Rhythm Nation:The Soundtrack of the Convention

2008-08-29
By Terry Glover

There can be no doubt that music shapes us in many ways, providing the soundtrack, if you will, by which we mark the decades, the moments that inform our memories. A certain riff, a particular melody can take you there -- right there -- to that moment, tucked away for future reference, trotted out for a quicklink to the past. Tapping into that emotional well is the province of your children, your significant other, your all time favorite musical artists.

And any producer worth their salt.

People who conjure up such moments for public consumption understand that music is the “lift” to every production, the winding road that leads from good to great; that ranges from soaring highs to subtle grace notes. Never was that principal more at work than during the four-day Democratic National Convention that culminated last night in the nomination acceptance speech of Barack Obama. As Michael Eric Dyson pointedly said, “You have to reach the emotions of the people first.” The week’s playlist, well orchestrated and plentiful, did just that. And, just as your personal playlist reveals an awful lot about you,  what, I wondered, did that playlist say about the Democrats?

The soundtrack of the convention actually began to take shape over a year ago, starting with the music chosen for that very first Springfield rally announcing the formation of Obama’s presidential fact-finding committee. Part of the set then was Ben Harper’s “Better Way,” but the alt bluesman ultimately proved to be a bit too new-agey for a liberal, but decidedly middle-American crowd.  The sitars had to go.

Since then the playlist, fine-tuned along the way, has been whittled down to a select Top 20 or so songs – Stevie Wonder, Fleetwood Mac, Earth, Wind & Fire, Aretha -- that ran something like this:

For her opening remarks, Michelle Obama was played on stage to Stevie Wonder’s “I Was Made to Love Her.” She exited to “Isn’t She Lovely?” On Thursday, Stevie himself settled into “Signed, Sealed, Delivered,” a staple of the campaign.

In between speeches, the Godfather of Soul’s “Living In America” had, if not separate, certainly equal time to set it off in the Pepsi Center.

Hillary has come a long way since her sappy, Celine Dion ballad “You & I.” The winner of her now-laughable (then, too, actually) campaign theme song contest, it reeked to high heaven of themes like “soaring together,” and “love shining like a light.” Fussy stuff, that. She redeemed herself with the soundtrack of her pre-speech video biography, filled to the brim with hard rockin’ guitar anthems like “You Really Got Me Goin’,” “Are You Gonna Go My Way?” and “She Won’t Back Down.”

Al Gore followed up with the enviro-friendly Fifth Dimension’s “Let The Sun Shine.”

The music ran a close second to the man who would be president, discussed among the pundits as regularly as Obama. CNN contributor Roland Martin juked his way through “Got To Be Real” while his decidedly uncomfortable booth mate David Brody of the Christian Broadcast Network couldn’t decide whether to go for the overbite or turn away. By convention's end, Martin had Brody working the down beat in his chair. Earth, Wind and Fire’s “Shining Star” got political strategist Donna Brazille bopping with contributor Paul Begala while Wolf Blitzer made her promise him a dance on the next song.

Vice Presidential nominee Joe Biden’s pick was pure Mellencamp, calling up working class, Chevy truck-driving Americans. A no-hybrid zone.

Most interesting note was on President Bill Clinton, played on to Fleetwood Mac’s “Don’t Stop [Thinking About Tomorrow],” the same song played for him during his 1992 victory lap. While the song urges forward thinking, it also admonishes that “yesterday’s gone, yesterday’s gone…” Same song played 16 years later to a very different effect. He was, however, played off, after his dazzling speech, to U2’s “Beautiful Day.” Come home, Bill, all is forgiven.

Rounded out by the O’Jays, Kool & The Gang, McFadden and Whitehead, The Doobie Brothers, Brooks & Dunn, and a smokin’ house band of local musicians, the festivities, like the political party, allowed a little something for everyone. The rockers got to work the air guitar and call up memories that had them taking to the streets to march against injustice. The rebels got to dig in their boots and tip back their cowboy hats, ready to do the necessary work to take back America. And everyone, everyone sang the words to every R & B cut on the list because that is the music and the sensibility that has informed the party for all these years.

And, ultimately what that says about the Democrats is that, there, under the Big Tent with its Big Chill soundtrack and hunger for change, there’s room for every participant to bring their causes and their special interests because we need to rub against that which is different from our own to smooth out, as they say, the rough spots.

That, and that they know how to throw one hell of a party. Next week: a little bit country with the GOP.

Terry Glover is Senior Editor for ebonyjet.com. She writes about trends and popular culture.