Kai Wright: Hey, it's Kai Wright. All summer long on Notes From America, we've been asking listeners to tell us what song comes to mind when you think about your political priorities. Results have varied, as varied as the music we're hearing on the campaign trail.

[MUSIC - Beyoncé: Freedom]

Freedom

Freedom

I can't move

Freedom, cut me loose

Kai Wright: Before Kamala Harris landed on Queen Bee for her anthem, she had a brat coated campaign strategy. Kid Rock rocked the RNC in July, but more recently, Trump has been bumping to 50 Cent.

[MUSIC : 50 Cent: Many Men]

Many men

Wish death upon me.

Kai Wright: Coming up, the intersection of music, politics, and protest, from Hotties for Harris to Sexxy Red on the right. We want your help building a playlist. Call us at 844-745-8255 and tell us about a song that represents your political priorities. It's all just ahead, right after this.

Varshita Korrapati: What album or song best describes your political priorities or your politics?

Speaker 1: There's a Strokes album called The New Abnormal. The album just describes a very strange new reality, and I think we're all getting used to that right now.

Speaker 2: Marvin Gaye, What’s Going On. Obviously he was talking about oppression in America and in the world in general.

Speaker 3: Untitled. It's really an expression of, like, Black resistance and struggle. For me, that's what I think of when I think of, like, an album that represents political expression.

Speaker 4: Heading For The Door by Royal Otis because, at this point, I'm really heading for the door. [chuckles] I've just been so mentally, I'm out the door.

Speaker 5: Let It Be, the Beatles. It's going to be whoever.

Let it be and let's see what's going to happen.

[MUSIC - Trumpishere: Let it be]

Let it be, let it be. Let it be

Whisper words of wisdom

Let it be.

Kai Wright: It's Notes From America. I'm Kai Wright. Welcome to the show. Y'all, it has been an upside-down few weeks of political news, so this week, we're going to take a little detour on our road to election day, because you can't have good politics without a good soundtrack, right? The songs you just heard were the first entries on our third annual Notes From America summer playlist. Whoo.

Every summer, we crowdsource a Spotify playlist with our listeners built around a particular theme. This year, we want you to contribute a song that represents your political identity or your political priorities in 2024. Call or text us your submissions starting right now. 844-745-8255. That's 844-745-TALK. I am going to ask you to say why as well, to explain your submissions. Be ready for that. As we take your submissions, we're going to talk about the very long and very deep religious relationship between music and politics, both in elections and in social movements. I'm joined by Noriko Manabe, professor and chair of music theory at Indiana University. Hi, Noriko.

Noriko Manabe: Hello.

Kai Wright: Chris Willman, who is Variety's senior music writer and chief music critic. Chris, welcome to the show.

Chris Willman: Glad to be with you.

Kai Wright: Let's start with electoral politics. Kamala Harris's campaign is fully leaning into pop culture. Her campaign jumped right into brat summer, and she's been using Beyoncé's song Freedom. We heard it during her first official appearance as a presidential candidate in Delaware, and again at the beginning of her first big rally in Milwaukee. Let's hear a beat of that song.

[MUSIC - Beyoncé: Freedom]

Freedom

Freedom

I can't move

Freedom, cut me loose

Singin', freedom

Freedom

Where are you?

'Cause I need freedom, too

I break chains all by myself

Won't let my freedom rot in hell

Hey! I'ma keep running

'Cause a winner don't quit on themselves

Kai Wright: That's Beyoncé singing Freedom. Beyoncé, obviously, in case you living on the moon, but that's who she is. Chris, you are here to talk to us about electoral politics and songs in particular. You have studied how campaigns use music over history. What did you think of that choice when you heard it? Did it say anything to you, in relationship to previous campaigns, that this is where Kamala Harris went?

Chris Willman: I thought it was a fantastic choice. One of the best choices in the history of political music and campaign music.

Kai Wright: Oh, okay.

