Net Users Sing Candidates’ Praises

February 26, 2008

By Alyson Ward Fort, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Texas

Feb. 26–America, we have invented a new way to talk about this presidential election. We’ve found a new medium that lets us interact with the candidates, share our opinions, make our allegiances known. It’s an entirely new force in election-year culture: tributes in song.

The 2008 election has brought out the creative spirit in America. We don’t just want to hear talking heads on TV. We don’t just want to listen to the candidates extol their own virtues.

No. We want to join together, clear our throats and sing about this election. And then send those songs all over the world.

YouTube — which didn’t even exist in 2004 — is filled with videos that celebrate (or insult) every presidential contender. These videos circulate through our e-mail boxes. They pop up in our blogs. And they take us all back to YouTube, where we find thousands more just like them.

Remember Obama Girl, who danced her way to national notoriety by singing I Got a Crush on Obama? She was just the tip of the iceberg. Now there’s a video that celebrates the sexiness of just about every candidate on the ballot.

As a nation of videographers, we are serious and funny, original and imitative. For the past few weeks, the celebrity-studded Yes We Can video — produced by the Black-Eyed Peas’ Will.i.am — has been racking up hits by the millions. A parody featuring John McCain was posted in short order, and it’s been followed by still more parodies featuring McCain, Barack Obama and even Ronald Reagan.

The candidates themselves are using video, too. Consider the series of videos Mike Huckabee and Chuck Norris have done together. (“My plan to secure the border? Two words: Chuck Norris.”) And have you seen Hillary and the Band? Released by the Hillary Clinton campaign, it’s a Behind the Music-style story of a band that danced on the edge of stardom — but fell apart when Clinton put down her guitar to run for president. (“I couldn’t believe it,” a dejected band member says. “Immediately I called Lance and said, ‘Dude. Hillary just quit the band.’”)

Campaigns are savvy to use videos. But it’s the American people who are making the biggest statement. Armed with laptops instead of posters, we’ve found a new way to take a stand for the candidates we love. It’s a totally American — and totally American Idol — way to join the conversation.

We’ve waded through YouTube — and the rest of the Web — to listen to the music this election has inspired. Most are amateur efforts created with love by people who have either a lot of talent or a lot of time on their hands. And most are hilarious, whether the humor is intentional or not.

Here’s a mix of the best and the worst. (Oh, and keep this in mind: Not everything listed here is family-friendly. View at your own risk.)

HILLARY CLINTON

Strange bedfellows

Did you know Merle Haggard — yes, that Merle Haggard — has endorsed Clinton? He wrote a song for her, too, called Let’s Put a Woman in Charge.

The song hasn’t exactly been embraced by the Clinton campaign (“Who ran the show when the scandal hit town?” it reminds us), but Merle means well. “If we don’t elect Hill’ry,” he sings, “then we’ll never know.”

Find it: Search YouTube for “Let’s Put a Woman in Charge.” A user named downwithtyranny1 has used the song for a slide show.

Lyrics:Eight years in the White House with the know-how we need / When you walk with a leader, you learn how to lead … This country needs to be honest / Our changes need to be large / What we need’s a big switch of gender /Let’s put a woman in charge.

TV themes

Last year Clinton asked her supporters to choose her campaign song for her. And what did that get her? A Celine Dion song.

This guy has a better idea. “You see, if you want to appeal to young people,” he tells Clinton, “you need to take something directly from pop culture. And I don’t think there’s any debating that about the coolest thing around are off-the-air ’90s sit-coms.” Thus, a Clinton-themed version of the theme from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.

Find it: Search YouTube for “The Hillary Clinton Campaign Song … a Late Suggestion” by user JackDanyells

Lyrics:In Chicago, Illinois she was born and raised / Sold cookies on the block way back in the day / Campaigning, counseling, studying too / at Wellesley College and Yale Law School

Painfully earnest

Here’s one the Clinton campaign would probably delete if it could. Hillary4U&Me is an original song performed by a crowd of jeans-and-T-shirt-clad young people who dance badly while a band plays. It’s very Up With People, and it’s a little awful. OK, a lot awful — so awful that some viewers have suspected that the video’s maker is secretly an Obama supporter who wanted to make Clinton supporters look out of touch. He tells The New York Times he is sincere.

Find it: Search YouTube for “Hillary4U&Me” by user Hillary4UandMe

Lyrics:Hillary for you and me! / Bring back our democracy! / Make this country proud and free! / Let’s stand up for Hillary!

MIKE HUCKABEE

Catchy campaign songs

Ever wondered how your favorite pop songs would sound if they were all written about Mike Huckabee?

Matt Robins and Jared Shelton, Maryland 20-somethings, play guitar and sing Huckabee-centric versions of every song that ever got stuck in your head. They’ve posted several videos on YouTube, and even the Huckabee campaign has noticed: The pair was asked to warm up the crowds for Huckabee when he campaigned in South Carolina in January.

Find it: Start by searching YouTube for “Breakfast at Huckabee’s” by user RobinsMatt. That’ll get you a Huckafied version of the irritating late-90s hit by Deep Blue Something, Breakfast at Tiffany’s.

Lyrics:And I said, what about voting for Huckabee? / She said, I think I remember that man . …

But wait, there’s more. There’s a parody of the Rolling Stones’ Honky Tonk Women: I’m a Huuuuckabee voter / Gimme, gimme, gimme some Huckabee votes!

