Saturday playlist: Songs the GOP never secured permission to use

Song: Frankie Valli's "Can't Take My Eyes Off of You" (1967)

GOP campaign wanting it: McCain 2008, in an Obama parody video

Lyric making it an unlikely choice for a GOP campaign: "I love you baby, and if it's quite all right/I need you baby, to warm the lonely night"

Other warning signs: Valli's career was spent singing falsetto

Quote: (Gonzo Republican rocker Ted Nugent) "McCain seem[s] to be catering to a growing segment of soulless Americans who could care less what they can do for their country, but whine louder and louder about what their country must do for them. That is both un-American and pathetic."

Did GOP have permission to use it? No

Used it anyway? Yes

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Song: Composer Bill Conti's "Gonna Fly Now" (Theme from "Rocky") (1976)

GOP campaign wanting it: McCain 2008

Lyric making it an unlikely choice for a GOP campaign: "Getting strong now/Won't be long now/Getting strong now"

Other warning signs: Statue of Rocky Balboa made for "Rocky II," originally on display at the top of the iconic steps to the Philadelphia Museum of Art and later moved to the Spectrum, misspelled "its" in its inscription.

Quote: (From Boston.com) "'It wasn't a formal complaint or a letter. Someone just called on the phone and said "Hey, that's our property,""' [McCain] said."

Did GOP have permission to use it? No

Used it anyway? Yes

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Song: Jackson Brown's Running on Empty (1977)

GOP campaign that wanted it: McCain 2008

Lyric making it an unlikely choice for a GOP campaign: "I look around for the friends that I used to turn to to pull me through/Looking into their eyes I see them running too"

Other warning signs: No Nukes

Quote: Browne's lawyers: "In light of Jackson Browne's lifelong commitment to Democratic ideals and political candidates, the misappropriation of Jackson Browne's endorsement is entirely reprehensible."

Did the GOP have permission to use it? No

Used it anyway? Yes

__________


Song: Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the USA" (1984)

GOP campaign that wanted it: Reagan 1984

Lyric making it an unlikely choice for a GOP campaign: "Come back home to the refinery/Hiring man says 'Son if it was up to me'"

Other warning signs: From CNN: "[Springsteen] who spent much of 1984 on a huge concert tour, dedicated 'Born in the U.S.A.' to a union local at one stop."

Quote: Springsteen: "You see in the Reagan election ads on TV, you know, 'It's morning in America,' and you say, 'Well, it's not morning in Pittsburgh.'"

Did the GOP have permission to use it? No

Used it anyway? No

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Song: John Mellencamp's "Little Pink Houses" (1987)

GOP campaign wanting it: McCain 2008

Lyric making it an unlikely choice for a GOP campaign: "And there's a woman in the kitchen cleanin' up the evening slop/And he looks at her and says: hey darling, I can remember when you could stop a clock"

Other warning signs: Mellencamp was a regular performer at Farm Aid.

Quote: (From Rolling Stone) "And does McCain really want to associate himself with those 'Pink Houses' lines about the 'simple man' paying for the 'the thrills, the bills and the pills that kill'?"

Did GOP have permission to use it? No

Used it anyway? Yes

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Song: Van Halen's Right Now (1991)

GOP campaign wanting it: McCain 2008, at rally naming Sarah Palin as running mate

Lyric making it an unlikely choice for a GOP campaign: "The more things you get, the more you want/Just trade in one for the other"

Other warning signs: Sammy Hagar rumored to be Republican, but never as good a front man as David Lee Roth.

Quote: From TMZ: "For the record, Dubya used the same song during a bunch of his campaign speeches back in 2004, but sources close to the band tell us, 'They're not political, they're just rock and roll.'"

Did the GOP have permission to use it? No

Used it anyway? Yes

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Moral: Republicans like a chorus with a strong hook, but never, ever listen to the lyrics. And they love property rights, as long as it's not the intellectual property rights of musicians.

Meanwhile, Abba, watch your backs.