To Comfort The Afflicted
And Afflict The Comfortable

To Comfort The Afflicted And Afflict The Comfortable

Tuesday, October 8, 2024

Observercast

Musicians Mute Trump Song Thefts

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Relentlessly threatening the first ever 50-50 season of 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases, Dodgers megastar Shohei Ohtani strides to the plate to the tune of The Show Goes On by Lupe Fiasco.

Sadly, following the Ken Griffey Jr., model of having the second half of his career plagued by injuries, the Angels’ Mike Trout was using Kodak Black’s Super Gremlin as his walkup song this year before his season ended early again.

Every player chooses a song to get him in the right frame of mind for the game. Set the stage. Hone the focus.

Politicians feel the same. Get themselves and their crowds energized. Bill Clinton rode Fleetwood Mac’s Don’t Stop (thinking about tomorrow) into the White House – and the band reunited to play it at his first inaugural ball.

Not feeling as honored or generous, dozens of musicians or their estates have condemned the Donald Trump campaign for appropriating their music without their consent. Some have gone to court to get cease and desist orders against Trump and his attempt to steal the good will their song embodies for political purposes.

Imagine that. The musicians do not want to be associated with a misogynistic racist whose sole political motivation is to exact revenge upon the legions of people who disapprove of his bad behavior.

In early September, The White Stripes sued Trump for using Seven Nation Army over video of him boarding an airplane. The lawsuit charges the Trump campaign with a “flagrant misappropriation” of their creative property.

NBC reported that, “Lead singer and guitarist Jack White posted the front cover of the suit, filed in New York District Court, to his Instagram page Tuesday, with the caption, ‘This machine sues fascists.’ It’s a reference to words that folk singer Woody Guthrie wrote on his guitar, ‘This machine kills fascists.’”

And it is not like the Trump campaign is unaware of copyright laws – or The White Stripe’s opposition to his thefts. White said the band was “disgusted by the association” when Trump used the same song in a campaign video in 2016.

As angry as other artists have proven after Trump used their music at rallies, ramp that outrage up another notch or three for the unauthorized – and thereby unpaid – use of songs for a video, which receives eternal life once it is posted.

So, will the self-proclaimed business genius’s next book be titled Art of the Steal?

Furthermore, in late August Billboard reminded us that, “George Harrison’s estate called Trump’s use of Here Comes the Sun at the 2016 Republican National Convention ‘offensive,’ adding in a follow-up tweet: ‘If it had been Beware of Darkness, then we MAY have approved it!’”

The same Billboard article listed other performers who have objected to Trump’s theft of their music. This year the non-Trumpers also include Beyoncé, Celine Dion, Foo Fighters and the estate of Isaac Hayes, protesting the expropriation of Hold on, I’m Coming.

Other artists who have said they don’t want to be associated with the GOP’s convicted felon candidate include Adele, Brendon Urie, Earth, Wind & Fire, Guns N’ Roses, Pharrell Williams, Neil Young, Nickelback and Sharon Osbourne, on behalf of Ozzie.

And perhaps the below-the-basement move of Trump this campaign was his August posting of a fake video of Taylor Swift endorsing him. She did not!

In fact, following the Sept. 10 debate, Swift – a proud “childless cat-lady” –  endorsed Kamala Harris on Instagram: “I think she is a steady-handed, gifted leader and I believe we can accomplish so much more in this country if we are led by calm and not chaos.”

And artists’ disgust with Trump extends past his unauthorized use [theft] of their songs. Noting that Trump’s trip to Tucson was to be held at the Linda Ronstadt Music Hall, Ronstadt felt compelled to comment via Instagram:

“It saddens me to see the former President bring his hate show to Tucson, a town with deep Mexican-American roots and a joyful, tolerant spirit.

“I don’t just deplore his toxic politics, his hatred of women, immigrants and people of color, his criminality, dishonesty and ignorance – although there’s that.”

No political novice – she warned us about the Murdoch media marauders in the early ‘80s – she also wrote: “Trump first ran for President warning about rapists coming in from Mexico. I’m worried about keeping the rapist out of the White House.”

While his theft of popular musicians’ creativity for political ends screams of Trump’s pathetic insecurities, he is also ignoring a rocker who is a full-fledged Trumpista. That Motor City Madman Ted Nugent has called Trump “the greatest president of our lifetime,” and this year has proclaimed, “Trump is the answer.”

Besides, Nugent’s biggest hit, Cat Scratch Fever includes two very pertinent references to Trump himself.

One verse addresses Trump’s mental failings:

It’s nothin’ dangerous
I feel no pain
I’ve got the choo-choo train
You know you got it when you, you’re going insane
It makes a grown man cry, cry, oh won’t you make my bed

Another offers a direct referral to Trump’s “grab ‘em by the pussy” remark:

Well, I make the pussy purr with the stroke of my hand
They know they gettin’ it from me
They know just where to go when they need their lovin’ man
They know I’m doin’ it for free

This bit of crudity should appeal to Trump’s own macho image of himself. And, heck, his loyalists – evangelicals included – have spent eight years approving of such behavior – and the adjudicated rape that exemplifies it. With Cat Scratch Fever, everyone should be happy, especially the musicians that Trump and his team keep trying to rip off.

Gary Edmondson
Gary Edmondson
Gary Edmondson is chair of the Stephens County Democrats. He lives in Duncan, following a sporadic career as a small-town journalist, mostly in Texas, and as an editor of educational audio-visual materials. Some days he's a philosopher/poet, others a poet/philosopher.