Dancing to different tunes

2004-09-20 13:56

Olivier Knox

Washington - US President George W Bush's backers sway to we all get a chance - everybody gets to dance - only in America!

Democratic White House hopeful John Kerry's supporters pump their fists to no retreat, baby, no surrender!

The soundtrack to the 2004 US presidential campaign also features a dance remix of the Elvis Presley classic A Little Less Conversation (at Bush rallies) and the upbeat U2 hit Beautiful Day (at Kerry gatherings).

The campaigns' choices of music for their rallies are as different as their positions on the war in Iraq, the US economy, relations with Saudi Arabia - and sometimes include wink-and-a-nod references to themselves or their rival.

"At the end of the day, the lyrics do matter, but campaigns use popular music as a way to connect their candidate with energy, excitement and enthusiasm for the campaign," explains Michael Feldman, a senior aide to former vice president Al Gore's 2000 campaign.

Bush's most played song is the Brooks and Dunn country tune Only in America, which celebrates individual opportunity in the United States. Kerry's unofficial anthem is rocker Bruce Springsteen's rebellious No Surrender.

Bush: 'Swaggering cowboy with mangled syntax'

Bush, whose critics often lampoon him as a swaggering cowboy with mangled syntax and a lack of intellectual curiosity, has also been known to shake supporters' hands to Travis Tritt's Rough Around the Edges.

Sample lyrics include: I don't use a lot of big words, and the chorus proclaims: I'm a little rough around the edges, but I think I'm exactly what you need.

The words to the song also include one of the central themes of Bush's campaign - I stand right up and say what I believe. It's the similar story with the Elvis tune, the chorus of which is A little less conversation, a little more action, though a closer listen might irk Bush's more conservative supporters.

"A little more bite and a little less bark, a little less fight and a little more spark, close your mouth and open up your heart and baby satisfy me," the King of Rock 'n Roll growls, the sexual connotation hard to miss.

"It may surprise some people how many hours are spent by campaign staffers tediously listening through their music collection, only to find out that that song, with the ideal title and chorus, is really about the lead singer's spiral into depression," says Feldman.

Music used to accentuate qualities

Historically, White House hopefuls have used music to accentuate their positive qualities, or round off their hard edges.

In 1988, Democratic candidate Michael Dukakis played Neil Diamond's Coming to America, highlighting his biography as the son of Greek immigrants. He lost to Bush's father, former president George Bush, whose signature tune was Bobby McFerrin's Don't Worry, Be Happy.

Four years later, Bush lost to former president Bill Clinton, who danced to the hopeful Fleetwood Mac anthem Don't Stop Thinking About Tomorrow.

In 1984, former president Ronald Reagan played Bruce Springsteen's Born in the USA, the chorus apparently compensating for the song's depressing lyrics about an unemployed Vietnam War veteran.

Springsteen, who kept his distance from politics until endorsing Kerry in the 2004 race, disavowed Reagan's use of his music.

Songs and artists are not always easily identifiable: Reporters who cover Bush were stumped by the soaring theme often played on Bush bus tours through key states in the November 2 election.

But one savvy colleague who collects movie soundtracks revealed that it was the main title from Air Force One, the action movie that pits fictional president Harrison Ford against terrorists who take over the famous aeroplane.

- AFP