The presidential candidates' favorite songs: Observations on music, politics and culture with hipster, holier-than-thou judginess

 This morning, we have an opportunity for fun of a different sort.  I often deride Politico's coverage for the fallacy of "insiders know best," along with some particularly egregious sensationalization of non-stories, but every once in a while, I will admit that their particular proclivities lead to something amusing, not because it matters in any objective sense, but because it gives me the opportunity to write something more pleasant than the contemplation of uncontemplatables.  Consider.  A few days ago, Politico published this piece listing several of the presidential candidates' favorite songs.  As both a political scientist and the snobbiest of music snobs, I shall cast stones.  To my bemusement, Cornel West wins by a country mile.  His list, abbreviated though it is, is so far superior to the others that there can be no discussion.  I share little with West's politics or scholarly views, but he and I would have a blast talking music.  The man has taste, and there shall be a lesson.  There shall be another lesson in Larry Elder's very respectable taste in music.  He and I are no more aligned than Prof. West and I, but the three of us?  We could have a pleasant dinner talking music, and alternating song selections.  Notice that this is something missing as a consequence of cultural fragmentation.  We are missing the unifying presence of artists who are truly great, and universal.  Instead, as politics and identity fragment along with music, we lose even this.  There is something to be said for canon, if canon is defensible.  Let us consider, then, the candidates' selections.

I will note that there are no lists provided by anyone with a chance of being president.  Donald Trump did not submit a list.  What would be on his list?  The jokes run fast and furious.  Wagner?  The Black Crowes, "Conspiracy?"  (If he were cooler.)  What about Biden?  Some risque waltz, I bet, that reminds him of his rebellious youth.

No, it was the also-rans who submitted lists (and I do use the past tense).  Nevertheless, I find interesting observations among these lists.

First up, Chris Christie.  He is a politician from Jersey.  If his first pick were not a Springsteen song, the mob would drop a horse's head in his bed.  Is Springsteen really his favorite?  There is no way to know.  He is not allowed to give any other name.  There are regional pride aspects to musical tastes, so he might really be a Springsteen fan, but since he cannot give any other name, pander-pander-pander.  He went with Thunder Road.  The other obvious choice would have been Born To Run.  To-may-to, to-mah-to.  Springsteen is alright with me, but I have always thought he was overrated.  Christie's list has a lot of safe picks, even beyond the Jersey-mandated top spot going to The Boss.  For the Stones, he went with the best choice, Gimme Shelter, because I guess he has seen a movie and listened to a soundtrack or two.  Some Beatles, Aerosmith, Prince, The Police, Tom Petty.  These are all safe picks, sure not to offend.  I endorse some of his choices, like Prince and The Police, although if you scan some of those picks... no.  They do not get my snob stamp of approval.  Chris Christie is a pop man of the people, who went with safe choices.

Which is weird for a guy who is knowingly playing a losing strategy in the GOP nomination contest.  He may as well have selected polkas, and I'd pay good money to see Chris Christie dance the polka.  Wouldn't you?  If I knew anything about computers, I'd program a deepfake of Chris Christie dancing a polka.

Nikki Haley.  Haley has some "problematic" choices, to use the problematic word, "problematic."  I will note that many of the candidates chose Dolly Parton's "Jolene," which is a defensible selection.  Dolly Parton, for all the pop culture associations, is a serious musician, and if you are going with her, Jolene is the obvious song.  Joan Jett?  She has aged well, even if I have never bought a Joan Jett album.  But Abba?  Bananarama?  No.  No, Nikki.  I am deeply offended.  I do not offend easily, but you have offended me.

And if you are making a case for age-based competency tests, you may note that these are no longer the song selections of the youth.  Bana... fuck, I can't even type it again.

Vivek Ramaswamy.  Jolene again.  Aerosmith's Dream On, again.  I suppose if you must pick an Aerosmith song, that would be it.  A Mozart composition.  Strangely, a Woody Guthrie track, which I suspect he selected for the image, and then some junk.  My main reaction to Ramaswamy's list is that he is shitting you.  Bullshit artist.  Straight bullshit artist.  I call bullshit.