Chris Willman: That was always my favorite song off Lemonade, which came out in 2016, was not a hit. I think it, like, peaked on the Hot 100 and the thirties because it was never actually released as a single. For one thing, it's not overexposed, even though it's been this cult favorite for the last, what is it, eight years now?

The hook of the song, what you just played, it's something you can imagine Aretha Franklin singing during the Civil Rights Movement in the mid- or late '60s when she was involved in that. It just has that classic soul feel to it. Another reason I think it works so well is that it's a banger. It's really hard to find a serious banger, a song that's upbeat and celebratory, but then when you actually listen to the lyrics of it, it's very socially conscious.

It's been used in a lot of controversial areas. It was used when young Black men were being killed by the police. Beyoncé made some video content where she had, I believe, the mother of Trayvon Martin in it. It has that history to it. I don't think that Kamala's idea of using it now is to make people think George Floyd, George Floyd, but it does have that background to it. In the meantime, you just hear it, and it just makes you want to get up and dance. It's got a [crosstalk] there.

Kai Wright: It's got a little edge to it, too, which I think is probably something she's going for. Noriko, you're going to be here to talk to us about social movements in general, but as Chris said, this is a song in particular that has some history in racial justice movements over the last, I don't know, eight years, I guess it's been. Have you been following its trajectory in movement spaces?

Noriko Manabe: Yes. What I actually think is really interesting about this song is that it comes from a whole history of songs that start by talking about personal pain and then connected with something that really talks about the pain that infuses the Black community and Black history more generally, which is, of course, what the story of Lemonade is about. It starts by talking about Jay Z's infidelity and then moves beyond it to really talk about institutional racism.

This particular song comes at the apex of the trajectory of Lemonade, which starts the chapter of hope, where she's tying this narrative of personal hurt to this more concept of revolutionary freedom and finding community amongst Black women. What I find to be particularly interesting about this is that there is a direct musical reference to Aretha Franklin's think on it, because, remember, Aretha Franklin goes, "Let your mind go, let yourself be free, " and then she goes, "Freedom, freedom, freedom." Of course, I'm not Aretha Franklin, but-

Kai Wright: You did a good job.

Noriko Manabe: -that ACD progression is the same as the DFG progression that you get in Freedom. There's this musical link between the two songs. I also find it really interesting that the song samples Stu Ball, a recording by Prisoner 22 of a historical song that was adapted by slaves as a work song. This particular one was taken from a prison by-- Then there's also a sample of Reverend RC Crenshaw and his congregation. There's so much history and layers of meaning in the song.

I find it particularly great that Kamala Harris chose this particular song, because in doing so, she's reclaimed freedom as the central point of the Democratic agenda. As we all know, the right has long appropriated the term freedom to mean freedom from governmental interference. We have the Freedom Caucus.

Kai Wright: Just so I can get another before- we have to go to break, we can get to Donald Trump's song as well here. Donald Trump and Kid Rock have become so closely associated that Trump gave a video address to the crowd at least one of the festivals that Kid Rock is headlining this summer. Kid Rock was a big part of the RNC show. He performed his song American Badass and got the crowd chanting fight. He and Trump are golf buddies, but, Chris, this is also a political evolution for Kid Rock. Can you tell us about that?

Chris Willman: Well, it's a political evolution for Kid Rock and also a political evolution for the Republican Party in that it's not that far back. You have to go to find a time when the Republican Party would have presented itself as the party of decorum instead of the party of partying, which is what Kid Rock basically represents.

Yes, Kid Rock, he used to present himself as an amalgam of philosophies of music. He started out mixing hip hop and rock, but as he switched his mixture more to a mixture of country and rock, he came out more with his political beliefs, went from espousing a purple neutrality feel to actually, by 2012, he was supporting Mitt Romney, which sounds like a long time ago, but it was late in Kid Rock's career. He started out in the late '90s. His song Born Free was one of Mitt Romney's campaign songs in 2012.

