To cleanse the palate, the sung chorus is a nice touch but there’s no way to use a traditionally black genre of music to pay tribute to the most right-wing candidate in the field without starting a contest online to see who can denounce it the most theatrically. Is it the worst song ever or the worst thing ever created by humans, period? Tomorrow’s new-media news cycle will tell, my friends.
I welcome this return to tradition, though. Campaign 2012 lacked the cheesy viral musical sideshows that Campaign 2008 enjoyed, from kitsch like Obama Girl to earnest devotionals for the new messiah from will.i.am. The bloom was already off the Hopenchange rose by 2012, and even if it hadn’t been, there’s no joy in hosannas to the head of a country’s political establishment. Meanwhile, the only people moved to song by Mitt’s candidacy were members of the Romney family. Maybe we’ll see a return to the old spirit this year. If songwriters can’t get inspired by a young, inspirational, anti-establishment upstart like Hillary Clinton, there’s no hope for the future of American arts.
Actually, if you want terrible amateurish musical tributes, you should be rooting hard for Elizabeth Warren to get in. (Watch the second clip below, an oldie but goodie, for a reminder.) Three words: Folk. Rock. Explosion.
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