Soul of the Obama campaign is in the soundtrack

[babylonsister]

Soul of the Obama campaign is in the soundtrack

By Margaret Talev | McClatchy Newspapers


snip//

All modern presidential candidates have song playlists for their rallies, a cross-section of popular music that's meant to energize different segments of the crowd and send cues about the images a candidate wants to project.

Republican John McCain and Obama both play Brooks & Dunn's "Only in America," a pop country song about how anybody can grow up to be president.

Obama's playlist includes many other songs by white artists: He usually takes the stage to "City of Blinding Lights," by U2, with its global image. "The Rising," by Bruce Springsteen, who's a hero to union workers and the white working class, also plays in the buildup to Obama's arrivals.

The campaign also sells a CD for $24.99 called "Yes We Can: Voices of a Grassroots Movement." It includes songs from artists supporting Obama who are as diverse in race and age as Jill Scott, John Mayer, Jackson Browne and Los Lonely Boys.

However, Obama also has packed into his playlist a hefty, carefully thought-out collection of "uplift" soul and R&B hits from the mid-'60s through the '70s.

In the campaign's closing days, as the Illinois senator's lead in polls has made victory feel imminent to many in his crowds, these songs tap deep into the wells of memory and emotion in supporters 50 and older. They're blacks and whites, with different contexts for but similar dreams of racial harmony.

more...

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/226/story/55103.html

[dbmk]

1. The Rising

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNnB4dkVRJI">3 Days to go!

Can't see nothin' in front of me
Can't see nothin' coming up behind
I make my way through this darkness
I can't feel nothing but this chain that binds me
Lost track of how far I've gone
How far I've gone, how high I've climbed
On my back's a sixty pound stone
On my shoulder a half mile line

Come on up for the rising
Com on up, lay your hands in mine
Come on up for the rising
Come on up for the rising tonight

Left the house this morning
Bells ringing filled the air
Wearin' the cross of my calling
On wheels of fire I come rollin' down here

Come on up for the rising
Come on up, lay your hands in mine
Come on up for the rising
Come on up for the rising tonight

Li,li, li,li,li,li, li,li,li

Spirits above and behind me
Faces gone, black eyes burnin' bright
May their precious blood forever bind me
Lord as I stand before your fiery light

Li,li, li,li,li,li, li,li,li

I see you Mary in the garden
In the garden of a thousand sighs
There's holy pictures of our children
Dancin' in a sky filled with light
May I feel your arms around me
May I feel your blood mix with mine
A dream of life comes to me
Like a catfish dancin' on the end of the line

Sky of blackness and sorrow ( a dream of life)
Sky of love, sky of tears (a dream of life)
Sky of glory and sadness ( a dream of life)
Sky of mercy, sky of fear ( a dream of life)
Sky of memory and shadow ( a dream of life)
Your burnin' wind fills my arms tonight
Sky of longing and emptiness (a dream of life)
Sky of fullness, sky of blessed life ( a dream of life)

Come on up for the rising
Come on up, lay your hands in mine
Come on up for the rising
Come on up for the rising tonight

Li,li, li,li,li,li, li,li,li


Copyright © Bruce Springsteen

[panader0]

2. This has been the best "orchestrated" campaign ever.

[BelleCarolinaPeridot]

3. Indeed.

Yes it has. Perfect from the start. Took the high road and never bowed down. Fantastic!