He's certainly gotten all the way on board the MAGA wagon and posing for pictures in the Oval Office with Ted Nugent, his brother in arms, literally. To see him at the convention, it was funny just to see how far the Republican convention has come around that-- He modified some of the lyrics. He took out the homophobic lyrics. Good for him. I think this line about middle finger in the air still stayed in there, which you would not have heard the GOP once upon a time, but the never gay line wasn't in there, but he modified the line "I know it stinks in here because I'm the sh, too. I know it stinks in here because Trump's the sh- too" and he doesn't say the s word, but a whole different mentality that things are getting a little more redneck with the Republicans.

Kai Wright: Well, we're going to talk a little bit about the history of country music as well later in the show. You wrote a whole book about the relationship to country and electoral politics, Chris. We also are going to start taking your calls, listeners. We want to hear from you. We want to hear you contribute to our summer playlist. We want to know what is a song that represents your political identity and your political priorities in 2024. You can call us right now, 844-745-8255. You can also send us a text message.

The important part, though, is if you text is we still got to know why. Why are these your political priorities? When we come back, we're going to talk about the history of social movements. We're going to talk about the history of the evolution of these political parties and music, and we're going to hear some of your choices.

I'm Kai Wright. This is Notes From America. I'm joined by Chris Willman, who is Variety's senior music writer and chief music critic, and Noriko Manabe, professor and chair of music theory at Indiana University. We'll be right back.

[MUSIC - Beyoncé: Freedom]

Tryna rain, tryna rain on the thunder

Tell the storm I'm new

I'm a wall, come and march on the regular

Painting white flags blueLord forgive me, I've been running

Running blind in truth

Kelly: Hi, my name is Kelly and I'm calling from Baskerville, California. What song gets me through politics in this current political era that we're in? I always turn back the Andra Day's Rise Up. It gives me inspiration, especially when doors are being closed and when it doesn't look like there is a tomorrow. Rise Up gives me joyous. Thank you.

[MUSIC - Andra Day: Rise Up]

And I'll rise up

High like the waves

I'll rise up

In spite of the ache

I'll rise up

And I'll do it a thousand times again

For you--

Kai Wright: It’s Notes From America. I'm Kai Wright, and shout out to our new listeners at KCUR in Kansas City and wBOI in northeast Indiana. My Hoosiers there, glad to have you in the community. You're listening to a work in progress. It's our annual Notes From America summer playlist. Each summer, we crowdsource a Spotify playlist with your submissions based on a prompt. In this wild election year, we're asking you for songs that represent your political identity or political priorities. Let's start getting some submissions going. Let's go to Claire. Claire, welcome to the show.

Claire: Hi. Thank you.

Kai Wright: What's your submission?

Claire: My submission is Put a Woman in Charge, the Keb' Mo' version from Playing for Change.

Kai Wright: It might be selfish, but nonetheless, I'm going to ask you to explain a little.

Claire: I have a family member who is arguing with me about Kamala Harris because he said the only thing going for her is that she's a woman. My response to that was "Exactly."

Kai Wright: [chuckles]

Claire: It's a piece of music that I think speaks to a lot of people right now. I have been following the Playing for Change group for a while, which I love, because it always amazes me that they can do that artistically and technologically, but I think it's a great song for the times.

Kai Wright: Thank you for that, Claire. Let's go to Joe in North Carolina. Joe, welcome to the show.

Joe: Oh, thank you, Kai. Great to talk to you.

Kai Wright: You as well. What's your submission?

Joe: My pick is Tim McGraw, a song called Humble and Kind, and I think it sums up everything that should be thought about.

Kai Wright: That we ought to just be more humble and kind. Okay, thank you for that, Joe. Let's go to Marie in Cleveland. Marie, welcome to the show.

