HEART: Not Fans Of Sara “Barracuda” Palin
When “The Grand Old Party” Ain’t So Grand…
Art is something that should be respected; often times it is not. Some folks at the GOP seem to think a song is just a song and, once released into the universe, it is there for the taking. The beauty of music is that it means so much to so many. Words gently/fiercely threaded together to a melody have most meaning to the artists crafting them.
It is one thing to be inspired by a song and quite another to use a song to inspire. Especially when you are using that song to inspire a nation to vote for your way of thinking. It’s all fine and dandy if an artist has endorsed you and granted permission. It’s called stealing when one uses a song to sell a product without permission.
Government is a product. Each candidate is selling their vision for the country in hopes you will pay with your votes and buy four years of their thinking. If Nike were to throw an ad on TV and use a Heart song without permission – well, people would be fired and suits would be filed. Why then, do political leaders think they can slide on over to the CD rack (mp3 file) and choose a soundtrack without permission? Without considering the meaning of the song to the artist, or if the artist is buying their way of thinking?
I just about hurled when I heard the crunchy guitar lead-in from Heart’s “Barracuda” as a theme song for Sarah Palin, at the RNC. I believe my response was said aloud to Josh, “WHAT THE F@%# ! There is NO WAY ANN AND NANCY WILSON ARE INDORCING PALIN!” Josh replied, “Girl’s havin’ a meltdown.” I believe he was talking about me and not Palin. He was correct.
Nancy Wilson, (Co-founder of Heart - 1974), gave the following statement to Entertainment Weekly after the use of “Barracuda” as a theme for Sarah “Barracuda” Palin: “The Republican campaign did not ask for permission to use the song, nor would they have been granted that permission.” Wilson went on to say, “We have asked the Republican campaign publicly not to use our music. We hope our wishes will be honored.”
Of course those wishes were NOT honored and the next night, following McCain’s speech, that same familiar rift came blasting out of the speakers when Palin took the stage to join McCain. (I believe I repeated the “F-BOMB” several times at this point.) In response to this latest act of disrespect Nancy Wilson told EW.com the following: “I think it’s completely unfair to be so misrepresented.” “I feel completely f—ed over.” Since Nancy’s phone conversation she and sister Anne Wilson (Co-founder of HEART) e-mailed the following exclusive statement to EW:
“Sarah Palin’s views and values in NO WAY represent us as American women. We ask that our song ‘Barracuda’ no longer be used to promote her image. The song ‘Barracuda’ was written in the late 70s as a scathing rant against the soulless, corporate nature of the music business, particularly for women. (The ‘barracuda’ represented the business.) While Heart did not and would not authorize the use of their song at the RNC, there’s irony in Republican strategists’ choice to make use of it there.”
I for one hope this is the end of the link between Sarah Palin and two women I grew up listening to and admiring. If we are looking for True female Mavericks we need look no further than Anne & Nancy Wilson.
The HEART incident is not the first of this sort of infraction: the GOP has also had run-ins with John Mellencamp over McCain’s use of his songs, “Pink Houses” and “Our Country.” Rollingstone reports that four days after McCain was asked to stop using Mellencamp songs to fire up his campaign a spokesperson said his music would no longer be played. Mellenamp, was a strong supporter of the John Edwards campaign.
Rollingstone online also reported on Jackson Browne, who “sued
Republican presidential candidate John McCain, the Republican National Committee and the Ohio Republican Party, accusing them of using his 1977 hit “Running on Empty” in a campaign ad without permission.” How do campaign strategists put together an ad and NOT secure rights to a song? Perhaps copyright is not part of the Republican Party platform.
McCain and Palin are not the only guilty parties. A few months ago (as reported by Rollingstone) Tom Scholz of the rock band “Boston” contacted Mike Huckabee to request he cease playing Boston’s song “More Than a Feeling” at campaign events.
Scholz penned the following letter to Huckabee:
Dear Gov. Huckabee:
It has come to my attention that your campaign’s use of my song More Than a Feeling and my band’s name BOSTON has resulted in a great deal of false information, which it now appears may exist permanently on the Internet.
While I’m flattered that you are fond of my song, I’m shocked that you would use it and the name BOSTON to promote yourself without my consent.
Your campaign’s use of More Than a Feeling, coupled with the representation of one of your supporters as a member “of BOSTON” clearly implies that the band BOSTON, and specifically one of its members, has endorsed your candidacy, neither of which is true.
I wrote and arranged More Than a Feeling, engineered and produced the recording, and actually played all the guitars on that BOSTON hit as well as most of BOSTON’s songs, not the person holding a guitar in your promotion who identified himself as being “of BOSTON.” Your claim that this was “the guy who originally did it” is a bit mystifying since he never played on that recording, nor has he been “of BOSTON” since he left my band over a quarter century ago, after performing with us for only three years.
BOSTON has never endorsed a political candidate, and with all due respect, would not start by endorsing a candidate who is the polar opposite of most everything BOSTON stands for. In fact, although I’m impressed you learned my bass guitar part on More Than a Feeling, I am an Obama supporter.
While this may seem like a little thing to you, BOSTON has been my life’s work. I hold the trademark to the name and my reputation is inexorably tied to it.
By using my song, and my band’s name BOSTON, you have taken something of mine and used it to promote ideas to which I am opposed. In other words, I think I’ve been ripped off, dude!
The unfortunate misconceptions caused by your campaign now live indefinitely on Internet news sites and blog archives.
As the “straight talk candidate,” I hope you will help undo the damage still being caused by this misleading use of BOSTON and More Than a Feeling.
Still evolving,_
Tom Scholz for BOSTON
One would think that campaign strategists for the GOP would have gotten their shit together after the first incident. If not then, surely the message would be clear after being sued by Jackson Browne. Perhaps this is much ado about nothing on my part – after all we should be use to the Republican Party taking what they want – when they want it.
Iraqi Oil Anyone…
Posted: September 5th, 2008 under Politics.
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