Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-09-30
NEWS OF MUSIC
Campaign Song Croze
Is Back Again
NEWS OF MUSIC
By IRVING LOwENs


amateur poet and composer in
the United States to burst
into song. This quadrennial
artistic epidemic has been go
ing on now for well over q
! hundred years, and there
are no signs that anyone has
yet come up with an effective
antidote to the disease Of
campaign-song writing.
From q musical point Of
J view the results have been
consistently just plain awful,
but campaign-song writer's are
immune to disbursement
The songs continue to pour
into the Copyright ONCE at the
Library Of Congress. and hope
springs eternal in the breasts
Of those who shell out their
hard-earned money to deposit
them there.
I am no more inspired by
campaign songs than the next
fellow, but the holly contested
return match between Presi-
dent Eisenhower and Adlai
Stevenson got me curious about
how the two protagonists have
been faring on the musical
front, ~
Statistics Disappointing
What I decided to do was to
visit the Copyright ONCE in
order to compare the 1852 and
1856 campaigns from a musi-
cal point Of view. to count up
the number of songs written
about Ike and about Adlai in
each year. and to jot down
some Of the titles. In that
way I thought that / might get
a line on the state Of the mu-
steal battle between the Re-
publicans and Democrats.
The statistics I compiled
have one distinction-they
are without doubt the most
useless set of statistics any
one has ever gotten together.
I hasten to point out that
campaign songs don't mean q
thing from a political view
point, even If they've got that
swing. There is no evidence
that any campaign song has
ever changed a single voters
mind or even made him feel
any kindlier towards the OPP
position party.
Therefore, those who want
to make predictions on the
basis Of the following figures
do so at their own risk. 1
present them merely as a case
history in the social history
Of unmusical music.
When I got down to the
Copyright ONCE a few weeks
ago, very few September titles
had been received. / therefore
chose to use, for comparative
purposes, only those songs
which had been deposited be-
tween January and August Of
the election year.
Campaign Songs Of so
Altogether during the 1862
campaign. 81 songs mention
ing either Ike or Adlai were
received by the Copyright Of
flee. OF these, no less than
SO were Eisenhower songs.
and one Of the four Steven
son songs, q number called
"Alibi Ike" was more con-
cerned with damning the Re-
publicans than praising the
Democrats. About a month
later. the same author, one
Joe Buckstein, wrote a little
opus called 'Mr. Berlin, Please
Write Me q Song About
Mamie"
The first Eisenhower title of
1852. deposited for copyright
on January Z, was Irving Alex
ander Hamilton's Eisenhower
March" In contrast, the first
Stevenson song. March On
With Adlai and john" was
written after the Democratic
Convention and received by the
Copyright ONCE on August IL.
OF the 81 Eisenhower songs,
Sc were written by men and 81
by women. a surprisingly high
feminine proportion.
: There were some authors
who maintained an Olympian,
above-the-battle attitude such
as Harry E. Stewart. who de-
posted two songs on June S,
1852, one called I'm Going to
Vote For Democrat" and the
other I'm Going to Vote Re-
publican"
A Switch in Names
There were others who
brought their songs up to date
by changing the words. A
good example was Mary E. st.
Johns ike Eisenhower's the
Name" which had been reg
istered four years before under
the title Thomas e. Dewey's
the Name"
A pretty pair were william ].
Dworske's The Eisenhower
Strut" and Kathleen L. Stones
The Stevenson Stomp" One
composer writing in February
turned out an opus called II
Like Ike. But What Does Ike
Like That's Q Mystery" An
other, inspired by Adlai's VIC
tory at the Democratic Con-
vention, was impelled to write
Mr.. Stevenson. the Gem Of the
Nation"
Very few professional COM
posers were bitten by the cam
paign-song bug. but some were.
Best known was Irving Berlin,