The Sound of Silence

A devastatingly clever little bird chirps that it's a good thing that we're almost done with this rodeo; McCain is running out of songs to play. A list of the songs whose authors have asked the candidate to stop using them.

Foo Fighters's "My Hero": "The saddest thing about this is that ‘My Hero’ was written as a celebration of the common man and his extraordinary potential. To have it appropriated without our knowledge and used in a manner that perverts the original sentiment of the lyric just tarnishes the song."

John Mellencamp's “Our Country” and “Pink Houses”: "His reps are quietly reaching out to McCain and asking him to stop playing his tunes."

Heart's "Barracuda": "The song ‘Barracuda’ was written in the late ’70s as a scathing rant against the soulless, corporate nature of the music business, particularly for women. (The ‘barracuda’ represented the business.) While Heart did not and would not authorize the use of their song at the RNC, there’s irony in Republican strategists’ choice to make use of it there."

Van Halen's "Right Now": "Permission was not sought or granted nor would it have been given."

Jackson Browne's "Running on Empty": "[T]he fact that Sen. McCain has used this song in a hit-piece on Barack Obama is anathema to Jackson."

Gretchen Peter's (writer) "Independence Day" (Martina McBride performs the song; Peters objects to use of song about abused women being used at a campaign rally): "The fact that the McCain-Palin campaign is using a song about an abused woman as a rallying cry for their vice presidential candidate, a woman who would ban abortion, even in cases of rape and incest, is beyond irony."

Frankie Valli's "Can't Take My Eyes Off of You": "The Warner Music Group asserted its copyright claim against YouTube, which is the reason for the take-down. McCain's campaign has re-posted the video, sans Warner's intellectual property. It's ironic that a United States senator, who has been part of a body that has so repudiated the idea of fair-use, is feeling the repeated stings resulting from its own legislative history. (To be fair though, McCain's been on the side of individuals in many a legislative fight.)"

But, remember, he always has Daddy Yankee.