# What in the crap was that song that played after Obama's speech? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 29, 2008, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-in-the-crap-was-that-song-that-played-after-obamas-speech/461644 "2008-08-29T03:24:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2008, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-in-the-crap-was-that-song-that-played-after-obamas-speech/461644/1 "2008-08-29T03:24:41Z")
Obama just gave his speech in Denver. Immediately as he finished, someone it seems pumped in a feed from the jukebox in a dive bar down the mountain. What the hell was that crap? ---
**Author:** ![stuyguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@stuyguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stuyguy)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2008, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-in-the-crap-was-that-song-that-played-after-obamas-speech/461644/2 "2008-08-29T03:36:44Z")
Dunno the song. But you’re right – what a stinker. (Nice speech, though.) ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2008, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-in-the-crap-was-that-song-that-played-after-obamas-speech/461644/3 "2008-08-29T03:38:47Z")
Awesome speech…but maybe he should have consulted Mr. Clinton on the song selection. Yuck! ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2008, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-in-the-crap-was-that-song-that-played-after-obamas-speech/461644/4 "2008-08-29T03:38:58Z")
Yeah seriously. Stevie Wonder was IN THE HOUSE and they decided to go with some pop country drivel. Yeesh. ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2008, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-in-the-crap-was-that-song-that-played-after-obamas-speech/461644/5 "2008-08-29T03:39:30Z")
It was [“Only In America”](http://www.cowboylyrics.com/lyrics/brooks-and-dunn/only-in-america-4920.html) by Brooks and Dunn. My guess is they played it because it has the line, “One just might be president…” while talking about a group of kids on a school bus. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2008, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-in-the-crap-was-that-song-that-played-after-obamas-speech/461644/6 "2008-08-29T03:53:56Z")
I wonder if Kix and Ronnie choked on their pork rinds when they heard their tune blaring at the DNC tonight. [I think they’re Republicans.](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5799732/) 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2008, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-in-the-crap-was-that-song-that-played-after-obamas-speech/461644/7 "2008-08-29T04:28:46Z")
Some Democrats like country too, you know. ---
**Author:** ![choie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/choie/32/7829_2.png) [@choie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/choie)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2008, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-in-the-crap-was-that-song-that-played-after-obamas-speech/461644/8 "2008-08-29T06:52:59Z")
The orchestral/symphonic piece after that was lovely, though. _Remember the Titans_ theme, I heard? Anyone know who composed the theme to the Obama biographical video? For some moments it sounded like Spielbergian John Williams, and then reminded me of Alan Silvestri’s _Cast Away_ score. ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2008, 8:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-in-the-crap-was-that-song-that-played-after-obamas-speech/461644/9 "2008-08-29T08:52:51Z")
[QUOTE=Hippy Hollow] Some Democrats like country too, you know. [/QUOTE] Hey, there’s _lots_ of Country music that I like (not that I’m admitting to being a Democrat). But I don’t like crap, and that song is pure crap. If Obama actually likes that song personally (he may not have been the one to choose it), if Obama personally thinks it is a good song, then he truly does lack the good judgment I want to see in a president. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2008, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-in-the-crap-was-that-song-that-played-after-obamas-speech/461644/10 "2008-08-29T12:39:38Z")
[QUOTE=Happy Lendervedder] I wonder if Kix and Ronnie choked on their pork rinds when they heard their tune blaring at the DNC tonight. [I think they’re Republicans.](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5799732/) 🙂 [/QUOTE] Generally, politicians clear the use of such things with the artists. They don’t have to – you can play any song you want as long as you pay the ASCAP fees – but they don’t like the songwriter coming out later and complaining about it. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2008, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-in-the-crap-was-that-song-that-played-after-obamas-speech/461644/11 "2008-09-03T03:54:53Z")
> [@Hippy\_Hollow](#): > > Some Democrats like country too, you know. Such as me. I liked “Only in America” (Bush used it in 2004, IIRC). The Dems might also have gone with “American Child” by Phil Vassar, a patriotic but non-jingoistic tune which actually sometimes brings a little tear to my eye… _…with a promise that’s more than just someone’s last name Anyone’s equal, in late August came An American child…_ ![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/QOy59EdoN7I/maxresdefault.jpg)https://www.youtube.com/embed/QOy59EdoN7I?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2008, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-in-the-crap-was-that-song-that-played-after-obamas-speech/461644/12 "2008-09-03T13:41:34Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > …they don’t like the songwriter coming out later and complaining about it. Which has happened at least three times that I recall. The Reagan campaign used Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the USA” a few times in 1984 before he asked them to stop. Likewise GHWB and Bobby McFerrin’s “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” in 1988, and Bob Dole with Sam & Dave’s “Soul Man” (reworded, natch, to “Dole Man”) in 1996. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2008, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-in-the-crap-was-that-song-that-played-after-obamas-speech/461644/13 "2008-09-05T12:55:04Z")
Heh. Now the girl group Heart has served a cease-and-desist order on the McCain-Palin campaign re: using their 1977 hit “Barracuda.” It was Palin’s nickname. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2008, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-in-the-crap-was-that-song-that-played-after-obamas-speech/461644/14 "2008-09-05T13:04:39Z")
Brooks and Dunn had no problem with the use of the song: [http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2008/08/29/brooks-dunn-comment-on-obamas-use-of-only-in-america/](http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2008/08/29/brooks-dunn-comment-on-obamas-use-of-only-in-america/) ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2008, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-in-the-crap-was-that-song-that-played-after-obamas-speech/461644/15 "2008-09-05T15:40:22Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > The Reagan campaign used Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the USA” a few times in 1984 before he asked them to stop. I remember that. They must have been paying attention only to the hook, and not the lyrics themselves. Anybody who had would conclude the song is kind of . . . bitter. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2008, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-in-the-crap-was-that-song-that-played-after-obamas-speech/461644/16 "2008-09-05T16:39:27Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Which has happened at least three times that I recall. > > The Reagan campaign used Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the USA” a few times in 1984 before he asked them to stop. Likewise GHWB and Bobby McFerrin’s “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” in 1988, and Bob Dole with Sam & Dave’s “Soul Man” (reworded, natch, to “Dole Man”) in 1996. Also, McCain’s come up against the problem at least five times this campaign: The Wilsons dinged him for using “Barracuda”. NY Congressman John Hall (formerly of the 70s band Orleans) dinged him for using “Still the One”. Jackson Browne dinged him for using “Running On Empty”. Van Halen dinged him for using “Right Now”. Warner Entertainment dinged him for using footage of the “Wayne’s World” segment of SNL at the end of one of his ads. It kind of amazes me that supposed campaign veterans somehow don’t know about copyright, ASCAP arrangements or asking permission of the copyright holder. These people are either stupid, incompetent or just plain don’t give a damn about intellectual property laws.