Abba’s “Take a Chance on Me” as background music. And when Obama takes the stage in Denver next week, it’s “Yes We Can.”
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or follow this blog's RSS and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
Comments
No comments yet.
Leave a comment