There’s a version of the Beatles’ Help! that’s called Huck!: When I was younger, so much younger than today / I thought that I could go and throw my vote away ….

And surely you didn’t think they’d overlook how nicely the name “Huckabee” fits into Mrs. Robinson:Here’s to you, Mr. Huckabee / Jesus loves you more than you will know ….

“Huckabee” rhymes with “parody”

Here’s the story of Huckabee’s political survival against all odds, with apologies to Gloria Gaynor. Also look for these gems from the same user: The Huck Dance (Let’s dance the Huck Dance tonight. . . .) and High Hopes — yes, based on the Frank Sinatra song (He’s got high hopes / he’s got high hopes / He’s got Walker, Texas Ranger by his side ….”).

Find it: Search YouTube for “I Will Survive” by user tommyanne

Lyrics:At first they said I’d fail, I’d be petrified / Kept thinking I could never win without the mainstream right / But then I proved them oh so wrong, I stayed alive so very long inside this race / Just read the victory on my face ….

Painfully earnest

A woman named Carol has recorded a tribute to Huckabee, which she performs a capella in her apartment’s kitchen. It is heartfelt and earnest and absolutely excruciating.

Find it: Search YouTube for “Mike Huckabee song” by user cjhighprize

Lyrics:God bless Mike Huckabee / Lord, be his guide, stay right by his side / Through the raging sea ….

JOHN MCCAIN

Funny? Creepy? Or both?

This short clip isn’t a full song, exactly; it’s an altered video clip from a cable-news interview. Tim Russert asks McCain a question about the war. McCain, thanks to a few high-tech tricks, replies with a few lines from the Vanilla Ice hit Ice Ice Baby. Weird, yes. But inexplicably funny.

Find it: Search YouTube for “Exclusive John McCain REMIX” by user DropKickMonkey01

Country tribute

A clinical/forensic psychologist who calls himself Dr. B.L.T. has recorded a song about McCain. It’s an answer, he says, to Haggard’s ditty about Clinton.

Find it: Go to Bakotopia.com and search for “maverick”

Lyrics:He’s a maverick (he’s a maverick), he’s a maverick (he’s a maverick) / Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth, they say / He’s been through hell and back again, through snow, hail, sleet and rain / He’s a maverick and his name is John McCain

Painfully earnest

Here’s an original song written by a Bethesda, Md., lawyer, who sings it while he accompanies himself on piano. He really likes McCain.

Find it: Search YouTube for “Lead the Way” by metrian835

Lyrics:Lead the way, lead the way, John / To where we want to be / Lead the way, lead the way, John / to strength and unity

BARACK OBAMA

Top-rated tune

Are you one of the three remaining Americans who hasn’t seen the Yes We Can video yet? The brainchild of the Black-Eyed Peas’ Will.i.am and directed by Jesse Dylan (son of Bob), the black-and-white, 4-1/2-minute creation is a mix of singing, celebrity-spotting and bits of Obama’s speech in New Hampshire.

Find it: The video was originally posted at yeswecansong.com, but it’s everywhere now. Search YouTube for “Yes We Can.” Want to download it to your iPod? Go to www.RadioTAGr.com.

Lyrics: Yes we can to opportunity and prosperity. Yes we can heal this nation. Yes we can repair this world. Yes we can. Yes we can. Yes we can.

Obama folkfest

Singer-songwriter Maddy Wyatt has written an earnest-sounding pop-folk tune that confesses love for Obama.

Find it: Search YouTube for “Man for Me (Ode to Barack)” by user Madaleenda. Or go to Wyatt’s MySpace page: www.myspace.com/Maddyw.

Lyrics: Mama, I’m in love / I know he’s kind of skinny / But I just can’t help it / He is preaching something new / He is calling every night and asking me to fight the fight with him for freedom, it’s a dreamy point of view

Painfully earnest

Singer-songwriter Susan Werner, at a show, brings out an Obama-fied version of Get Happy. No one should ever do this. Ever.

Find it: “Barack Obama Get Happy” by user marketmonkeys

Lyrics:Barack Obama! Come on, get happy / He was on the cover of GQ / Barack Obama! Come on, get happy /And his wife is kinda happenin’, too

RON PAUL

Ron Paul rap

Who knew this 72-year-old Texas doctor would inspire the election’s best hip-hop anthem? The unsigned Knights of Liberty offer us Ron Paul 4 Freedom.

Find it: Search for “Ron Paul 4 Freedom” by user nullvalu. Or download it at www.myspace.com/knightsofliberty.

Lyrics:If you don’t like the state taking food off your plate, vote for Ron Paul in 2008 / If you don’t want the IRS repossessing your place, then vote for Ron Paul in 2008

Gentle support

Here’s an original song about Paul — and, despite the title, a positive one — with a catchy tune and tortured rhymes. The video seems earnest and cheeky at the same time: In the sky, the clouds form the words “prosperity,”"freedom” and “peace.”

Find it: “Ron Paul Is a Virus” by user vlogolution

Lyrics:Ron Paul is a virus, Ron Paul is a virus / Once you hear his message, you’re infected by it.

Want more Ron Paul songs? You can download an entire hip-hop mix tape based on the Ron Paul revolution. It’s free, though the DJ is accepting donations.

Find it: Go to www.djskiefer.com and scroll all the way to the bottom to find the “Download Here” link.

Net Users Sing Candidates’ Praises

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