Assignment 1-3

American Tune: Postwar Campaign Songs in a Changing Nation
The article that I choose to review is titled “American Tune: Postwar Campaign Songs in a Changing Nation” written by Jodi Larson and can be found in the February 2009 edition of the Journal of Popular Culture. This publication is aimed at people that are interested in all things that are considered to be popular and note worthy in today’s culture. The article itself is about the different music that has been used throughout the years in the presidential campaigns by all candidates. The article discusses how the use of various show tunes, popular songs of the era and the songwriters who changed them for the use of the candidates influenced those that listened. During the campaign of Eisenhower, songwriter Irving Berlin changed his lyrics to his song to assist Eisenhower with his campaign. (Larson, 2009) The article uses other songwriters over the years to further this venue. Ms Larson mentions that singer/songwriter Bruce Springsteen filed a lawsuit to stop the use of his song Born in the USA by presidential candidate Ronald Reagan in 1984. (Larson, 2009)
To give a brief summary of the article, the main idea is to show how the use of show tunes and popular songs during the different eras as far back as the Eisenhower and Roosevelt eras were used to further the candidates’ platforms with the people of the United States. Song lyrics were changed slightly to make the public more aware of the candidate and how they would be the best choice to run the country. The songs that were chosen were popular songs that the public could recognize from seeing movies and theatre plays. This was done with forethought since by using songs that were widely recognized by people they could and can relate the good feeling of the song to the candidate and decide to vote for them in the election. This method of using songs that the public can and does recognize has been used for ages and in the last several elections the candidates have been changing up the songs that they use. The candidates are not using the same song for extended periods of time since the public are more aware of what is going on and also the particular platform the candidate will shift with the election and to what area of the country that they are campaigning in. The songs that Wallace used were country and western since he felt that by using this genre of songs would appeal more to the southern part of the country.
The article is organized by eras and relates the songs and candidate’s use of them to what was going on with the US at that time as well as bringing the reader back to the original start of the article’s era and candidate, Eisenhower and Roosevelt. The main ideas of the article flowed from one era and compared them back to the original idea that using songs that people knew and changing the lyrics slightly assisted the candidate in getting the public to vote for them.
The article gives one pause to think back about the various presidential campaigns that they have lived through and hopefully voted in. The songs that were used and the various celebrities that have also joined in to promote the candidates to the public and to assist in being elected. The more one thinks back on politics and the various platforms that they choose to promote, it is further known from the article that the staff of the candidates researched the songs and many songs were rejected when presented. Overall, the article is well written and though out as well as presented for easy reading and being able to apply to popular culture.
Reference
Larson, Jodi; Journal of Popular Culture, Volume 42 issue 1 Feb. 2009; Pages 3-26;
American Tune: Postwar Campaign Songs in a Changing Nation; Retrieved
April 13, 2009