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Video of the Day: Vote for Hillary to Rock Out
By
Jen Carlson
Published May 17, 2007
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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By
Jen Carlson
Published May 17, 2007
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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Senator Hillary Clinton is asking the public for some advice on what may very well be the most important part of her campaign: The Song.
The choices: "City of Blinding Lights" - U2, "Beautiful Day" - U2, "I'm a Believer" - Smash Mouth's cover of the Monkees' song, "Get Ready" - The Temptations, "Right Here, Right Now" - Jesus Jones, "Suddenly I See" - KT Tunstall, "Ready to Run" - Dixie Chicks, "Rock This Country!" - Shania Twain, "I'll Take You There" - The Staple Singers
This is what democracy is for, people. You can cast your vote here, and below you can hear what Hillary has to say about it:
We don't think this was carefully enough thought out, however. Why Smash Mouth's cover of "I'm a Believer"? No one likes Smash Mouth, and Neil Diamond does a perfectly good cover of that song (he's also the one who penned it in the first place). And "Right Here, Right Now"? As Todd Seavey points out:
It may sound like danceable synthesizer fluff, but — shamefully for Western civilization — “Right Here, Right Now,” released in 1990, was the only prominent rock song to properly celebrate the collapse of European Communism: “I saw the decade end / And saw the world could change in the blink of an eye...I was alive and I waited for this...Right here, right now / Watching the world wake up from history.” “Right Here, Right Now” is one of the few rock songs/videos that clearly celebrates the failure of socialism and the resistance to central government authority.
Seavey also suggests some songs as an alternative. Here are some choices we think she clearly overlooked:
"Extraordinary" - Liz Phair
"I am extraordinary, if you'd ever get to know me / I am extraordinary, I am just your ordinary / Average every day sane psycho / Supergoddess / Average every day sane psycho"
"I'm Real" - J. Lo
"Now people lovin' me and hatin' me, treatin' me ungratefully / But not knowin' that they ain't makin' or breakin' me / My life, I live it to the limit and I love it / Now I can breathe again, baby now I can breathe again"
"Hollaback Girl" - Gwen Stefani
"I heard that you were talking shit / And you didn't think that I would hear it / People hear you talking like that, getting everybody fired up / So I'm ready to attack, gonna lead the pack / Gonna get a touchdown, gonna take you out / That's right, put your pom-poms downs, getting everybody fired up / A few times I've been around that track / So it's not just gonna happen like that / Because I ain't no hollaback girl / I ain't no hollaback girl"
But really, will anything ever beat her husband and Al Gore's campaign song in '92? "Don't stop, thinking about tomorrow / Don't stop, it'll soon be here / It'll be, better than before / Yesterday's gone, yesterday's gone." Probably not. What song would you vote for?
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Jen Carlson
Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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