Matthew Yglesias » Barracuda

Sep 5th, 2008 at 9:28 am

Barracuda

I only saw this part on closed caption, but apparently when Sarah Palin came out at the end of John McCain’s speech last night, they played Heart’s “Barracuda” which has recently been re-made famous through inclusion in Guitar Hero:

It’s her nickname, to be sure, but the lyrics seem a bit off-message:

All that night and all the next
Swam without looking back
Made for the western pools - silly fools!

If the real thing don’t do the trick
No, you better make up something quick
You gonna burn burn burn burn it to the wick
Ooooooohhhh, barra barracuda.

Basically, I think we need more Abba.

Comments
69

69 Responses to “Barracuda”

Well Drinks Says:
September 5th, 2008 at 9:34 am
Ann and Nancy have already ordered them to cease and desist. Apparently, they are not that into Republicans.
Alex Says:
September 5th, 2008 at 9:38 am
I think that the most important lesson we learned at the RNC was that Republicans have shitty taste in music.
LaFollette Progressive Says:
September 5th, 2008 at 9:48 am
To be fair, the DNC also played a large amount of shitty music, including that horrible country song after Obama’s speech.

I guess it’s all just part of Obama’s unity shtick. “We listen to shitty music in the blue states, too, in addition to worshipping an awesome God.”
Well Drinks Says:
September 5th, 2008 at 9:48 am
Heart’s Nancy Wilson felt compelled to personally respond. “I think it’s completely unfair to be so misrepresented,” she said in a phone call to EW.com after the speech. “I feel completely f—ed over.”

(Responding to the fact that they had asked the Republicans not to use their music BEFORE Thursday night.)

http://hollywoodinsider.ew.com/2008/09/heart-responds.html
Andrew Fly Says:
September 5th, 2008 at 9:53 am
It was actually re-made famous by Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, then re-re-made famous-er by Guitar Hero
Calvin Jones and the 13th Apostle Says:
September 5th, 2008 at 9:57 am
Alex:
It’s not that the Republicans have crappy taste in music. It’s the basic fact that most good musicians aren’t Republicans and wish in no way to be connected to the Republican party here in the US. Can you name any high profile musicians(who don’t suck) that are willing to be seen with Republicans?
jibeaux Says:
September 5th, 2008 at 9:59 am
If the real thing don’t do the trick
No, you better make up something quick

That’s funny.

Have some compassion, guys, if the Republicans only use music which the creators are o.k. with them using, that’s only like 3 songs, and then we’ll all get sick of them and it’s just not in anyone’s best interests, really.
rea Says:
September 5th, 2008 at 10:06 am
Can you name any high profile musicians(who don’t suck) that are willing to be seen with Republicans?

Well, I once saw Fred Upton (R-Kalamazoo) at the Burger King where Elvis works . . .
Matt B Says:
September 5th, 2008 at 10:09 am
What exactly are the copyright / performance laws? I thought any published song could be performed or played in public as long as the creators got their mechanical royalties. Bands cover tunes ironically / mockingly all the time, but as long as the venue or promoter pays the annual dues to ASCAP etc they’re in the clear.
Jeffrey Davis Says:
September 5th, 2008 at 10:13 am
For the 3 people reading this who might not know, Palin’s nickname is “Sarracuda.”

I remember when this song was originally released thinking that it was the most unintentionally funny song ever to get airplay. As a self-imposed nickname “Sarracuda” is close because “vagina dententa” is such a Christian role model.

(Hey, John, if you win, get a food taster.)
kid bitzer Says:
September 5th, 2008 at 10:29 am
“Basically, I think we need more Abba.”

and instead, mccain/palin is going to give us a lot more cowbell.
Jay Severin Has A Small Pen1s Says:
September 5th, 2008 at 10:31 am
At what point does the RIAA beat down the door at the GOP and penalize them harshly for copyright violations? They fuck our kids up all the time.
Adolphus Says:
September 5th, 2008 at 10:37 am
Can you name any high profile musicians(who don’t suck) that are willing to be seen with Republicans

I like Heart, couldn’t agree more that this campaign needs more ABBA, but to answer that question shyly because I know I am going to get my butt kicked for this, I still like classic Ted Nugent regardless of his politics. Possibly even because of them. It takes someone with real cahones to complain about the licentious society liberals have cursed this country with while getting rich off songs like “Wango Tango,” “Cat Scratch Fever,” and “Good Friends and a Bottle of Wine.”

Come to think of it, Alice Cooper is quite conservative if I am not mistaken. How perfect would it have been to introduce Palin’s speech with ‘Only Women Bleed” and closed it with a rousing rendition of “Elected.”

