ELECTION ‘08: Obama campaign music
Usually, when Obama finishes a speech, Stevie Wonder’s Sign, Sealed, Delivered I’m Yours is played afterward. It’s a great big hug to the room. Now, I’m just blown away. Logged onto the Senators rally in Denver and McFadden and Whitehead’s Ain’t No Stopping Us Now was playing.
There’ve been so many things that have held us down
But now it looks like things are finally comin’ around, yeah
I know we’ve got a long long way to go, yeah
And where we’ll end up
I don’t know
But we won’t let nothing hold us back
We gonna get ourselves together
We gonna polish up our act, yeah
And if you’ve ever been held down before
I know that you refuse to be held down any more, yeah yeah
Don’t you let nothing, nothing
Nothing stand in your way
And all we gonna do
I want you to listen, listen (That’s right)
To every word I say
Every word I say about it
Talk about a theme song. Every time someone told me I couldn’t or shouldn’t do something, I sang this song to myself:
It then switched to Stevie Wonder’s Higher Ground. I swear he’s playing the soundtrack of my youth.
Bleeeh…it switched to some frat-rock song and the kids were like “turn it off!”
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January 31st, 2008 at 5:11 am
Damnit, I always sing I Dreamed I saw Phil Ochs Last night by Billy Bragg. I also hear Impi or Work For All by Johnny Clegg and Savuka (work for all was with Juluka, though). Even right now, I’m singing Impi and thinking about the Diggers (A World Turned Upside Down- Billy Bragg). Ah, empowerment songs. Um, I wonder why none of my empowerment songs are American.
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January 31st, 2008 at 6:44 am
I think Billy Bragg, makes some very good, “working class” songs. Does that makes sense. I’m not a fan of Bragg, but I have heard quite a few of his albums and have always felt uplifted by the words.
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January 31st, 2008 at 7:59 am
yep, they’re pretty “working class.” I think it’s the punk part of both his lyrics and the way the music is more disjointed that pulls me in. It’s true, I was a punch baby for a time. I even listened to the sellouts like Offspring and Deadmilkmen. There wasn’t much in the way of music where I grew up. There was country or there was Canadian (signals carry across Lake Erie). This station out of London (Ontario) had a night time show of Punk that I listened to and fell in love with the angst. Love and Punk, those two words just don’t sound right together.
Mom’a a waitress, dad’s a tool and die maker. I’ve been a sister in the Teamsters and a member of SEIU. Dad was in the USWA (steel workers) and my brother is in the Ohio teachers union. So, Bragg speaks to me. I mean, really really really speaks to me.
Of course, you really should also give Clegg a try if you haven’t yet. Impi makes me cry. It’s not a sad song, it’s an empowering song about the history of South Africa. Empowerment, I really like message music (when it’s not country).
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