10 Most Memorable Campaign Songs

Former Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton adopted the 1977 Fleetwood Mac hit "Don't Stop" for his successful campaign for president in 1992. The band reunited in 1993 to play the sond at the inaugural ball for Clinton. Clinton perhaps chose the song for its inspirational lyrics, which include the lines:

Don't stop thinking about tomorrow,
Don't stop, it'll soon be here,
It'll be better than before,
Yesterday's gone, yesterday's gone.

Mitt Romney, the Republican Party's 2012 presidential nominee, chose the song "Born Free" by rapper/rocker Kid Rock. Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, explained what many thought was an odd choice by saying the two shared a geographic connection: "He loves Michigan and Detroit and so do I." The song includes the lyrics:

You can knock me down and watch me bleed
But you can't keep no chains on me.
I was born free!

Former Texas Gov. George W. Bush picked Tom Petty's 1989 hit "I Won't Back Down" for his successful 2000 campaign for president. Petty eventually threatened to sue the campaign for its unauthorized use of the tune, and Bush stopped playing it. The song includes the lines:

Gonna stand my ground, won't be turned around
And I'll keep this world from draggin' me down
Gonna stand my ground and I won't back down

The 2008 Republican presidential nominee John McCain and his running mate Sarah Palin chose to play the 1970s hit "Barracuda" at campaign events as a play on Palin's high school nickname. But the band Heart, the musicians behind the tune, objected and got the campaign to stop playing it. "Sarah Palin's views and values in no way represent us as American women," band members Ann and Nancy Wilson told Entertainment Weekly.

Independent Ross Perot, an eccentric billionaire, was one of the most unconventional presidential candidates in American political history. So his choice of campaign song, Patsy Cline's 1961 love song "Crazy," raised a few eyebrows, particularly among the critics who had dismissed him as such. The lyrics included the lines:

Crazy, I'm crazy for feeling so lonely
I'm crazy, crazy for feeling so blue
I knew you'd love me as long as you wanted
And then someday you'd leave me for somebody new

President Barack Obama chose everyman rocker Bruce Springsteen's "We Take Care of Our Own" to play following his acceptance speech at the 2012 Democratic National Convention. Like Obama's speech, the Springsteen tune deals with the issue of social responsibility. It includes the lyrics:

Wherever this flag's flown
We take care of our own

John Kerry, the U.S. senator from Massachusetts, was one of the wealthiest presidential candidates in history and facing scrutiny from the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth over his military record. For his 2004 campaign he chose the Creedence Clearwater Revival classic "Fortunate son," about politically connected Americans who were able to avoid combat duty in Vietnam. The lyrics include the lines:

Some folks are born silver spoon in hand,
Lord, don't they help themselves, oh.
But when the taxman comes to the door,
Lord, the house looks like a rummage sale, yes.

Here's a clever take on the campaign song: If you can't find one that suits your tastes, just make up your own words and set it to a catchy tune. That's what 1996 Republican presidential nominee Bob Dole did with the classic Sam and Dave song "Soul Man." One half of the duo, Sam Moore, rerecorded the 1967 hit and used the words "Dole Man." Instead of the lyric "I'm a soul man," the new campaign song went "I'm a Dole man."

With lyrics like "Everywhere around the world, they're coming to America," Neil Diamond's "America" was practically begging to become a campaign song, and in 1988 it did. Democratic presidential nominee Michael Dukakis adopted it as his own.