There's going to come a time where we have enough portable computing
power to automatically edit video feeds in hard to detect ways in real
time - for example changing the numbers of people at a demonstration
(take out the children, add some guys in black fatigues with bandanas),
or the overall balance of their skin tones, or swapping messages on
banners for more or less inflammatory ones.

I really am astounded by the will.i.am song. It's beautiful and
stirring. I watch it often enough that my two-year-old answers the
question "What does Mr. Obama say?" with "Yes we can!"

Also: I, too, love this about people. There's so much creativity out
there that is just ready to burst out when you give people the
opportunity.

There's a thesis for some Musicologist in here somewhere, about our
country's long history of singing about politicians we
love/hate/moderately like enough to maybe vote for.

But it cheered me up sufficiently after the DRILLING outside my
OFFICE that I can go back to work without being distracted by wanting
to stab someone.

Now I can't get the tune out of my head.

Perhaps a rousing chorus of "Van Buren, Boom Boom" or "I Like Ike" will help.

[wandering off, humming:

I like Ike.

He's a man we all of us like.

He makes no deals.

His favor can't be curried!

And Uncle Joe is worried,

Cause we like Ike...."]

Although actually, if I'd thought about it, I probably would have
concluded that anyway - Ron Paul may be the favorite of the white pride
crowd, but the potentially fascist bits of America are considerably
broader than that. Plus there's the moderately difficult problem
philosophically of being a fascist libertarian.

I wonder how good "Winners and Losers: Campaign Songs from the Critical Elections in American History, Vol. 1" is.

"Fight the fare increase! Vote for George O'Brian! Get poor Charlie off the MTA!"

Teresa, Jonathan Bellman and Phil Ford over at Dial M for Musicology have been writing a fair amount about music and the campaign season.

Join us in our song

We shall rise and sing

Stand up and be counted

Sing a song for liberty...

Also, the Is corruption not their trademark and compassion what they lack? part. It's a great theme song for election season, along with Billy Bragg singing "You fascists are bound to lose."

Huckabee is something this country hasn't seen in quite some time: a
populist demagogue along the lines of Huey Long. They used to be really
thick on the ground, but the advent of film, and then television,
seemed to have put a cramp in their style.

As for the Brand album, the rule of thumb is that if you remember
the candidate's campaign slogan from history class, the song is
probably utterly infectious. I was also tickled to learn that Polk's
campaign song is as catchy as They Might Be Giants' tribute to him.
However, my personal favorite may well be Millard Fillmore's tune, "The
Union Wagon". I guarantee that upon hearing it you will be eager to
take a ride on the Millard Fillmore wagon.

Finally, I haven't quite decided who I'm voting for yet - North
Carolina's primary isn't until early May, at which point it'll likely
be moot - but knowing that The Mighty Sparrow endorses Obama is a
powerful argument for the Yes, We Can faction.

Daniel @15, fascists like empires, and Ron Paul wants to end the Pax
Americana. I just wish he was equally sane about other issues.

Martin @11, ditto. I've only caught up on the Spanish Obama songs,
but they make me want to cry, because they expect so much more than
Obama is promising.

Will, #31: I alluded to this on my LJ a couple weeks ago. Obama may disappoint, but at least there's a shot he'll listen to his constituents. McCain won't disappoint, but I think this is more bug than feature.

And if you're bored of songs about the candidates, how about one about the primary process itself? Sounds fascinating, right?

Superdelegate

Both by Roy Zimmerman; I'd link to his page too, but don't want to
get into any spam filters. You can reach it easily from the YouTube
links anyway.

(I have heard the Morisette cover, and it is funny.)

As for Huckabee, well, I'm from Arkansaw, and he is indeed a scary
dude, and part of the scary is that he's mostly for real. The
comparison to Huey Long is apropos in many ways, including their weird
mix of venality and sincere social concern.

Two of my favourites, Stairway to Kevin and Howard's Way

Incidentally, you can download all the episodes of the Chaser from the ABC website.

My favorite radio show, KFOG's "Ten at Ten" (which is a magnificent
little history lesson every day - his sound bytes of the start of the
AIDS crisis in early 80's years are heartbreaking), often plays "Soul
Makossa" by Manu Dibango when 1973 comes up.

Chris, #35: OMG. I love Roy Zimmerman! If he weren't married and I weren't childfree, I'd want to have his babies.

Completely unrelated, but I also notice that "Huck 'Em All" has been "removed by the user."

There are things very like Llama song filk in the world, such as The Dalek Song
(retelling the Doctor Who episode "The Parting of the Ways"), which if
memory serves I'd seen before I'd ever heard the original Llama Song
all the way through.

