The Associated PressWednesday, May 28, 2008
EDITOR'S NOTE — This latest chapter of "The Measure of a Nation," a yearlong series of multimedia story packages about the presidency and the 2008 election as seen through the prism of the culture, explores the ways candidates use — and misuse — music in their efforts to capture the White House.
So let's say it's the early 1980s, and you're a rising young musician named John Cougar Mellencamp. You cut a song with a chorus that oozes Jeffersonian democracy and adds a touch of postwar suburban placidity. "Ain't that America — for you and me," you sing in your gravelly Indiana voice. "Ain't that America; we're something to see. Ain't that America: home of the free. Little pink houses for you and me."
Now let's say you're a strategist for Sen. John McCain, Republican candidate for president in 2008. You hear "Pink Houses" 25 years after it was recorded and think to yourself, hey — this is perfect. Let's blast this out at the big guy's rallies and hitch our wagon to Mellencamp's imagery.
That scenario proved problematic when it unfolded earlier this year. First, Mellencamp is a Democrat and activist who has supported John Edwards. He didn't like his work being co-opted and asked McCain to stop. Second, and just as important, "Pink Houses" is an edgy, melancholy song about chances lost and potential wasted:
"'Cause they told me when I was younger, said, 'Boy, you gonna be president.' But just like everything else, those old crazy dreams just kind of came and went."
Click here for the full AP article on Music and Candidates.
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