Marie: Hey, thank you. I'm a moderate. I'm the girl on the fence, and I just feel like things are really crazy right now, and there's just so much extreme going on. My song that just flashed into my head when you brought up the question is Stuck in the Middle With You by the Stealers Wheel, because I just do feel like clowns to the left, jokers to the right. It's not a personal attack on anybody. It's just chaos left and right, and there's nobody reasonable. It seems like nobody's just being reasonable. That's how I'm feeling right now.

Kai Wright: Thank you very much, Marie. A text from Rachel says she's going with Don't Stop Thinking About Tomorrow by Fleetwood Mac. She writes that it was the Democratic Party's theme song in 1992, and how I see where politics should be, to not stop thinking about tomorrow.

Let me just tick off some of the stuff that we've heard. We've got Respect by Aretha Franklin, Monster by Steppenwolf, The Apolitical Blues by Little Feet, It's Over by the Karen Kool Band, and War by the Temptations. War. What is it good for? Absolutely nothing. All right, so that's some of what we've been hearing from you.

I am joined by Chris Willman, who is Variety's senior music writer and chief music critic, and also by Noriko Manabe, who is professor and chair of music theory at Indiana University. She's author of the book The Revolution Will Not Be Televised: Protest Music After Fukushima.

Noriko, your research focuses on the link explicitly between music and social movements. You came to that work through observing it in practice. As I understand it, that's a story that takes us to Japan. You were in Japan witnessing anti-nuclear protests and activism, but as the title of your book says, the revolution was quite literally not being televised. Tell us about what activists and artists did to take matters in their own hands in that moment.

Noriko Manabe: Okay, so I had originally gone to Japan in 2011, 2012 to write a book about Japanese hip hop. Some of the contacts that I had, like ECD and Rankine Taxi, have become quite embedded in the anti-nuclear movement that grew after the Fukushima nuclear accident of 2011. I started to follow the movement because of them. Then I realized that, as the title of my book says, what was happening was that, because the nuclear power industry had been pretty heavy advertisers and there were all these vested interests in the nuclear power industry, bad news about nuclear power had typically not entered mainstream media.

Just to give you an extreme example, starting in around April 2012, there started to be weekly protest. Every Friday at 6:00 p.m. There would be a protest in front of what is the Japanese equivalent of the White House, where the prime minister lives. These protests grew to be about 200,000. They were hardly covered in mainstream media, even though the so-called press club office was very close to where that protest was taking place. In other examples, I saw big protests that occurred in a park where NHK, which is the national broadcaster, was located, and those would not get on NHK.

What was happening was that the revolution or these protests were certainly not getting televised or being given any media coverage. A lot of musicians were also afraid to speak out about nuclear power, but Ryuichi Sakamoto, who passed away last year, organized a number of events called the No Nukes concerts, where he would bring people together to talk about their views and have the audience actually engage in some of the rhetoric that was being thrown about, about nuclear power, as well as entertain people with good music.

A number of folks actually released anti-nuclear songs, some of them anonymously, a lot of times on the Internet, not to make money out of them, but these helped to start the dialogue about nuclear power in a more constructive fashion.

Kai Wright: The songs became the memes of today to pass the ideas along. That's really cool. As I understand it, the anthem for this movement became Gil Scott-Heron's 1971 song, the revolution will not be televised. Here's a little hint of that.

[MUSIC - Gil Scott-Heron: The Revolution Will Not Be Televised]

The revolution will not be televised

The revolution will not be brought to you

By Xerox in four parts without commercial interruptions

The revolution will not show you pictures of Nixon blowing a bugle

And leading a charge by John Mitchell, General Abrams, and Spiro Agnew

To eat hog maws confiscated from a Harlem sanctuary

The revolution will not be televised

Kai Wright: I love this, Gil Scott-Heron's song was translated to Japanese. Let's take a little listen to that.

