President Obama is going to spend a good part of 2012 on the campaign trail, and every speech he makes at every rally he stages needs music. Campaign music is always meticulously selected for both awesomeness and message and whether it succeeds (think Clinton’s “Don’t Stop” thinkin’ about tomorrow) or fails (think Reagan’s misinterpretation of “Born in the USA), the music choices that campaigns make always leave a lasting impression.
With that, the Obama campaign has made his 2012 playlist public on Spotify so that you can save it and share it with your Spotify pals.
The playlist features “picks by the campaign staff – including a few of President Obama’s favorites.” And it seems to stretch across a few musical genres – country, soul, indie rock, folk. Some of the songs’ titles seem to be on-message, such as Bruce Springsteen’s “We Take Care of our Own” and REO Speedwagon’s “Roll With The Changes.”
Indie rockers Arcade Fire make an appearance on the playlist with their track “We Used To Wait” from last year’s album The Suburbs. Country is well represented with tracks from Sugarland, Montgomery Gentry, and Dierks Bentley.
As you might expect, Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together” is one of the 28 songs on the list. I’m sure you remember the significance of that one:
This writer is particularly happy to see some E.L.O. love on the mix, as the campaign included the timeless classic “Mr. Blue Sky.”
Of course, none of the tracks were specifically written for a political campaign – but the lyrics of many are strategic to the Obama campaign. Although originally written with a lover in mind, U2’s “Even Better Than The Real Thing” starts out by saying “Give me one more chance, and you’ll be satisfied.”
In other campaign music news, Newt Gingrich was recently sued by the band Survivor for his use of their famous song “Eye of the Tiger” at his rallies.