Top rank cut of meat, I’m your choice
I want to be elected
A yankee doodle dandy in a gold rolls royce
I want to be elected
Kids want a savior, they don’t need a fake

That would be soooo awesome
James Kabala Says:
September 5th, 2008 at 10:47 am
I am a bit confused myself. My general impression of the issues of public performance is the same as Matt B.’s, but I also know that you need to get licensing permission to use a song in a commercial or (I believe) a movie/TV show. Is this considered a form of commercial? Is it because the convention was broadcast on TV? I know stuff like this has happened before (e.g., when Bob Dole played a “Soul Man” parody called “Dole Man” at his rallies, he was forced to stop), but why exactly?

An explanation from a knowledgable person would be greatly appreciated.
Jeffrey Davis Says:
September 5th, 2008 at 10:56 am
I don’t know why Dole quit using the parody of “Soul Man” because parody is considered “fair use”. Maybe they just didn’t want the brouhaha. (Brouhaha? Ha ha ha. <- Brief Quotation. Fair Use.)

I remember some Republican used “Still the One” which was composed by Democratic congresscritter John Hall. A bit cheeky, I think. (<-Brief Quotation. Fair Use.)
ropty Says:
September 5th, 2008 at 11:01 am
Add me to the list: more ABBA.

Wow, I am not a big 70’s rock fan, but that was really, truly bad. I prefer Spinal Tap.
Matt B Says:
September 5th, 2008 at 11:07 am
What this election really needs is Zappa. Holy crap would he be all over Palin.
Devo Says:
September 5th, 2008 at 11:09 am
Huh. I always thought that line went:

You’re gonna burn, burn, burn, burn, burn like a witch;
Ooohhh Barrra Barracuda.

(Which I thought was even more apropos.)
Alex Says:
September 5th, 2008 at 11:10 am
People have been asking about copyright with the song. I think that what is at issue here is “fair use.” Fair use is not so much a specific law as it is a set of principles determined by historical case law. These principles say, “Under certain circumstances, it is okay to use copyrighted material.” There is a checklist of the circumstances favoring and disfavoring fair use here: http://www.copyright.iupui.edu/checklist.htm. Now, I would say that the Republican Party was in no way, shape, or form protected by the fair use doctrine and were, in fact, violating copyright. Things that disfavor fair use, according to the checklist, include: profiting from the use (I believe the Republicans profited), entertainment purposes, and bad faith behavior (the flouting of the artists’ refusal would constitute bad faith behavior).

However, the Republicans still might be in the clear. If the artists don’t own the rights to their material, which is very common in the United States, then the convention organizers would simply pay a royalty to the record company, and they would be granted use of the song. It is quite possible that this is what happened. If that’s the case, then it becomes a personal issue between the band and their record company.
Alex Says:
September 5th, 2008 at 11:11 am
Oops, the link doesn’t connect because I put a period at the end. Here it is again: http://www.copyright.iupui.edu/checklist.htm
Cody Says:
September 5th, 2008 at 11:20 am
What was up with their over use of the super slow theme from
Dallas throughout the convention?
Lon Says:
September 5th, 2008 at 11:32 am
As I understand it, the baracuda refered to in the song was a pr rep from their record label who garnered publicity for the band with an ad campaign suggesting that they were incestuous lesbians. So they may be objecting to the idea that this is being treated as a good thing.
Matt B Says:
September 5th, 2008 at 11:35 am
Looks like the RNC was in the clear in St Paul, provided Xcel Arena has a deal with ASCAP (and I reckon it does). But other venues may not (ie “town halls” in high-school gyms).

Barracuda appears in the list of ASCAP-licensed songs. Can Ann & Nancy pull the song from their licensing agreement?
http://www.ascap.com/ace/
Well Drinks Says:
September 5th, 2008 at 11:40 am
So they may be objecting to the idea that this is being treated as a good thing.

No, they specifically object to Republican politics. And the SONY/BMG seems to support their cease-and-desist demand, so you can gather that the campaign didn’t get permission from the label.

See:

http://hollywoodinsider.ew.com/2008/09/heart-responds.html

and

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/09/05/mccain-palin-embrace-barracuda/
Boring Commenter Says:
September 5th, 2008 at 11:50 am
I don’t know, if wikipedia has it straight, and the song was about her anger towards sordid gossip, seems about right.
DrBB Says:
September 5th, 2008 at 11:51 am
Conservative musicians who are, in some sense, great? DeeDee Ramone, if I’m not mistaken, more’s the pity. But what the gabba gabba hey.

