From “tippecanoe and tyler, too” to “born in the U.S.A.”: The transformation of the campaign song in presidential elections in the united states

Abstract

Campaign songs have been staples of U.S. presidential elections for more than 200 years, but have undergone important changes in not only structure over time, but who uses them and why. Following a discussion of the concentration of the American popular music industry and the shift from party-based to ideology-driven electoral politics, a two-dimension typology and hypotheses are formulated to help discern the distinct roles of these institutions in the transformation of the U.S. presidential campaign song. Data was systematically collected on the most prominent songs associated with each presidential campaign from 1788 to the present. In order to provide greater context for the use of songs in presidential campaigns over time, additional newspaper articles were collected for four elections. Results suggest that changes in the structure of the American music industry and the organization of presidential campaigns significantly affect the form of U.S. presidential campaign songs.

Citation

Gromis, A. (2014), "From “tippecanoe and tyler, too” to “born in the U.S.A.”: The transformation of the campaign song in presidential elections in the united states", Voices of Globalization (Research in Political Sociology, Vol. 21), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 129-157. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0895-9935(2013)0000021010