Obama leads field in unsolicited campaign songs

NEW YORK (AP) - Barack Obama is closing in on the Democratic
nomination for president, but he clinched the race for the best
campaign soundtrack long ago - no superdelegates needed.
John McCain and Hillary Clinton also have plenty of musical
support in the first presidential election of the YouTube era. But
from will.i.am's star-studded viral hit "Yes We Can" to amateur
odes folk to Spanish-language tunes and even a Jamaican reggae
tribute, Obama is the leader in what observers are calling a new
form of political campaigning.
"Songs about candidates have really taken off," says Steve
Grove, head of YouTube.com's news and politics division. "They've
found a new way to support their candidates. ... it stretches from
regular average voters all the way up to somebody like will.i.am in
terms of being kind of like a new, broader trend in political
video."
Annie Palovcik is one of those regular people. She penned the
prideful folk tune "Illinois Boy" for Obama when he first came to
national prominence a few years back - then put it on the Web when
Obama became a serious presidential contender this year.
"The concepts of his character and the place of Illinois
filtered through my mind into this allegorical country song," said
Palovcik, a songwriter and manager of two musicians.
"He is energizing those around him, daring them to look for a
new way to dream," she says.
Not that Obama has a lock on musical inspiration. McCain has had
songs penned for him, such as "Lead the Way" by a lawyer named
Judd Kessler. Clinton has inspired numerous tuneful tributes - no
less than Sir Elton John gave her a benefit concert in April - and
"Stuck on Huck" was recorded for Mike Huckabee. Even Republican
long shot Ron Paul had a song about him that got 60,000 views on
YouTube.
Obama has strong support among young people, which may explain
some of his Internet music presence. While Grove says there's no
specific statistical data to prove it, just on YouTube alone "it
seems that (Obama) has really garnered a lot of songs. I think the
early success of the Obama girl music video (the song by a scantily
clad woman that became a national sensation last year) probably had
something to do with that."
Even Dulce Maria Gonzalez, a musician who supports Clinton,
notices an Obama imbalance: "When I started to write a song for
her, I noticed that there weren't that many on YouTube, and then I
saw a lot of them, but they're just not as popular as the Obama
songs."
She's hoping her "We Need A Woman" will help reverse the
trend. Featuring Gonzalez crooning about Clinton's feminine power,
the midtempo tune has garnered about 5,000 views on YouTube
(will.i.am's "Yes We Can," in comparison, has gotten more than
five million).
"I wanted to do something special for her, and let her know
that she did have a Latin vote, and a young vote as well, and give
her this song as a gift," said the resident of Brownsville, Texas.
It's not just musicians writing songs to show their support for
Obama. Rolling Stone put him on the cover when endorsing him for
president, Bruce Springsteen has announced his support, while
performers like OK Go and Fall Out Boy's Pete Wentz have performed
for his benefit. Jay-Z has been taking time out on stage during his
tour to flash a picture of Obama and tell the audience, "It's time
for a change."
"Musicians generally do not like authority, establishment or
bureaucracy. Obama is the first candidate in my lifetime, certainly
in memory, that represents any kind of new wave of change," said
Craig Wedren of the rock group Shudder to Think, which was part of
an indie-rock bill, including OK Go, that recently gave a concert
for Obama.
It's hard to pinpoint whether the popularity of songs translates
into any particular voting surge. will.i.am released "We Are The
Ones" a few days before the Ohio and Texas primaries, but Clinton
won both states.
But there has been record turnout in many states this year.
will.i.am said he specifically used music to support Obama instead
of just lending his celebrity because "people are tired of that."
His song "is driven by inspiration and it's creative and it's
love, it isn't anything else," he said.
That's what makes the majority of these songs so key, especially
for Obama, says Grove.
"The dream scenario, by the way, is what the Obama campaign has
basically landed, which is to inspire a group of supporters to do
this on their own without any real top-down campaign control," he
said.
And if candidates can move the songwriter, they may be able to
move the nation as well.
"I keep wondering, if (Obama) is inspiring so much creativity
for songwriters," asked Palovcik, "what is he doing for
farmers?"