Campaign Songs: A Thing of the Past?

I make a point of being as non-political as possible and prefer to avoid controversial topics that I believe are irrelevant to the mission of this blog, but as most of my readers know, I am very music-oriented, so, at the risk of touching on the current storm of "vote this, vote that!" I am going to mention one issue that seems to be ignored (or at least down-played).

In 1960, I remember when John F. Kennedy was running for office. Frank Sinatra recorded 2 campaign songs for the candidate: "All the Way" and, my favorite, "High Hopes." I bought the 45-rpm (that's a small, vinyl record, to my under 30 readers) of the recording and played it almost to oblivion. ("Everyone wants to back Jack . . . Jack is on the right track . . . Cause he has High Hopes . . ." well, you get the idea). You can hear this here.

Campaign songs are hardly new. In fact, they provided a way to promote one's favorite candidate and/or discredit the opposition (something that is also not a new innovation . . . just more obvious in today's world of immediate communication). Check out some of the the sheet music for candidates of the past - remembered and long forgotten: Presidential Campaign Songs. Want more? Check some of the more recent selections from Gizmodo.

So far, I've heard that one music group asked Mitt Romney to discontinue using their song in his campaign promotion. Obama has not settled on a single piece but seems to have a repertoire of songs.

I think this could be a good gig for a song-writer: creating original pieces (with very catchy tunes, of course) for the preferred candidate. Why rework something that's already there (as seems to have been the common practice)? Unique is the word for this election; it should also be the word for the music. Or, if choosing a tune already in the nation's heads, select something that is in the public domain so as not to offend a composer or, big no-no, plagiarize or use something without proper permission (with use fees paid). There's lots to consider: "The Old Gray Mare," for instance (hmm, maybe not); or "Camptown Races" (I can hear it now: "Political Races, sing this song . . ." but I hesitate to suggest a substitute for "Doo-dah"). OK, how about "She'll be Coming 'Round the Mountain" (substitute "He" for "She" and "White House" for "Mountain"). Let's see, maybe "Skip to My Lou" ("Choose your candidate, skip to the poles" . . . maybe not).

Well, obviously this is not the gig for me, but someone should get these candidates some songs of their own or we will be forced to rely on Social Media for all the campaign propaganda. One with the catchiest song wins? And I think the rule should be only promotion of said candidate; no bad-mouthing the opposition (neither of Kennedy's songs said anything more harmful than that he could beat his opponent; no specific negative statements about the other party's choice).

That's as political as I get and I ask, if you decide to leave a comment, please leave off the political rhetoric (comments bad-mouthing or overly promoting either side will be deleted). Go to Facebook for that (though I have been unfriending those who have gone overboard in that area . . . Counting down to November when we can go back to saying positive things to each other in that arena).

Join in on the chorus, everybody sing along: "La-la-la-la-vote-la-la!"

I can tell that I haven't been doing much on the blog lately . . . the format for editing is completely different and I now have to take posting time to learn how to use the latest bells and whistles.

Summer has gotten in the way of some serious blogging but, I confess, I have been tied up in another project as well: I am writing a novel and it is taking much of my time. It is based on the program I do titled "Elisabeth: The Story of a German Immigrant" and the story that inspired that program (the story was written by my grandmother, Pauline Elizabeth Miller Wilcox). Writing a historical novel involves a huge amount of research so I am often halted in my work to take a few hours to research an event, person, or place. Now, here's a great benefit: For years I have been perplexed by the Burroughs of New York and confused where one ends and another begins. Because much of this story is centered in that area, I have had to study the locale in order to effectively write about it. So, finally, after years of confusion, I actually have a working knowledge of the place (that is not an invitation for you to contact me for clarification on things New York as I am focusing my learning on the things needed for this project).

I have also been cajoling a friend to give me a most fascinating story on his acquisition of a violin. He has provided me with all the parts I need as well as photos and permission to blog about his story, but that will have to wait just a bit until I can give it the attention it deserves.

So, for those who thought I had just dropped off the earth: not a chance! I am just incredibly busy with too many projects. But life is good and I'm willing to run with it all!

Connecting Past to Present via Music

In 1966, singer Pete Seeger began plans to literally launched a project to clean up the Hudson River in New York. He and a group of supporters and workers put together a period sloop - named the Clearwater - which would sail up and down the Hudson, bringing music and a message to the folks along the waterway. The message: "Let's return the river to its former, clean, state." They funded the project through donations and sales of sails - people could (and still can) join in the fun by taking a sail up the river. And meanwhile, the whole thing inspired folks to create cleaner waterways. Getting a first-hand look at the need to keep the environment protected has made a great impact and the Hudson is looking great! The Sloop Clearwater, launched in 1969, provides an educational, enjoyable, and exciting experience that continues to inspire into the latest generations. The sloop is fashioned after those that brought goods up and down the river in the 1860s and earlier years.

