Republicans vs. Songwriters

The Boston leader's beef with Mike Huckabee is only the latest conflict between a songwriter and a Republican. John McCain, Mike Huckabee, Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity have all used theme songs written by people who are their political opposites. Can they do that?

When Mike Huckabee used "More Than A Feeling" at his campaign rallies, Boston leader Tom Scholz fought back the only way he could: by blasting Huckabee in the press for using the song without his consent. In a letter to Huckabee that Scholz also sent to Rolling Stone, he claimed to be an Obama supporter and that he would not support a candidate who is "the polar opposite of most everything Boston stands for."

Huckabee is a bass player, and has a band called Capitol Offense. This gives him the opportunity to show his contemporary side by playing at his events - think Bill Clinton with his sax on The Arsenio Hall Show. Former Boston guitarist Barry Goudreau is a Huckabee supporter and joined him on stage performing "More Than A Feeling" as some events, which apparently was more than Scholz could take. Scholz wrote the song and Goudreau didn't play on it.

Like any cover band, Huckabee doesn't need permission to play the song. His campaign correctly pointed out that when he plays "Sweet Home Alabama," it doesn't imply an endorsement from Lynyrd Skynyrd. But this is politics, and image is everything. As we seek clues to how these people will behave if elected, we look for authenticity and congruency. Getting scolded by a songwriter doesn't bode well.

When they're not playing Toby Keith or Lee Greenwood, Republicans have a hard time finding songwriters who support their cause, and every now and then one of them squawks. Earlier in the campaign, John Mellencamp took exception to John McCain's use of "Our Country." Tom Petty objected to George Bush playing "I Won't Back Down" in his 2000 campaign, and while Bush did stop using the song, he won the election by squeaking out a victory in Petty's home state of Florida. In his 2004 re-election campaign, Bush raised the ire of Foo Fighter Dave Grohl when he used "Times Like These." Grohl responded by campaigning for his rival, John Kerry.

It's not just the Republican candidates who seem to enjoy the work of songwriters who don't support their views. Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh uses "My City Was Gone" by The Pretenders as his bumper music. The song was written by Chrissie Hynde, who was a student at Kent State University during the 1970 shootings, and has political views that in no way jibe with Limbaugh. Sean Hannity, who is the other leading voice on conservative radio, features "Independence Day" by Martina McBride on his show. The song was written by Gretchen Peters, and it's about a young girl watching her mother get abused by her father. Says Peters: "They have to pay me every time they play it, and I don't have any control over whether they play it or not. I don't agree with the guy on anything, but they do pay me. I guess I feel it kind of puts me in slightly better position to support the causes I believe in."

So what's a Republican to do? John McCain started using the theme from Rocky after Sylvester Stallone endorsed him. Mitt Romney used "A Little Less Conversation," and Elvis didn't object. Huckabee uses local bands and lets them choose most of the songs at his events, which went well until the Boston incident.

Democrats usually enjoy more support from popular musicians, something John F. Kennedy used to his advantage when Frank Sinatra sang "High Hopes" on his behalf in 1960. These days, many popular musicians are rallying around Barack Obama. Hillary Clinton has the support of Celine Dion and used her song "You And I" in her campaign, but in the music community, Obama's got the juice. His musical supporters put together an inspirational video based on one of his speeches called "Yes We Can." Musicians understand the value of a hook line, and "Yes We Can" is as good as it gets - an organic tag line that is memorable and irresistible. It's Obama's "Eye Of The Tiger" or "I Hope You Dance." Will.i.am, Scarlett Johansson, John Legend, Ed Kowalczyk and Nicole Scherzinger all appear in the video along with several other celebrities.

The Grammy Awards in 2007 resembled the Democratic National Convention, with the Dixie Chicks winning big. There was an overwhelming anti-Bush sentiment and an outpouring of support for Al Gore, who presented the Best Rock Album award. This year, there was no specific political talk, but it was clearly an Obama crowd. Obama even won an award - for the audio recording of his book The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream. It was the same award Hillary Clinton won 12 years earlier for her audiobook It Takes a Village. The last award given out at this year's ceremony went to Herbie Hancock, who in a surprise victory won for Album Of The Year. Hancock, who appears in Obama's video, said in his speech: "This is a new day. It proves that the impossible can be made possible. Yes we can."