The headline reads, "No, Johnny No: Chuck Berry joins chorus of musicians snubbing McCain's campaign."
John McCain is having trouble picking a campaign anthem. While Barack Obama can pump up a rally with "Beautiful Day" by U2, McCain's campaign is walking in a "musical minefield" apparently when it comes to selecting a campaign anthem.
McCain's campaign tried "Pink Houses" by John Mellencamp, who was a vocal supporter of John Edwards during the primaries. Mellencamp responded to the campaign's use of his song by asking "Mr McCain to cease and desist" and went on to explain that ""Pink Houses" is a song about missed opportunities and wasted potential, so the lyrics are not exactly on-message for a presidential campaign."
McCain tried again and again and somehow ended up at ABBA's "Take a Chance on Me." (Note: We aren't electing them for their music taste.) But, McCain came out with a comment saying, "We played it a couple times and it's my understanding [Abba] went berserk."
McCain's campaign moved through the American songbook on to "Johnny B. Goode" by Chuck Berry. You can probably guess what Chuck Berry had to say. In case you are struggling, here is Berry's response:
America has finally come to this point where you can pick a man of colour and that not be a drawback...It's no question, myself being a man of colour. I mean, you have to feel good about it.
The anointment of Mr Obama as the Democratic presidential candidate was, he added, "definitely a proud and successful moment for all the people of this country – not just black people, but Americans in general".
In the Fifties there were certain places we couldn't ride on the bus, and now there is a possibility of a black man being in White House." "Free at last, free at last, thank God Almighty, free at last," he added, quoting Martin Luther King.
Chuck Berry, I think it's safe to say, will not be voting McCain. And I think it's safe to say Chuck would like the campaign to not play it.
So, today, I'm asking you to help a campaign out. There's no money involved. You don't have to sign a petition. All you have to do is come up with a theme song this campaign could use. You know, something fitting for the kind of campaign they are running.
It's the least we can do for a party that has lost its way so much that it now faces a rival convention from Ron Paul in Minneapolis, which over 10,000 may attend, when the party holds its GOP convention to unify the party at the end of the summer.