I first learned about the project shortly after fund-raising began. I was in high school and followed Pete Seeger's career fairly closely (his father, Charles, was the first person I'd heard of with a PhD in folklore and so was my inspiration to get the same, which I did in 2008). For reasons I didn't understand at the time, Pete's desire to clean up that particular river (which I had never, to my recollection, ever seen and which was far away from where I lived in suburban Chicago) really touched me.

I hosted a mini-folk festival in my hometown of Wilmette, Illinois in August of 1968, sponsored by my church. The sloop had yet to make its maiden voyage and I made a plea for the proceeds of our little event to be donated to the project. The church committee turned me down for two reasons: 1) the project might never come to fruition and 2) it was not connected to our community in any way. I reluctantly chose another (local) charity to receive our small profits and sent my own donation to the Clearwater project. I was headed into my last year of high school so I imagine my donation was rather small, but it was heartfelt. (Say, if they could conquer the Hudson, maybe they could turn attention to the Chicago River next . . . or, maybe not.)

Pete had a column ("Johnny Appleseed, Jr.") in the folk music magazine Sing Out! and there he encouraged young singers and songwriters to keep messages and stories flowing in our music. At one point, he featured a number of alternate verses to Woody Guthrie's "This Land is Your Land." Even Woody had many additional verses that never made it into the mainstream singing of his song. I had played around with the song myself and had written a verse inspired by Pete's beloved Hudson River. By that time, the Sloop had launched and I was excited to learn that the first voyages were well-received (hoping some day to have my own opportunity to witness this event). I decided to add my verse to Pete's collection (if I would be so lucky) and sent it on to him at his home in Beacon, NY. He sent me a lovely reply. That was in October 1969.

So now we fast forward to about 1978, when I began to research my family roots. It took me a number of years to trace my German immigrant ancestors to the shores of New York and their trek to a new home . . . on the shore of the Hudson River. That family (surnames: THENEE, MUELLER, WOLBERT) lived in various places in New York and New Jersey, but were rarely far from the shores of the river. Could this be why I felt such a connection to the project begun back in the 1960s? Perhaps it was an ancestral memory and my own forebears whispering to me that it was a worthwhile cause and something that required my attention. And maybe one of those people (perhaps musician, great-grandpa Fritz Mueller) was my muse when I wrote the words that were in my mind's eye, but described something I had never seen for myself. I don't know.


Here are the words:

"As I was sailing, that Hudson River
I saw around me, the tow'ring timber;
I saw beneath me, all New York's litter,
Still this land is made for you and me."

Now, I have to confess here that I had forgotten all about that verse. I have written a lot of "additional verses" to already well-done songs, often fitting a particular theme or event. Pete's little note was a nice acknowledgment, but that was about it. Life moves on.

But in my world in Illinois, I didn't know what was happening in New York. In 1971, Pete wrote an article for The Village Voice in which he details a number of alternate verses, collected over the years, for Woody's immortal song. I do not subscribe to that weekly publication out of New York, nor does anyone I know (or I am sure I would have been contacted with the information that my verse had been immortalized).

In 1973 I moved from Illinois to California and was busy with work, a divorce, a remarriage, a conversion to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, getting myself acclimated to being a step-mother, returning to college to get various degrees, etc.; all encompassing the next decades. Pete Seeger, in 1993, published a book on the history of singalongs from the early years (long before I was born) through the era of the turbulent '60s (my real education in music) and into the next generation and the one after that. The music survives. It's titled Where Have all the Flowers Gone: A Singalong Memoir and is a great overview of the world of (folk) music (available through Amazon, of course). And, on page 144, there are two verses, attributed to Jean Wilcox, Illinois. To set the record straight: only the second verse is mine; I am sorry that the person who wrote the first one was lost to obscurity, probably in Pete's filing system or recording process. I wrote about this back in August of last year, with a slightly different take, so to read that whole discovery process, check my blog from then.

So, as Earth Day approaches, it occurs to me that taking out some of those old songs and verses, dusting them off, and singing to/for the environment is not a bad idea. And, if the muse hits, I may just pen another lyric or two to bring things up to date. Oh, and one more thing: next time I am in upstate New York, I will see that sloop, which is still going strong!