This is our country, but it's not your song

Via Juanita, I see that John McCain is using John Mellencamp songs in his campaign. And Mellencamp isn't happy about that.

Uplifting heartland rock must have seemed like a smart pick, but there's just one problem: Mellencamp is an ardent Democrat. And, until recently, he supported John Edwards - who had been playing "Our Country" and "Small Town" at his rallies. Mellencamp hasn't yet made a public response, but his reps are quietly reaching out to McCain and asking him to stop playing his tunes. (McCain's press office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.)

Who remembers when Ronald Reagan used Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the USA", until The Boss told him to knock it off? I can't decide which was funnier, when Springsteen suggested that "Johnny 99" would be more a more appropriate song for Reagan to use, or the fact that no one in Reagan's team understood the lyrics to "Born in the USA" enough to realize how ill-fitting that song was for their purposes. Take a lesson from this, Republican Presidential candidates, especially those of you over 65: Leave the rock music to the kids. The songs are about you, just not in the way you want them to be.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on February 08, 2008 to The making of the President