Five songs that helped shape presidential campaigns

When Beyonce gave permission to Kamala Harris to use her 2016 song “Freedom” for her presidential campaign, it reportedly led to an immediate tenfold-rise in online streams. Considering that “Freedom” was a single on Beyonce’s triple-platinum album Lemonade, among the most critically acclaimed and commercially successful albums of the 21st decade, that kind of spike is notable.

The song seems ideally suited to Harris’ campaign. Its march-like rhythm has the sound of an anthem. Its powerful, defiant lyrics about freedom strike at the most fundamental core principle of American identity. And the fact that it comes from a ceiling-shattering black female artist in support of the presumptive first black woman to head a major party’s ticket is positively aspirational.

But will it help Harris win the presidency?

Five songs that helped shape presidential campaigns

That is a much trickier question. We will not even begin to find answers until the election is over, and even then, we may never know the song’s actual impact. It is virtually impossible to quantify.

Songs have been part of presidential campaigns ever since there have been presidential campaigns. John Adams used the song “Adams and Liberty” in his unsuccessful campaign against Thomas Jefferson in 1800. For a very long time, campaign songs tended to be reworkings of well-known melodies with altered lyrics which lauded the candidate. Such was the case with “Adams and Liberty and almost every subsequent campaign song into the 20th century.

Eventually, candidates looking for a fresher approach began co-opting more current songs, making only minute changes to the lyrics, or sometimes, not changing the lyrics at all. Failed Democratic candidate Al Smith may have been the first to try this tactic when he used the popular song “Sidewalks of New York” to emphasize his urban New York roots in 1928.

Sometimes, the song just fits the candidate to a tee. In 1948, Democrat Harry Truman had a ready-made theme in Eubie Blake’s “I’m Just Wild About Harry” from a Broadway show a few decades earlier.

For a while, campaigns went back and forth with the old-school practice of commissioning songs (often based on existing melodies) favored mostly by Republicans, and the adoption of more modern songs in their entirety more favored by Democrats.

 It wasn’t until 1972 that rock and roll made its first appearance in a presidential race. It was not an auspicious beginning. George McGovern’s campaign used Simon and Garfunkel’s “Bridge Over Troubled Waters” in its campaign against Richard Nixon. McGovern suffered one of the biggest losses in presidential history.

Of course, that cannot be pinned on Simon and Garfunkel. The Democrats in 1972 were in disarray and McGovern was never going to defeat the incumbent. Still, the elegiac tone of “Bridge Over Troubled Waters” and its message of serenity in times of difficulty was not a good choice for a campaign song.

The most successful campaign songs have been up-tempo and high energy. They pulse with vitality. As Baby Boomers aged into a position of electoral significance late in the century, rock and roll seemed like the obvious way to attract them with its high-octane vitality. Rock and roll, along with its popular neighbors in country and hip hop have played an increasingly important role in presidential campaigns from McGovern’s campaign to today.

By 2000, both George Bush and Al Gore were using multiple modern songs at campaign rallies, and not always with the support of the original recording artists. I have a feeling that using too many songs can be counterproductive for a campaign. Hillary Clinton has rolled out nine different songs in support of her two campaigns for president in 2008 and 2016. Many of them are great songs. But we all know the outcome.

Having a great song doesn’t guarantee anything. In 2004, John Kerry used three fantastic songs – Bruce Springsteen’s “No Surrender,” CCR’s “Fortunate Son,” and U2’s “Beautiful Day.” He still lost to George Bush, who focused on playing a couple of popular country songs at his campaign events. Bernie Sanders has used songs from diverse artists such as Tracy Chapman, David Bowie, John Lennon, and the White Stripes. Never got him the nomination.

And then there are the outright head-scratchers. Rudy Giuliani playing the Clash’s “Rudie Can’t Fail” during his 2008 campaign tops this list. You have to wonder if Rudy was drinking brew for breakfast when that decision came down. Beto O’Rourke also turned to the Clash for “Clampdown” in 2020. Maybe American politicians should stay away from radical British punk bands. And John McCain’s use of Abba’s “Take a Chance on Me” in 2008 seems awfully supplicatory for such a tough character.

But sometimes a campaign song can galvanize support for a candidate. Here are five such instances, where the song and the candidate seemed to be a perfect match.