Hey Alex. I have a post coming on this, that extraordinary - and surprising - mix of feelings people get when they're swept away in a truly historic election. Some people think they're gonna just want to celebrate & dance. Others first feelings are of bitterness, anger - at the sheer stupidity & cruelty of lost years, years that could have been so much more.

The surprise I've heard from many people is that within themselves, BOTH sets of feelings surge up & overflow. The kindest, gentlest, most positive & forgiving people, who - for just one night - let themselves feel that anger. In 1997, when Thatcher's 18 year nightmare ended, I can tell you this. I heard one song, playing again and again, out in the streets.

So my advice is, even if you tend to walk on the sunny side of the street, you might want a bit of the shadow in your mix. In Britain, it was an American song, funny enough. Which works across decades & continents, and probably has some mileage in it still. Once upon a time you dressed so fine.

Now you don't talk so loud, Now you don't seem so proud,
About having to be scrounging for your next meal.

How does it feel,
To be without a home,
Like a complete unknown,
Like a rolling stone?

Jimi Hendrix, "Straight Ahead".

Sly and the Family Stone, "We Are Everyday People".

Martha and the Vandellas, "Dancing in the Street".

Woodie Guthrie, "This Land is Your Land".

Celebrate Good Times - Cool and the Gang

How about...

The Times They're A-changing by Bob Dylan. Because they really are!

Be Still My Beating Heart by Sting. Before the results are announced...

Fletcher Memorial Home by Pink Floyd. For the Republicans.

We Agree by Yes. Look up the lyrics, and the music is great (IMO).

History by The Verve. Because that's exactly what this is (and it's a good tune besides).

Imagine by John Lennon. Need I say more?

Long, Long, Long by The Beatles. The best way to sum up this election season in three words.

16 Military Wives by The Decemberists. Catchy tune sort of about America and the Iraq War.

Politik by Coldplay. Just for the title if nothing else.

I Predict a Riot by Kaiser Chiefs. A fun riot!

Light My Fire by The Doors. A good anthem song.

One by U2. Like, you know, That One?

All Dead, All Dead by Queen. A possible dirge for the GOP, if election results warrant it.

Bridge Over Troubled Water by Simon & Garfunkel. We're gonna need those.

Don't Stop, for the Clintons.

I Love a Man in a Uniform, by Gang of Four, for irony.

Stop the Rock, by Apollo 440. Imagine it as Stop Barack/Can't Stop Barack, and it's amazing. It should be his theme, seriously.

... and We Will Rock You/We Are the Champions, for the reference to sports championship elation

This one is new and it always compels me to dance.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsrkFNodBGQ

Kevin Rudolf w/LiL Wayne

The Changing of the Guard - Bob Dylan

Check out "In This Together" by yours truly.

Watch the video and please download the song for free. It was originally conceived as a song for Earth Day, but I am producing an American version as a tribute to the Obama campaign. Let me know if you would like to participate!

'In This Together' - Ryan Beveridge

Lee Dorsey mashup with Obama's Yes we can speech.

Best damn song I've heard in the past 20 months!

Video on youtube is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gooD9rYUm3k

mp3 of it is here: http://www.tanosokolow.com/yeswecan.html

Here are a few (either thematically appropriate or just cool party tunes):

Velvet Underground - Beginning to See the Light

Devo - Freedom of Choice

Gil Scott-Heron - The Revolution Will Not Be Televised

Lou Reed - There Is No Time

Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five - The Message

Patti Smith - People Have the Power

Blondie - One Way or Another

Funkadelic - One Nation Under a Groove

David Bowie - Changes

Ramones - My Brain Is Hanging Upside Down (Bonzo Goes to Bitburg)

Two from Emmanuel Jal, Ceasefire.

Dance a Jig On Election Night

Baai by Emmanuel Jal
Hadiya by Adbdel Gadir

These are my picks for election-night music because they celebrate reconciliation and "building up the land."

thanks.

mp

Stevie Wonder - For Once In My Life
Ron Sexsmith - Gold In Them Hills
Paul Simon - Graceland

Sam Cooke - Good Times (my default celebration song)

My personal fave:
The Specials -- You're Wondering Now
(for the GOP:
You're wondering now
What to do, now you know this is the end
You're wondering how
You will pay for the way you misbehaved...)