Meanwhile, admirable as this misuse of Barracuda is, it comes nowhere even close to the greatest (IMO) misuse of a rock tune by a GOP politician. The problem is that, being such shallow twits by nature, they never seem to get beyond the title to the actual lyrical content. Thus Reagan thinks “Born in the USA” is a simplistic patriotic anthem. It’s maybe patriotic–I sure as hell think so–but not in the least in a GOP sense.

Meanwhile, the hands down winner of this “I don’t care what it’s about kuz I loves me the title” contest is of course Lamar Alexander, who while running against Bob Dole in the 96 primary, actually chose as his campaign theme song the Talking Heads’ “Same as it Ever Was,” thus unknowingly declaring that he was running on a platform of “You may find yourself/Living in a shotgun shack,” and “You may say to yourself/My God! What have I done!”

Truly a major accomplishment in obliviousness.
PrestoPundit Says:
September 5th, 2008 at 12:19 pm
The song is about a fraud who’s full of BS and selling a product based on dishonesties. I.e. it’s about an Obama type figure.
Leee Says:
September 5th, 2008 at 12:32 pm
“vagina dententa”

You mean that her sexual organs are in favor of peaceable relations with foreign powers?
Matthew Says:
September 5th, 2008 at 12:34 pm
It’s the Republican party, remember their use of “Born in the USA”? Lyrics have no meaning, only rocking out.

http://thesebastards.blogspot.com/
Adam Villani Says:
September 5th, 2008 at 12:44 pm
Conservative musicians who are, in some sense, great? DeeDee Ramone, if I’m not mistaken, more’s the pity.

I thought it was Johnny Ramone who was the Reagan fan. Of course, neither Johnny nor DeeDee are with us anymore.

Sonny Bono was a Republican Congressman. Also deceased.

I found it distressing that the Republicans were using Earth Wind and Fire’s “September.” Ugh, talk about ruining a song.

The one sour musical cue I remember from the DNC was the overbearing orchestral music that played at the conclusion of Obama’s speech. It sounded like a movie theme, a really heavy-handed one at that.
DrBB Says:
September 5th, 2008 at 12:46 pm
t’s the Republican party, remember their use of “Born in the USA”?

As mentioned above, yes. And, at the risk of devolving utterly in incoherent rage, let’s also remember the jeans ad that turned “Fortunate Son” into a mindless flag-waving slogan. Must have been a GOP ad agency that did that one.
Medium Dave Says:
September 5th, 2008 at 12:46 pm
While the song “Barracuda” was inspired by a specific incident, I suspect that the anger in the lyrics was also fueled by Ann Wilson’s frustration at not being taken seriously because of her looks. Which in interesting, given the present context.
Eric Says:
September 5th, 2008 at 12:48 pm
“Conservative musicians who are, in some sense, great? DeeDee Ramone, if I’m not mistaken, more’s the pity. But what the gabba gabba hey.”

To be fair, the way I understand it is DeeDee was more a contrarian who grew up in a blue neighborhood.
DrBB Says:
September 5th, 2008 at 12:54 pm
Actually you’re right it was Johnny–sorry Dee Dee!

Sonny Bono was a Republican Congressman. Also deceased.

Yeah, but I thought we were talking about good musicians. *g*

Agreed that DNC is not immune to miscues, musical and otherwise–god are they not immune. But I think the lyrical misfit problem is much more a rightwing one, just because rock is anti-authoritarian in its essence–music to piss off your oppressive parents–and in its essence the GOP pretty much wants to BE your oppressive parents.
DrBB Says:
September 5th, 2008 at 12:58 pm
Oh, and it was Wrangler Jeans that obtusely obliterated Fortunate Son. Just so as to know who to hate on for that crime against humanity.
Eric k Says:
September 5th, 2008 at 2:03 pm
A few points:

The real villainsin the “Fortunate Son” mess is th erecord company that screwed John Fogerty out of his music rights, remmeber the comic incident of them suing him for plagarizing his own material that they now owned?

Another great comic right wing musical anecdote, John Miller on NRO talkign about how much Neil Young’s Rickin’ in the Free World captured the spirit of the times during the fall of the Berlin Wall, never mind that the song was written before the wall cam down how about what the song was actually about? A bitter rant against the domestic policy of the first Bush administration. I think you can explain a lot with the point that Conservatives don’t get irony.

And finally as someone who was a teenager in Seattle in the late 70’s and 80s stop with the Heart bashing! Sure their lyrics can be silly, but come on what rock songs aren’t? They have some great guitar licks and we thought it was really cool to have a famous rock band from Seattle, of course we had no idea that the music we were listening to in the 80s (Green River, Mud Honey, Mother Love Bone, Soundgarden and others) would soon take over music.
cmholm Says:
September 5th, 2008 at 2:24 pm
PrestoPundit said: The song is about a fraud who’s full of BS and selling a product based on dishonesties. I.e. it’s about an Obama type figure.

