It appears America’s most lovable Democratic socialist and potential presidential candidate once recorded a folk album.
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The current Vermont senator involved himself in the production of a folk album in 1987 when he was mayor of Burlington, according to the Vermont blog Seven Days.
The album, entitled “We Shall Overcome,” consists of five tracks on which Sanders’ rather preachy voice is paired with the more beautiful sounding vocals of Vermont-based musicians.
The album includes Sanders’ rather unique version of “This Land is Your Land,” along with a few others.
Todd Lockwood, a Burlington musician who came up with the idea to have Sanders record the album, labeled the senator a “talented” guy but recalled his utter lack of rhythm during the project.
“He has absolutely not one musical bone in his body, and that became painfully obvious from the get-go,” explained Lockwood. “This is a guy who couldn’t even tap his foot to music coming over the radio. No sense of melody. No sense of rhythm — the rhythm part surprised me, because he has good rhythm when he’s delivering a speech in public.”
Though he originally planned for Sanders to sing the songs, Lockwood later had to call in singers to backup Sanders as he recited lyrics.
However, the musician does not think the potential presidential candidate should be “embarrassed” by the unearthed 1987 album.
“Part of it seems a little preachy now, but I think it’s a pretty cool project,” said Lockwood. “I don’t see any reason why he would be embarrassed to have it out there. When you listen to what he’s saying, a lot of the message is exactly what he’s saying now — the one percenter stuff. Its been in his repertoire for a long time.”
Go ahead and take a listen.