And if they can have their smear blamed on *another* Democrat, well, that's even better, isn't it?

Chris (49), we're in a hall of mirrors.

I am wholly surprised that no one here has yet mentioned "Get on a Raft with Taft."

Get on a raft with Taft, boys

Get on the winning boat

The man worthwhile

With a friendly smile

Will get the honest vote!

Interesting note I found while looking this up: the
LA Times reported in 2000 that we do not know exactly how much Taft
weighed because we didn't have precise enough scales for that weight
range. Is that true?

Benjamin Harrison's "He's All Right" has a defensive-sounding refrain:

What's the matter with Harrison?

He's all right!

There can be no comparison;

He's all right!

and goes on to bash Cleveland:

Ben's a man who bravely went

For his native land to shoot

Whereas Grover Cleveland skulked

Behind the nearest substitute!

And I look forward to fan-written songs mentioning the vice-presidential candidates as well. Do you remember the name of Buchanan's VP?

For there is balm in Gilead,

We hear the people say;

Buchanan and John Breckenridge

Will surely win the day!

Hurrah! Hurrah! the nation's risin'

For Harry Clay and Frelinghuysen!

And they didn't even win, more's the pity.

The place where it might be a problem is at smaller events with
little or no MSM coverage, and where recording equipment of any kind is
tightly controlled.

Chris, #49: That's exactly why I'm supporting Obama. The fact that so many people automatically
suspect Clinton whenever anything underhanded comes up is a kind of
baggage that I don't think she can overcome. I also don't think that
putting "Obama is a Muslim" comments on Latino support videos is going
to get much response from the target community except disgust at the
people doing it. It's knee-jerk crap, which argues for lower-end
sources.

I'm about to head off to work (not in my office) and I didn't
bookmark the articles, but if you're still needing citations when I get
back from the caucus tonight, and it's not way late, I'll look them up
and post them.

A couple editorial comments - The "Colombian Barak Obama" video
isn't an Obama campaign video. From what I can tell, he's a Colombian
singer who looks like Obama, which is what's being commented on. (Note
- my Spanish isn't very good, so I could be wrong.)

The JamieR2006 piece is a Ron Paul video, but the music isn't
original. I've heard it before, and my steel sieve memory tells me it's
a Michael Jackson love song, but I could be wrong about that, too.

The link for "Stuck on Huck" goes to the same place as the one for "The Huckabee Song."

The "Snoopy Candidate" song needs video footage of Uno getting a
standing ovation at Madison Square Gardens to go with the lyrics about
"waving the sign of the Beagle high." Just sayin'.

Otherwise, this was fun. I've become a fan of "The Mighty Sparrow." His endorsement is good enough for me.

Oh, here is a must-see: Alannis Morisette's version of "My Humps"

There may have been more to it, but if so it didn't stick with Mom for the intervening 50 years.

And, because the spirit is with the Obama campaign at this mortal
moment, three middle-school white kids dressed up--two as rappers, one
in a sombrero--to record their own version: Como Se dice Como Se llama
Obama. Good on 'em.

*cringe* But now THAT video is breathtakingly racist and just plain
wrong. Those kids are so horribly unfamiliar with the language and
culture of the people they are imitating that their imitation is pure
mockery.

NO YOU CAN'T -- NO SE PUEDE
isn't in Spanish, actually, and features the sort of rich white
conservative people who would indeed turn down a whole lot of the hope
and promises. Spot-on parody.

As to videos, here's a slightly off-topic creepy one. The music isn't too well performed, but the mashup idea was brilliant. I don't think it'd work with the original tracks.

(sigh) i got nothin'

They also had a cover of "Benson, Arizona", from the movie
"DarkStar" on one of their tapes. I still have it, stamped with the
address label from the Benson AZ general store when I drove through
there on my first cross-country solo trip. The folks at the store had
never heard of the song, and were quite amazed to hear it played for
them. They thought it was pretty neat that somebody would go to space
and miss ol' Benson. Except the teenagers, who couldn't believe folks
would want anything except to get away to Phoenix or some other big
city.

Anyone else here remember seeing CC perform at Disklaves on the East Coast in the early to mid 80's?

Just in case she's reading this I would like to point out that this
happened a LONG TIME AGO when she was in COLLEGE and she is now a
SERIOUS THEATER PROFESSIONAL. (I would also like to point out that my
daughter's orthographic skills are somewhat better than those of
whoever posted the video.)

"Respondele a Obama" by Jose Conde y Ola Fresca

"Si Se Puede Cambiar" by Andres Useche