Will Hurd.  Hurd earns some credit with his first selection, from Robert Earl Keen.  If you did not get into "alt-country" in the 1980s and 1990s, you may not know the name, but REK is the real deal.  There is the Nashville machine, which cranks out slightly twangy pop from the all-hat-no-cattle country-bros, like that asshat, Jason Aldean, and then there are guys like Robert Earl Keen.  Nice.  Then, though, it gets less impressive.  A bunch of hip hop and pop, with one of Ben Harper's less impressive tracks at the end, and some Jerry Reed.  Ben Harper's first few albums were classic, and then he sold out.  Fight For Your Mind and Will To Live?  Classic albums.  Jerry Reed?  One of country's greatest guitarists.  I worship Jerry Reed, as does every country guitarist worth his salt.  Chet Atkins recorded a few classics with him, and Jerry arguably outplayed Chet.  Hurd's taste in country is good.  He started with Robert Earl Keen, and ended with Jerry Reed.  He isn't bullshitting.  Weird list, but Hurd is irrelevant.

Larry Elder.  Larry Elder is a controversial figure, but his list?  Solid.  It has a few clunkers, in my opinion (I cannot endorse Boyz II Men, nor Phil Collins), but other than that, he went classic.  Mostly R&B choice cuts that no one can dispute, with a few extras that are still impossible to dispute, like Bridge Over Troubled Water.  His politics are controversial, and on an academic campus, his life would be endangered by the "be kind" crowd, but his taste in music?  Unimpeachable.  If I'm on a road trip with Larry Elder, I don't mind letting him pick the music, and from me, that's saying a lot.

Asa Hutchinson.  Another mix.  Levon Helm?  Los Lobos?  Americana classics, and just far enough from the obvious that I'm giving him respect.  Note that he didn't go with "The Weight," or anything else from Big Pink.  I also appreciate anyone who recognizes Los Lobos beyond the soundtrack to La Bamba.  This is a great band.  Other than that?  Some problem choices.  And I'll say it.  Johnny Cash is overrated.  He went with The Beatles, who are safe, but he did not select a particularly interesting track, musically.  And then there was some junk.

Cornel West, though.  Oh, Brother Cornel, as he would have one call him.  Yes, he calls people, "Brother __."  Number 1?  The greatest artistic accomplishment in human history.  John Coltrane, A Love Supreme.  I am sorry, dear reader-- imaginary though thou art-- but no other track could surpass this.  Cornel won.  His other choices?  Nina.  He did not even merely go with Nina Simone, but a solid Nina choice.  Mississippi Goddam.  My personal favorite Nina track is Sinnerman, but I cannot argue with Mississippi Goddam, and for the civil rights value, and her role in the movement?  Cornel went with the proper choice for his beliefs.  No bullshit.  He was being sincere.  I have even posted live performances of this one.  Aretha?  He went with the most obvious Aretha track, as opposed to Larry Elder, who chose "Think," but can anyone really object?  West rounded out four picks with The Isley Brothers.  They aren't my absolute favorite, but one must respect them.

Cornel West wins.  No contest.  Will I be voting for him?  No.  Will I be voting for any of these individuals?  Not likely.  All people are flawed, and all politicians are flawed.  If I had to vote for one, I would probably vote for Chris Christie, which would surprise no one who reads this obscure, pretentious little blog, but his music selections would not be the reason.  He went with safe and boring.

I will note the similarity between Cornel West's tastes, and Larry Elder's tastes.  Once upon a time, art in general, and music in particular could unify.  The most unifying, for various reasons, have often been the soul singers.  Aretha.  Add Ray Charles, Donny Hathaway, Otis Redding, whoever.  Consequently, the two African-Americans, as ideologically opposed and personally different as possible, can agree on some art.

Notice more generally where there is overlap.  It is often on boring, older, safe choices like The Beatles, or for whatever reason, the very specific Dolly Parton track, Jolene (which is a good song).  What is missing in modern music?  It is not merely that the fragmentation of audio-visual media has diminished our cultural capacity to coalesce around, say, the MASH finale.

There is no Aretha.  I can name hundreds of musicians active today, including singers, who rise to any standard.  Yet, not only is music itself fragmented, we are divided.  If you want to hear a revival of the Aretha style, updated for modern times, go listen to a fucking amazing group called The War & Treaty.  Larry, Cornel and I would listen, three people of very different politics, and be equally blown away, unifying around this brilliant R&B duet.  Yet, because of the fragmentation of the arts, do you even know of them?  How about Ranky Tanky?  I love Aretha, Etta, Donny and all the rest, but I do not have nostalgia-colored glasses.  But that is not my point.  My point is that the arts have fragmented to the point that we cannot unify around any such figures.