[MUSIC - Japanese version: The Revolution Will Not Be Televised]

Kai Wright: That is great. Noriko, you wrote in your book that you said music has served as an important means of communication for people with few options. Just quickly, what do you mean by that? You've given the example here, but just movements throughout history, music has been a form of communication.

Noriko Manabe: Yes. It's often a very important way of building solidarity and identity. For example, social movements need to have some shared identity and shared sense of purpose. There needs to be a framing process as to how one views a certain group of facts, for example. That's why I think Freedom, for example, is a great way of framing the current situation politically for Kamala Harris, because she's reframing the idea of freedom.

Music, because it's often repeated, not read, has some emotional valence that can help to repeat a particular idea until it is actually memorized. It also helps to bring people together. It also helps to keep people going when things get bad. You have to keep them going during the really bad times of a social movement, because most things come in waves, as you know.

Kai Wright: Yes, yes, yes. As with the Civil Rights Movement, we know the music of the Civil Rights Movement was so important. Just a few weeks ago, we lost Bernice Johnson Reagon, who, of course, created Sweet Honey and the Rock and Freedom Singers for SNCC. A lot of people are still mourning her loss, but that's a great example.

Let's get back to some submissions from our listeners here for our playlist. Maybe we'll get some that are about movement-making as well. Let's go to Leo from Queens. Leo, welcome to show.

Leo: Hey, it's Leo from the sunny side of sunny side. A little real-time fact checking. The Temptations recorded War first, but Edwin Star definitely had the hit. Vice President Harris, the other night said, "No more Okey doke." That's my theme today, a song by the Meters called No More Okey-Doke.

Kai Wright: No More Okey-Doke. I know it.

Leo: They start on 1977. The Meters, the great instrumental group from New Orleans. The vice president's message was, don't get hoodwinked, won't get fooled again, no more okey doke. Everyone check out the Meters No More Okey-Doke.

Kai Wright: Okay. Will do. Thank you, Leo. Let's go to John from Houston. John, welcome to the show.

John: Yes, hi there. The song I wanted to talk about was a song called Sick by a band called Ceremony. Essentially what he's talking about is how sick he is of just life. He says in that song, I'm sick of liberals and I'm sick of conservatives. That's exactly how I feel. I'm sick of the American political system, just in general.

Kai Wright: Okay. Another vote for I feel stuck in the middle, and I'm tired of all of y'all. Thank you for that, John. Another John from Dallas. John, number two. Welcome to the show.

John 2: Hi, how are you? I'm happy to be here. My song is Which Side Are You On? it's a song by Florence Reese. I was introduced to it as performed by Pete Seeger, but it's also been done by the Weavers and Billy Bragg. The background is in the United mine workers of a strike in Harlan County, Kentucky, in the 1930s.

It really speaks to me because it talks about a fundamental divide between a worker consciousness in this country versus that of the captains of industry. I don't necessarily see that as a Republican or Democratic dividend, but more as, like a political and economic divide in this country. I think that it's very relevant right now.

Kai Wright: Thank you for that, John. Chris, how often have campaigns chosen songs that make a specific ideological statement? That's what John's call made me think about. How often are they really saying something?

Chris Willman: I think that's fairly rare. In fact, there's more of a history of campaigns sending out the wrong message. [laughter] Almost any song you could look at that's been adopted by a political campaign in recent years has questionable sentiments in it, whether it's just this past week, the writers of My Heart Will Go On the Celine Dion song, were threatening to sue Trump for using that song. It's a song about people dying and a ship coming down. The lyrics tend not to be that important in modern political campaign music.

Even Don't Stop, which came up earlier, the Fleetwood Mac song is a song about two people in the band breaking up and says, I never meant any harm to you. I never meant any harm to you is not a great political statement, but we just hear the chorus and not the version in full.

Kai Wright: That's what Bill Clinton wanted to say to Al Gore, apparently, in 1992.