Bzzzzt! Wrong! But thanks for playing.
Eric k Says:
September 5th, 2008 at 3:18 pm
One other point, IIRC in the article about Jackson Browne telling the GOP to quit using his songs they mentioned John Mellencamp and ABBA had also asked them to stop.

Pretty soon they will down to Toby Keith and the Gatling Brothers.
charlotte Says:
September 5th, 2008 at 5:16 pm
Hey now — wait a minute. ABBA rules — It’s the McCain Campaign that sucks. The Raising McCain song is just about right. Nobody cool listened to Heart in 1977 but they look and sound a whole lot better 30 years later. And reinforcing that your VP selection is a bloodthirsty bottom feeder is just weird.
Tom Says:
September 5th, 2008 at 6:35 pm
Having just become (for some odd reason…) a frequenter of the National Enquirer website, I was amused to see them cover this story under the headline “Heart Attack John McCain.”
Nat Says:
September 5th, 2008 at 7:23 pm
Heart was very good back in the day, and their guitar player was exceptional. The Wilson sisters were gorgeous and Ann was a great vocalist. Barracuda was absolutely ear candy on late ’70s radio. ABBA was great, too. Talent comes in all shapes and styles. It is really liberating to get so old that you get to like whatever without loss of status. In that vein, for some real fun, catch Karen Carpenter drumming on YouTube.

And way to go Wilson sisters.
Richard Steven Hack Says:
September 5th, 2008 at 9:13 pm
Well, at least they didn’t steal music from the Corrs. The Corrs are conservative when it comes to file sharing, but they’re generally liberal in most other respects. They do a lot of charity work, especially at the Nelson Mandela 46664 concerts. In fact, they’re a favorite band of Nelson Mandela.

The Corrs - “Toss The Feathers” - with Roger Taylor of Queen on drums at the 46664 event in Cape Town, South Africa hosted by Nelson Mandela. 29 Nov. 2003.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1QQbSfxQ7g

And yeah, the Wilson sisters were the best looking babes in rock back in the ’80’s. The Corrs took over that spot in the ’90’s.
Linus Says:
September 5th, 2008 at 10:59 pm
When we finally have a junkie president I’m sure there will be a lot of good songs to play when they walk out on stage.
NBarnes Says:
September 5th, 2008 at 11:55 pm
If Heart is wrong, I don’t want to be right.
Petey Says:
September 6th, 2008 at 12:42 am
“If Heart is wrong, I don’t want to be right.”

Ain’t it the truth.
E. O'Neal Says:
September 6th, 2008 at 3:30 am
Do you know the difference between Sarah Palin and Barack Obama? One is sexy eye candy, the other kills her food.
vanya Says:
September 6th, 2008 at 8:36 am
When I was growing up everyone thought the song was an ode to female masturbation and that “Barracuda” was the brand name for a vibrator. It’s a much better song for a 15-year old boy if you think that, but the lyrics don’t really seem to support that interpretation. Of course we also all “knew”, from a friend of a friend, that Rod Stewart had passed out on stage and had a gallon of semen pumped out of his stomach. Strange times the early 80s.
Matt B Says:
September 6th, 2008 at 10:21 am
One is sexy eye candy, the other kills her food.

Why did the RNC play some Motor City Mad Man? “You gotta kill it to grill it!”
Aatos Says:
September 6th, 2008 at 1:06 pm
They should’ve played another Guitar-Hero track: Living Colour’s “Cult of Personality.” That’s a one-song description of McCain-08.
Michael J Says:
September 6th, 2008 at 7:54 pm
Heart Codemns the Use of the Song Barracuda at the Republican Convention [9/5/2008]
Ann and Nancy Wilson of Heart have informed the McCain/Palin Campaign that Universal Music Publishing and Sony BMG have sent a cease-and-desist notice to not use one of Heart’s classic songs “Barracuda,” as the congratulatory theme for Sarah Palin. The Republican campaign did not ask for permission to use the song, nor would they have been granted that permission.

“We have asked the Republican campaign not to use our music. We hope our wishes will be honored.”

http://www.heart-music.com/
sarah palin doodle Says:
December 10th, 2008 at 1:48 pm
Welcome to the latest strain of cultural insanity: people changing their given names to slogans, political ads, and website URLs. When I covered the police beat for a small daily newspaper years ago, I had a favorite petty criminal and
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Matt Yglesias

Barracuda

69 Responses to “Barracuda”

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