Comments on: Campaign songs

By: Rob G

Rob G — Thu, 18 May 2006 15:07:58 +0000

The only Hungarian group I got to know a little was Kolinda. I have no idea if their songs were political, but man, they were good.

By: mac

mac — Wed, 17 May 2006 14:25:54 +0000

Here’s the mother lode…

http://www.pzg.biz/cd14_festung_europa.htm

Ugh.

By: trialsanderrors

trialsanderrors — Tue, 16 May 2006 02:35:33 +0000

Yeah Muzsikás is a folk (revival) band. I was more thinking about the “covertly political songs” you mentioned, and their early records are full of songs that can be interpreted as comments on the politcal situation at the time, like in Eddig Vendég (The Unwelcome Guest): “Up to now, you have drunk your fill and had a good time. Perhaps you would like to leave now. Come, landlord, and throw out this unwelcome guest.”

Of course this is all conjecture.

By: grad student hack

grad student hack — Tue, 16 May 2006 01:30:00 +0000

Heard the pop/rap rallying song of the Orange Revolution in Ukraine yet? It’s called Razom Nas Bagato (“Together we are Many”) and features memorable (and catchy) lines like “We aren’t beasts of burden, we aren’t goats! We are of Ukraine, sons and daughters!”. You should still be able to download it somewhere on the net. Lyrics at http://orangeukraine.squarespace.com/journal/2004/11/29/razom-nas-bahato.html

It’s on my pod. Yuschenko, da!

By: Kevin K

Kevin K — Mon, 15 May 2006 17:36:35 +0000

A collection of songs from the failed massive uprising of 1988 in Burma can be found at: Burma Action Group

By: Eszter

Eszter — Mon, 15 May 2006 12:36:58 +0000

Thanks for the many interesting links.

Kelly, wow, you sound quite dedicated. Nice to know the enthusiasm transfers.:)

I was not thinking of “Muzsikás”, wouldn’t that be more folk songs as your comment suggests? This song doesn’t sound like a folk song to me at all, but perhaps I separate them based on context and content.

By: Richard J

Richard J — Mon, 15 May 2006 10:48:53 +0000

There’s the infamous Tory Party flexidisc of the early 70s, Songs For Swinging Voters.

http://worldofstuart.excellentcontent.com/100b.htm

Sadly, this is one of only two references to it on the Internet. I don’t have the full copy, only the song on the above copyright-stretching compilation.

By: AlanDownunder

AlanDownunder — Mon, 15 May 2006 09:05:14 +0000

Did I once read that Corazon Aquino’s supporters were singing “Tie A Yellow Ribbon” or were they just doing it?

By: Erik D. Hilsinger

Erik D. Hilsinger — Mon, 15 May 2006 06:58:06 +0000

Nagyon szep! When I was at Janus Pannonnius the music was very underground, backhanded in terms of how it denigrated the socialist government. No one felt comfortable with a direct confrontation after 1956 and 1968, so there was a great deal of inflection given to songs like “Jo reggelt, Magyarorszag.” Political subtext was coded and ubiquitous. Even American folk songs were popular in some groups for the antiauthoritarian streak that runs through it. I had to explain the movie “Farkassokal Tancolom” (Dances with Wolves) to my friends because they had no clue about that time in America besides the cowboy and indian fetish they got from the Germans.

By: Spoon

Spoon — Mon, 15 May 2006 05:02:38 +0000

You mean other than Wintergreen for President? The Museum of Television and Radio in New York has a collection of Disney-animated and -sung ads for Eisenhower, complete with catchy 50's jingles.

By: Raghav

Raghav — Mon, 15 May 2006 03:42:31 +0000

The Bloc Québécois has music and music videos for most of their campaigns.

By: trialsanderrors

trialsanderrors — Mon, 15 May 2006 03:37:26 +0000

Are you thinking of Muzsikás, Eszter? As about not understanding the language, I’ve originally only known the version by the Ex & Tom Cora of Hidegen fújnak a szelek, not knowing much about its heritage, until I browsed the Hungarian folk music section on Encarta and happened on Muzsikás’s “original”. Since then I’ve always “sung” along, even though I’m not sure what I’m actually singing…

By: ben alpers

ben alpers — Sun, 14 May 2006 21:13:58 +0000

A bunch of old American campaign songs can be found in sheet music and MIDI form here. Some are reminders of how ugly American politics has often been. Take, for example, the Stephen Foster-penned “Little Mac! Little Mac!,” a campaign song for Gen. George McClellan, Lincoln’s 1864 Democratic opponent. Here’s its second verse:

Dem-o-crats, Dem-o-crats, do it up brown
Lin-coln and his Nig-ger heads won’t go down
Gree-ley and Sum-mer and all that crew,
We must beat Lin-coln and John-son too.

By: ben alpers

ben alpers — Sun, 14 May 2006 21:01:46 +0000

Mike,

That “Nixon Now” spot is hilarious. It sounds (and looks) like so many early 1970s commercials (the music bears approximately the same resemblance to actual popular music as “I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing” did). It’s nearly content free…other than a visual reference to detente with the USSR and China. And there’s something a little unconvincing about a grim-faced Brezhnev standing side-by-side with Nixon while the singers intone “Makin’ friends/Where foes used to be” (you can certainly see why the Scoop Jackson crowd didn’t like this bunch).

My favorite shot, though, is the handmade sign that reads “Nixon is Happiness.”

By: Kelly

Kelly — Sun, 14 May 2006 18:40:34 +0000

Eszter, to answer your question about people who don’t speak Hungarian: although I have some familiarity with the language, and more definitely the style (it’s very similar to Turkish pop, which I admit to loving), I’m probably part of the unknowing, English-speaking mass you wonder about. And uh, I love this. I’m seriously thinking I need to put it on my iPod (whose name I’ll spare you, although it is a Hungarian name – I have a moderate love of all things Hungarian, thanks to a mildly unhealthy adoration of Steven Brust). To someone who’s only catching every 10th word or so, it just sounds like a very happy, pop-y song. Cheerful, optimistic, emotionally upbeat.