Other great ones:
Ramones - Glad to See You Go
Peter Tosh - You Can't Fool Me Again
Gnarls Barkley - Smiley Faces
Sam Cooke - Having a Party
James Brown - Funky President

What's on my iPod Election Day playlist right now...

"Yes We Can" - will.i.am
"Reach" - Gloria Estefan
"I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free" - Nina Simone
"The Storm Is Over" - R. Kelly
"Still The One" - Orleans
"Bop Gun (One Nation)" - Ice Cube ft. George Clinton
"Don't Take Away My Heaven" - Aaron Neville
"It's In The Way You Use It" - Eric Clapton
"Till I Collapse" - Eminem
"Do You Feel Like We Do" - Peter Frampton
"Kingdom Come" - Kirk Franklin's Nu Nation ft. Jill Scott
"Waiting On The World To Change" - John Mayer
"Rubber Band Man" - The Spinners
"Jive Talkin'" - Bee Gees
"Livin' It Up" - Ja Rule

Hopefully, these will get me through the day. :)

"Young Americans" - David Bowie
"Chase Those Crazy Baldheads Out of the Town" - Bob Marlet & the Wailers

The anthem for an entire generation or maybe two
must have its place of honor:

The Smiths - "Please, Please, Please, Let me, Let Me, Let Me Get What I Want"

Good times for a change,
See the luck I've had
Can make a good man turn bad.

So please, please, please
Let me, let me, let me,...let me
Get what I want this time.

Haven't had a dream in a long time,
See the life I've had
Can make a good man bad.

So...for once in my life,
Let me get what I want.

Lord knows, it would be the first time.
Lord knows, it would be the first time.

Another variation on the same theme:

Paul Simon - "Something So Right"

When something goes wrong,
I'm the first to admit it,
First to admit it,
The last one to know.

Something goes right,
Whoa, it's likely to lose me,
Apt to confuse me.

'Cause it's such an unusual sight,
I swear I can't get used
To something so right.

Can't forget a real Oldie but Goodie from the Sixties -

"John Brown's Body"

...lies a mouldering in the grave,
But his soul goes marching on.

Where'e his parade? Maybe this is it?

And another megahit from the Sixties,
as evocative now as it was then -

"Tenting Tonight"

Many are the hearts
That are weary tonight,
Wishing that the war would cease.
Many are the hearts
That are looking for the light
That brings the dawn of peace.

I Get Knocked Down (by Chumbawamba)

I get knocked down
But I get up again
You're never going to keep me down -
I get knocked down
But I get up again
You're never going to keep me down!!!

The only song from the above posts I recognize is the will.i.am song. See, I'm a metalhead so most of my music is what you'd call angst-driven. Two notable songs playing on my ipod at the gym today were:

A Farewell to Arms - Machine Head
"who has won when we're all dead?" makes me cry if I start thinking too hard about all the lives lost in war over the past 5 years

The Weapon They Fear - Heaven Shall Burn
"one strong voice became a storm, the weapon they fear, the weapon they fear"

but don't let that stuff scare you, it's not all anger. I still voted FOR Obama (as opposed to against mccain). This is just the music that gets me pumped up.

Donald Fagen - "New Frontier"

Yes, we're gonna have a wingding,
A summer smoker underground.
It's just a dugout that my dad built,
In case the Reds decide to push the button down!

We've got provisions and lots of beer.
The key word is survival on the New Frontier!

Introduce me to that big blonde.
She's got a touch of Tuesday Weld.
Wearing Ambush and a French wig,
She's kind of wild, you can tell.

She loves to limbo, that much is clear.
She's got the right dynamic for the New Frontier!

And to give due recognition where it belongs:

Blind Willie Johnson -
"Church, I'm Fully Saved Today"

(If you need proof of Divine Intervention,
just consider carefully the Cheney hunting
"accident". "Behold!"...sayeth the Lord.)

And for our dear friends in the enemy camp, perhaps a Chris Isaak medley:

"Things Go Wrong"
"Goin' Nowhere"
"Forever Blue"
"Lonely Nights"
"Somebody's Crying"
"Blue Hotel"
"Don't Leave Me on My Own"
"Lie to Me"
"Fade Away"
"You Owe Me Some Kind of Love"
"You Took My Heart"
"Changed Your Mind"
"Worked It Out Wrong"
"Don't Get So Down on Yourself"

Maybe somebody thought ahead and booked Chris and the Silvertones for the big shindig in Phoenix tonight! I think Chris's whole career trajectory leads straight to tonight's performance.