Elizabeth Warren’s team has made a play for the plaintive folk music crowd. Now Hillary’s side is courting the country fans.
Where does that leave the vice-president?
Two of the leading possibilities for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination have genre-specific campaign songs to their names. For Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the Massachusetts progressive of whom the party’s liberal base can’t get enough, that’s the sweet ditty “Run Liz Run,” which has the lyrics of anthemic protest rap metal — “We need a leader who won’t stand for all the Wall Street bullshit” — but the bouncy melody of indie pop. “The Snuggle bear performs Rage Against the Machine at Occupy Bonnaroo” is a strange representation of a campaign, but Warren is nothing if not different: “the best senator money can’t buy,” we’re told.
Contrast that with the establishmentarianism of Hillary Clinton and her country anthem “Stand With Hillary.” This tune’s music video has everything authentically American: beards, cowboy boots, plaid shirts, distressed jeans, Stetsons, a beautiful young family, farms, farm equipment, barns, extended cab trucks, and a picture of Hillary that looks like she’s impersonating Gouverneur Morris. Seriously, look at this.
It’s difficult to be more American than the penman of the Constitution.
The lyrics to “Stand With Hillary,” however, leave something be desired. “Guys, put your boots on and let’s smash this ceiling,” one line goes. Smash it from where? Our backs?
And here is where Joe Biden advocates could tell the country to stand. The gregarious vice-president has been left out of the “prospective” campaign theme song game, but perhaps it’s for the best. In the same way a person hitting last in a homerun derby has knowledge of the number to beat, a Biden support group (heaven knows we need one) has the field outside Feist and Florida Georgia Line to itself. Biden might not win Florida anyway. He certainly won’t win Georgia. And for a man who’s a fan of The Chieftains, who cares?
A Biden group has a number of musical genres and cultures from which to choose. Given his pop culture stature and his satirical representation as a remnant of the 80s, perhaps there is none better than punk rock. Call it “coalition building.” Consider:
1. The Ramones were still hanging on in the early 80s.
2. Johnny Ramone was a Republican. Reaching across party lines: check.
3. Punk can be both uncompromisingly rebellious and mainstream. The metaphor for a “fusion candidate” writes itself.
4. Punk is broad enough to encompass different generations; from The Ramones and The Clash to the likes of Fall Out Boy today, a well-crafted pro-Biden song in the punk rock genre could bring together the young and the old.
5. There are ready-made melodies for which songwriters could pen lyrics. Take Republica’s 1996 dance punk single “Ready to Go.” How about “Ready for Joe?” Just listen to the thing and tell me the chorus, “It’s a PAC / We’re back yeah / Standing on the rooftops shouting out / Baby, we’re ready for Joe” isn’t gold.
It’s time.
4/4 time.
