There are a bunch of classic songs that remind me of the race or the 2012 Republican nomination. There’s something about the songs where all they’d need is a change in lyrics and they’d fit.
For instance, this one immediately comes to mind when I watch the debates:
Each time they debate and the moderator introduces the candidates, each candidate comes out and instantly communicates his/her political persona. It reminds me of this song from “The Night They Raided Minsky’s.” Change the lyric to a political one and it fits:
Herman Cain seems to be increasingly playing it for laughs. And his comments about the U.S. needing “a leader not a reader” almost suggests a view of most Americans a little kids who just want to follow a leader. Like many, as an analyst, I began to take him seriously but now when I see him it brings back a hazy image of a show I saw when I was in pre-school in the early 50s. It triggers a memory of this performer — Pinky Lee, who inspired Pee Wee Herman. I can just see Cain in the checkered suit, doing the same facial expression, grabbing a member of the audience and doing the same musical number. Just watch and imagine him doing this opening bit until the end of the music, dressed in the same checkered suit (this video is long so go to the next one after the musical number unless you want to watch the actual program). The announcer’s opening description reminds me of of the GOP debates:
Mitt Romney seems unable to rise any further in the polls. And no matter how well he does in debates, he can’t convince most conservatives to support him. I can see him doing this song with some minor changes, doing the same moves on the stage, clutching the mike and using the same facial expressions as you see here:
Romney flip flops, moves further to the right — tries anything he can do to win over Republican conservatives. It reminds me of this scene from “Damned Yankees” where the beautiful witch Lola unsuccessfully tries to seduce Shoeless Joe, a middle aged man transformed by the devil into a young ball player. Again, picture in your mind’s eye Mitt Romney doing this same, exact scene singing “Whatever Willard wants…” to a conservative voter doing the same dance moves (on the other hand don’t):
The way that many of the candidates try to blow something up into a major issue that will supposedly threaten the existance of the Republic brings to mind this song from “The Music Man”. Listen to it and you’ll see why:
Newt Gingrich has suggested school janitors should be dismissed and kids put to work cleaning the schools. He calls child labor laws “Stupid.” With some changes in the lyrics, I could see Gingrich doing this song from “Damned Yankees,” sung by the devil (Gingrich is no devil but he longs for the good old days).
Meanwhile, it’s clear from reading an listening to post-debate reaction at looking polls, this is the kind of candidate GOPers want, as shown here from Bye Bye Birdie:
I think I’ve been watching these debates too long.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.