Name That Tune
There were many news stories, both large and small, that came out of last Friday’s Republican Party of Iowa Lincoln Dinner.
One of them, however, slipped right past my attention and I was sitting next to the stage.
In order to keep things simple, when a candidate was introduced and made her or his way onto the stage, a bit of the song “Only in America” made popular by Brooks and Dunn was played. The song was just on repeat on the computer, and the audio person would simply up the volume when needed and turn it back down after the candidate was set to speak.
That meant sometimes the part we heard was the chorus, and sometimes a lyric. And that led to many Trump fans to allege that there was a subtle anti-Trump message given through the song when he came to the stage.
The basis of the song is that “Only in America” anyone can dream to do anything…with the image of a school bus driver looking in the rear view mirror and seeing faces of young people.
One lyric reads, “One kid dreams of fame and fortune, One kid helps pay the rent; One could end up going to prison, One just might be president.”
Sure enough, that’s the part that played as the former president took the stage. And some Trump folks don’t like the reference to prison and president in the lyric as Trump appeared.
I can confirm that it was totally accidental…I can also confirm that every other candidate made their way up the stairs to the stage and went right to the podium. Trump, as he always does, got to the stage and interacted with the crowd, to help the welcoming applause last longer. That meant about three times as much of the song played for him as anyone else…because he took extra time on the stage before reaching the podium.
If we go with that theory, then Larry Elder should take offense that the lyric “she came out here to be an actress” that played as he appeared was a slam against him…and there are many other examples like that.
In hindsight, perhaps simply repeating the chorus, noting that “we dream as big as we want to” and “we all get a chance”, should have been used.
But it shows you how seriously people take all this, even the innocent stuff. Well, as the song says, “Only in America”.
