Ike? Bob...

Via Dial M, a fabulous article in the Chicago Tribune in which an intrepid reporter asked two musicologists to analyze the songs played by the various presidential candidates at their rallies. The musicologists in question are Phil Ford himself, and this other hack who may or may not be my dissertation adviser.

Phil (not me, the one with immense blog readership and a job) asks for the musicological blogosphere's reaction. See his post for the full list. I have to agree with their takes on the situation, adding only that I find Romney's list to be especially interesting:

A Little Less Conversation (Elvis remix)
Aint No Stoppin' Us Now (McFadden & Whitehead)
Head over Heels (The Go-Go's)
Love that Dirty Water (The Standells)
Beautiful Day (U2)
I'm Free (The Rolling Stones/Fatboy Slim)
Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours (Stevie Wonder)
Sweet Caroline (Neil Diamond)
Vertigo (U2)
You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet (BTO)
Dancing in the Street (Martha and the Vandellas)
Pride (In the Name of Love (U2)
Such Great Heights (Postal Service)
Only in America (Brooks & Dunn)
Don't Stop Believin' (Journey)
I've Been Everywhere (Fred Mollin)
Life is a Highway (Rascall Flats)
Down On the Corner (Creedence Clearwater Revival)
Good Vibrations (The Beach Boys)

Phil notes that you ideologically you could easily switch Mitt and Hillary's lists, which is very interesting. But man, Mitt's list is really something. Have you ever seen such a random hodgepodge of songs? I mean, there is absolutely no coherence! There are soul songs, country songs, pop songs, boring dance remixes...it's breathtaking how little sense it makes. And while I'm not surprised that Mitt would have a different song for every rally, just as he's had a different policy position for every campaign, I am surprised that so little thought was put into the choices. The BTO number was totally used by Al Gore in 2000, "Dancing in the Streets" is commonly interpreted by many in the context of sixties race riots, and if there is any song that has come to be viewed in the last year as the ultimate signifier of nothingness, thanks to The Sopranos, it would be "Don't Stop Believin'." And don't even get me started on "Good Vibrations"...ick!

ANYWAYS, I've got a lot of dissertation to write, so I'll stop with Mitt. But thinking about all of this has actually given me some good ideas for a paper I'm giving at SAM next month, which compares television appearances by Rosemary Clooney and Joseph McCarthy. There is a great article by Andrea Friedman on the use of gossip and innuendo by McCarthy's enemies, as best exemplified by the famous Murrow broadcast that coyly cast asperisions on the relationship between McCarthy and Cohn. The point is that it wasn't just conservatives who used the lavender menace to their advantage, liberals gleefully did as well. This discussion of campaign songs reminded me that Adlai Stevenson broadcast a rather creepy commercial in the 1952 election that portrayed Eisenhower and Senator Robert Taft as lovers. (Ike, you may or may not be happy to know, is most definitely the top.)

The video unfortunately is not on YouTube, so I can't easily embed it, but you can watch it courtesy of the Museum of the Moving Image. I'm not quite sure what to make of the background music, which I think is Chopin. I don't think it's an Ivesian take on Chopin in skirts, but rather is just there to sound kind of generically sentimental. The commercial ends with a short song that isn't too interesting. Other commercials from this campaign more directly interact with popular music of the period--there are several such commercials sung by a singer I don't recognize (any help?) such as "I Love the Guv." This one, though...well, see it for yourself.

Go Watch! You'll be presented with a bunch of ads on the right; choose the one on the Democrat side, the fourth one down with the two hearts.

FIRST MAN: Ike.

SECOND MAN: Bob.

FIRST MAN: Ike.

SECOND MAN: Bob.

SECOND MAN: I'm so glad we're friends again, Bob.

FIRST MAN: Yes, Ike, we agree on everything.

SECOND MAN: Let's never separate again, Bob.

FIRST MAN: Never again, Ike.

SECOND MAN: Bob.

FIRST MAN: Ike.

SECOND MAN: Bob.

FIRST MAN: Ike.

ANNOUNCER: Will Ike and Bob really live happily ever after? Is the White House big enough for both of them? Stay tuned for a musical interlude.

(Piano music)

MAN SINGING: Rueben, Rueben, I've been thinkin',
Bob and Ike now think alike—
With the Gen'ral in the White House,
Who'd give the orders, Bob or Ike?
Let's vote for Adlai--and John!