Mahalia Jackson - We Shall Overcome - album version

I don't know about you but I've been following this presidential race rather closely and I thought it would be fun to write a couple things between now and November 4th that somehow relate to both music and the upcoming election/politics assuming I'm able to think of some topics. : )

This week I stumbled upon a column from Paste Magazine that took a quick look at, 'the 5 democrat and republican musicians who've done all they can in recent years to support their various parties.'

The artists on the lists were fairly obvious actually, but the column did make me think, 'why the heck is it that so many musicians are democrats?' It seems to me that one would actually be hard-pressed to find a handful of legit republican musicians just look at the GOP national convention lineup for proof it included:

- Gretchen Wilson // Cowboy Troy // and John Rich pop country musicians goodness nothing could be worse. While the DNC included (among others), Stevie Wonder, Michael McDonald, Kanye West, Willie Nelson and Jennifer Lopez.

- Given how many great bands and artists there are out there, who have varied backgrounds and come from ALL over the country, and world and keeping in mind that the rest of the country is basically split it's pretty absurd to think that this occupation is so one-sided in their political views. In 2004, 82% of contributions from the music industry went to the Democratic party.

Nevertheless, the question that often arises next is should musicians voice their political views to their fans?

An article titled, The Pop of King, mentions that Bruce Springsteen spearheaded a 'Vote for Change' concert tour last election that visited 12 swing states. Springsteen appeared on ABC's Nightline, and Ted Koppel asked him bluntly: ''Who the hell is Bruce Springsteen to tell anybody how to vote?''

Springsteen's response: ''It's an interesting question that seems to only be asked of musicians and artists, for some reason. Big corporations...influence the government [their] way.... Labor unions influence the government their way. Artists write, and sing, and think, and this is how we get to put our two cents in.''

I'd say that's quite a reasonable response.

How about when the Dixie Chicks were like, "we're ashamed that President Bush is from Texas."

It's kind of absurd to think that they said it to a concert audience : ) They had to have known people were going to get pissed and they did; some fans ended up encouraging radio stations to boycott their music; they burnt their albums publicly, and they wore t-shirts that said, 'Send the Dixie Chicks to Iraq'
-- If I were their manager I think I would have discouraged them against making a statement like this while at the same time, they're just people; if they want to voice their opinion that's their prerogative. It doesn't really make any difference to me at least whether or not they are musicians.

But, I believe that as a musician your best bet at stimulating change is through. hmmm, could it be, good music, perhaps?

On that note, this week's song is Mahalia Jackson's version of 'We Shall Overcome' a protest song with a history dating back as far as the 1800's. It became a key anthem of the US civil rights movement and in 1963 folksinger Joan Baez, 'memorably lead a crowd of 300,000 in singing [it] at the Lincoln Memorial during Martin Luther King's March on Washington.' But, Mahalia Jackson's version is significantly better in my opinion. So, enjoy:

Видео Mahalia Jackson - We Shall Overcome - album version канала RuncosWeeklyMusic