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Jewish World Review August 21, 2000 / 20 Menachem-Av, 5760
Philip Terzian
For my problem, in coming to grips with prospects for the Gore-Lieberman ticket, is that I
was distracted by the music of the Democratic National Convention, and not the rhetoric. That
is a curious impression to take away from a political gathering, but there you are.
In the annals of Democratic kitsch, the sight of Tipper Gore boogeying across the podium to
the rhythm of a trio of multicultural drummers was a first in my experience. And in hers, I
expect, as well. The fact that the Vice President's wife resembled Dana Carvey's Church Lady in
action merely added to the surreal quality of the spectacle. It was as if Eleanor Roosevelt, in
1936, had grabbed John Nance Garner for a quick newsreel jitterbug.
So having watched Tipper Gore rock out solo before an audience of millions, we should be
prepared for anything. But in the meantime I conclude that either Democrats have a tin ear for
pop music, or no one pays attention to the lyrics of rock songs.
My puzzlement began at the gigantic Democratic National Committee fund-raiser put on by
Terry McAuliffe and friends at the Washington Convention Center. When I tuned into C-SPAN to
savor the festivities, there was Lenny Kravitz on stage jamming with his bandmates while
McAuliffe raked in the cash. But Kravitz was not performing any old stanard for the Democrats'
diversion; he was playing "American Woman" by the Guess Who.
For those too young to remember, or too old to have noticed, "American Woman" begins on a
note of early '70s romanticism: "American woman/Stay away from me/American woman/Mama, let me
be/Don't come a-hangin' around my door/I don't wanna see your face no more/I got more important
things to do/Than spend my time growin' old with you." But then, since the Guess Who were
Canadian, a note of antipathy toward Canada's neighbor to the south is introduced, not so
subtly: "I don't need your war machines/I don't need your ghetto scenes/Colored lights can
hypnotize/Sparkle someone else's eyes."
An interesting lyric, certainly emblematic of its time. But how appropriate for a gathering
of American citizens soliciting votes for their next president?
Then there was the cinematic tribute to Jimmy Carter at the convention in Los Angeles.
While the gauzy camera lens focused on the former president and Rosalynn Carter monitoring
elections, hammering nails, fondling grandchildren and welcoming pilgrims to the Carter Center
in Atlanta, the sound track played an easy-listening version of John Lennon's mournful
"Imagine."
Another anthem of the 1970s, it is possible that thousands of renditions of "Imagine" in
elevators, at wedding receptions and on television commercials have diluted its impact. But the
words are curiously discordant as background music for America's only born-again Baptist --
"Imagine there's no Heaven/It's easy if you try/No Hell below us/Above us only sky" -- who
served in the White House: "Imagine there's no countries/It isn't hard to do/Nothing to kill or
die for/And no religion, too."
To be sure, Republicans aren't immune to the problem: In 1984, some of them mistook Bruce
Springsteen's discontented "Born in the USA" for a patriotic tune. And even detractors of
George W. Bush must be thankful for the fact that he kept renditions of Lee Greenwood's "God
Bless the USA" to a minium in Philadelphia.
Nevertheless, the beat goes on. The convention revealed that the official Gore-Lieberman
campaign song will be Bachman-Turner Overdrive's "You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet." The Democratic
devotion to Canadian hits of the 1970s is revealing, in its way. But it will be fun to watch
Joseph Lieberman, scourge of rap and heavy metal, deconstruct these lyrics: "I met a devil
woman/She took my heart away/She said, I had it comin' to me/But I wanted it that way/I think
that any love is good lovin'/And so I took what I could get."
Better suited to the incumbent president, one might think, than his anointed successor. But
how far the Democrats have come from 1956: "Stevenson, Stevenson/If you vote for Stevenson/He
will be/Easily/President next year/Help him win/Get him in/Now's the time to fight/Gotta be,
gotta be/Gotta be,
08/17/00: The unwelcome democrat
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