Fragmentation has gone beyond partisan and ideological polarization.  Why is Chris Stapleton a country star and not merely the Aretha of today?  Because he wears a cowboy hat, looks scruffy, and has a slight twang.  It is interesting to observe a set of Republican candidates listing hip hop tracks.  To what extent are they being sincere, and to what extent are they trying to signal?  That is difficult to say, but it is a demonstration of changes in culture, where once hip hop was the sole interest of African-Americans and the young, and its appeal has broadened, although not unified.  There is no hip hop song or artist that you can play that will have the same effect on a diverse crowd, by the actual meaning of the word, "diverse," as Aretha.  Do you actually know anyone who dislikes Otis Redding?  Sam Cooke?  Sure, I could prompt my students with the name, "Sam Cooke," and expect a room of blank faces, but if I played his recordings, they'd get it because he's Sam Cooke.

It is not merely that great singers are unifying.  Consider Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, or Dhafer Youssef.  Two of my all-time favorite singers.  Americans, and Westerners more generally may have a difficult time with their singing styles because they are rooted in Islamic prayer.  In the case of Nusrat, he combines those traditions with some classical traditions of the subcontinent, and Dhafer Youssef sings in a kind of North African/jazz/call to prayer style that will sound so different in scale and tonality that it may just be a bridge too far across those waters for those raised on not just Aretha, but singers building on her, and that's the point.  Singing is a cultural tradition, and so central to culture that it is among the few centralizing traditions.  The further a singer is from your cultural center of gravity, the more difficult it will be for you to appreciate the music.

Western classical singing-- opera-- is quite different from American folk singing, which has significant variation, from Appalachian and other "country" styles with their nasal tonalities to blues and gospel, which have still influenced country and bluegrass.  Being at the root of most American folk traditions, blues-based singing, R&B singing, soul singing-- these are the easiest for the widest range of listeners to appreciate.  Styles that are further out on a branch, more divergent, will appeal to fewer people.  I can appreciate Roscoe Holcomb, but I will admit that he is an acquired taste.  Rap's appeal has broadened, but having diverged so far from the blues tradition, it is now far enough from what had unified much of American music that it will be difficult to find a rapper whom everyone enjoys in the same way that everyone loves Aretha.  Consider the many unique vocal styles, from Tuvan throat singing to death metal growling.  Tuvan throat singing, while technically demanding, will not have the same emotional appeal to those who grew up listening to Western music, just as the strange path to death metal growls has led to a specific sound that may just alienate whoever didn't follow that path, now having diverged far from the wellspring of the blues.

From the perspective of any entirely hypothetical reader, there is value in listening broadly.  The ability to hear the artistry in singers from Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan to Roscoe Holcomb to Jens Kidman means something.  I'll admit that the latter is hard for me, even if the polyrhythms in his band fuck with my mathematician brain.  (4/4, my ass, Mr. Hakke!)  Think of it this way.  I noted that I could have a conversation about music with Cornel West and Larry Elder, merely because we can appreciate some classics.

Yes, I once needed the ability to converse about Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, because there was literally nothing else for me to discuss with an Indian-Muslim immigrant surgeon who knew precisely nothing about politics, science fiction, or anything else that interested me.  But I knew his music.

So consider the disappearance of unifying music.  If all that remains is a smattering of classics, then what truly remains?

I have gone back and forth on the role of the canon in literary education.  I would like to encourage reading however one may, and many of the classics are simply not the most enjoyable for kids, or the most likely to instill an early joy of reading.  As much as I still love Twain, I will always detest Austen, and I know of many who have diametrically opposed tastes.  Some may hate both or love both.  One can make a case for letting kids find the books that will get them reading early and keep them reading, with the following disconcerting thought.  AIs will be writing books to order, quite soon.  Bespoke books, written by algorithm.  If that is the best way to get kids to start reading, is that at least something?

And yet consider the value of being able to discuss Homer, Shakespeare, Dostoevsky, take your pick.  Consider how many philosophers, historians, novelists and thinkers must make reference to canon.  Consider what happens in the absence of canon.

Consider what happens when we lose common reference.  The reference of references, Darmok and Jalad, is not even necessary.  The simple inability of different people to enjoy common music is a problem in itself.

Larry Elder and Cornel West could do it.  Hypothetically.

Today's music selection?  This was a difficult choice, but here it is.  Leftists hate Larry Elder.  You cannot hate this.  Here's his Sam Cooke pick, "A Change Is Gonna Come."