STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Stump speeches, slogans and memes can only get a presidential candidate so far. Sometimes, you also need a song. Chris Willman is chief music critic for Variety. He's written about presidential candidates and their music, and he has a short history of 200-plus years of campaign soundtracks.
CHRIS WILLMAN: Campaign music really goes back to George Washington's campaign, with what might be called parody songs, where it's adapting a song of the day and adding lyrics about that candidate.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "FOLLOW WASHINGTON (GEORGE WASHINGTON)")
OSCAR BRAND: (Singing) The day is broke. My lads, march on, and follow, follow Washington. He will lead the way, my lads. 'Tis he that leads the way.
WILLMAN: Campaign music started to become really common with Thomas Jefferson and those folks, but the biggest example, "Tippecanoe and Tyler Too," was a big hit song in the election of 1840 with William Harrison. Some historians of the day say that it helped sweep Harrison into the presidency.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WITH TIPPECANOE AND TYLER TOO")
BILL MCCUTCHEON: (Singing) What has caused this great commotion, motion, motion our country through?
UNIDENTIFIED ENSEMBLE: (Singing) It is the ball rolling on for Tippecanoe and Tyler, too, for Tippecanoe and Tyler, too, and with them we'll beat little Van, Van. Van is a used-up man.
WILLMAN: One of the last examples we had of a candidate's name being used in an original song - Connie Francis' "Nixon's The One," in 1968.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "NIXON'S THE ONE")
CONNIE FRANCIS: (Singing) Stand up, and let's strike the band up. Who's lifting this land up? Yes, Nixon's the one to go. We'll shout it.
WILLMAN: Didn't catch on in a big way, but kind of a fun, latter-day example, of which we don't really get too much again until "Raisin' McCain," in 2008.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "NIXON'S THE ONE")
FRANCIS: (Singing) Ah, yes, Nixon's the one.
WILLMAN: Ronald Reagan really kicked off the era of walk-on, walk-off music, using popular songs of the day, so Reagan, when he's running for reelection in 1984, uses Lee Greenwood's "God Bless The USA."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "GOD BLESS THE USA")
LEE GREENWOOD: (Singing) I'm proud to be an American, where at least I know I'm free, and I won't forget the men who died who gave that right to me.
WILLMAN: Fleetwood Mac really set the standard for the modern usage of campaign music, when Bill Clinton used "Don't Stop" by Fleetwood Mac in 1992, and it not only became his theme song for that and the next campaign, but it helped reunite Fleetwood Mac for the next 20 years.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DON'T STOP")
FLEETWOOD MAC: (Singing) Don't stop thinking about tomorrow. Don't stop. It'll soon be here.
WILLMAN: You know, there's an irony to using "Don't Stop" as campaign music, because it's about a split-up between two band members, and Christine's singing, I know you don't believe that it's true. I never meant any harm to you, which is an odd association for a presidential campaign (laughter).
(SOUNDBITE OF PATSY CLINE SONG, "CRAZY")
WILLMAN: So in 1992, Ross Perot became one of the most famous third-party candidates of all time, but people thought he was a little nuts. But Ross Perot said, you know, I'm going to own that, and I'm going to play Patsy Cline's "Crazy" as my theme song.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "CRAZY")
PATSY CLINE: (Singing) I'm crazy for trying and crazy for crying, and I'm crazy for loving you.
WILLMAN: Irony doesn't work great for a campaign song, let's face it, so Perot might have rethought that one.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SIGNED, SEALED, DELIVERED (I'M YOURS)")
STEVIE WONDER: (Singing) Hey. Oh, yeah, baby.
WILLMAN: By the time we get to the Obama era, there are multiple songs being used, but the one I most remember is Stevie Wonder - "Signed, Sealed, Delivered."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SIGNED, SEALED, DELIVERED (I'M YOURS)")
WONDER: (Singing) Ooh, baby, here I am - signed, sealed, delivered, I'm yours.
WILLMAN: Kind of a perfect campaign song, in that it doesn't really get in the way of the message, but it makes great exit music. People are pumped up. And the title offers this promise of, yes, I'm going to deliver. That's a very powerful affirmative message, as opposed to McCain, who had ABBA, "Take A Chance On Me" - sounded, you know, a little weak.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "TAKE A CHANCE ON ME")
ABBA: (Singing) Take a chance on me. Going to do my very best, and it ain't no lie, if you put me to the test, if you let me try.
WILLMAN: Hillary Clinton had "American Girl" - a little bit of an odd song, in that it's a very kind of ambiguous, emotionally song.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "AMERICAN GIRL")
TOM PETTY AND THE HEARTBREAKERS: (Singing) Well, she was an American girl, raised on promises.
WILLMAN: It has girl in the title, which, you know, not everyone loves when we're trying to espouse this view of strong women, but people aren't necessarily listening to the lyrics and thinking about this teenager Tom Petty was writing about. They just hear girl, they hear some power chords, and that's enough.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "AMERICAN GIRL")
TOM PETTY AND THE HEARTBREAKERS: (Singing) God, it's so painful, something that's so close and still so far out of reach.
WILLMAN: I think most rock-and-roll people identify as Democrats, and so the candidates that typically get in the most trouble for appropriating campaign songs are Republicans, and Trump is the great offender of all time.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "YOU CAN'T ALWAYS GET WHAT YOU WANT")
THE ROLLING STONES: (Singing) You can't always get what you want.
WILLMAN: Most famously, he just wouldn't stop using "You Can't Always Get What You Want" by the Rolling Stones - a puzzling choice to begin with, because if you're listening to the lyrics, the whole message of the song is maybe that you might have to settle for less, which is a very strange message for a campaign to send out (laughter).
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "YOU CAN'T ALWAYS GET WHAT YOU WANT")
THE ROLLING STONES: (Singing) You can't always get what you want. No, you can't always get what you want.
WILLMAN: Kamala Harris getting permission from Beyonce to use "Freedom" as her theme song this year is a big deal.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "FREEDOM")
BEYONCE: (Singing) Freedom, freedom, I can't move. Freedom, cut me loose.
WILLMAN: You don't always get that kind of permission from a superstar. I remember, when Harris was running as Biden's VP, she used Curtis Mayfield's "Move On Up" - great song, but I think people want something a little more familiar. With that Beyonce song, they got it.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "FREEDOM")
BEYONCE: (Singing) I'ma keep running, 'cause a winner don't quit on themselves. Freedom, freedom, I can't move.
INSKEEP: A short history of presidential campaign soundtracks with Chris Willman, chief music critic for Variety.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "FREEDOM")
BEYONCE: (Singing) 'Cause I need freedom, too. I break chains all by myself. Won't let my freedom rot in hell. Hey, I'ma keep running, 'cause a winner don't quit on themselves. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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