Chris Willman: There you go. Yes. Yes, ideological statements. Even with Freedom, I'll be surprised if Kamala-- It's a great song because of what people who are hip to it understand about the background of the song and all the ways it's been used, but I would bet that on the campaign trails, she's just going to want you to hear the chorus and not emphasize the Kendrick Lamar rap in the middle of it.

Kai Wright: Not emphasize the Kendrick part. I remember that. I mentioned, Norika, the Bernice Johnson-Reagon and the Civil Rights Movement earlier, and that history. Quickly, what did Bernice Johnson-Reagon mean to music and politics? she just, to me, is a name that jumps right to the top of the list when I think about that history.

Noriko Manabe: Well, as we know, she was a member of the student nonviolent coordinating committee during the Civil Rights Movement. She was a founding member of the Freedom Singers, along with Cordell Reagan. She was one of the proponents of using music as this unifier against mob and police violence.

They would perform the freedom songs at mass meetings and marches and sit ins, which were all activities that were trying to disrupt segregation and therefore were quite conducive to singing. They were also sung in ways that would confront the police, like during jail time or in rallies, and then, quite famously, at the steps of the Lincoln memorial.

It showed how music could be used for multiple functions, like easing tensions or strengthening community bonds or signaling the nature of collective action taking place. It came from this old tradition of the Black Church, of folk music, of some popular music, and from a community that was well practiced in adapting songs for present circumstances, using the so-called zipper technique of songs where you just switch in a word or two to make it pertinent to that particular day.

Kai Wright: The zipper technique, I've not heard that phrase before. Was that coined by the Civil Rights Movement, or is that.

Noriko Manabe: I don't know where the actual term comes from, but it's something that is often used. For example, the Reverend William Barber uses it a lot when he's leading his marches. He'll often sing somethings like, I'm not going to let nobody turn me around, and nobody would be replaced with President during Trump's era, or the legislature or government or whoever was being bad that day.

Kai Wright: I'm Kai Wright. This is Notes From America, and we are making a playlist. We are taking your submissions to our annual summer playlist. Each summer, we build a Spotify list from your submissions based on a prompt. This year we want to know what song represents your political identity or political priorities right now. Call or text with your submissions. 844-745-8255. We'll be right back.

Regina: Hi, I'm Regina, a producer here at Notes From America with Kai Wright. I know, I know you're loving this episode. I promise I wont hold you long, but I have to ask have you seen what were up to on Instagram? That’s where we pose questions to you that help shape the conversations that we have on this podcast. Plus, it’s a great way to keep up with the show. Follow @noteswithkai on Instagram. That’s @notewithkai and well talk to you there. Thanks for listening.

Colton: Hi, my name is Colton. I'm from Helena, Montana, and I just wanted to share a song for the 2024 political playlist. The song I want to share is called Those Anarcho Punks Are Mysterious by the band Against Me.

[MUSIC - Against Me: Those Anarcho Punks Are Mysterious]

We're all cops

In waiting

We're the workers of the world

There is the elite and the dispossessed

And it's--

Colton: It does a lot to expose how easy it is to draw these us versus them lines, and then how quickly that can tend towards thoughts about violence and war.

[MUSIC - Against Me: Those Anarcho Punks Are Mysterious]

Because it's us against them

We found our own reasons to sing

And it's so much less confusing

When lines are drawn like that

When people are either--

Colton: That certainly is something that we're seeing very directly from the right. I recently moved back to the US and this has been a thing that's on my mind a lot watching from abroad into this country. Yes, I knew this was going to be a crazy year. It is way more crazy than I could have imagined, but songs like this, even though they were written 20 years ago, feel very relevant and definitely helped me process and cope with the political reality of now. Thank you for letting me have this opportunity to share. Take care.

Kai Wright: It's Notes From America. I'm Kai Wright, and we are building our annual Notes From America summer playlist. Each summer, we crowdsource a Spotify playlist from your submissions based on a prompt. This summer, we're asking you for songs that represent your political identity or political priorities. You can find a link to the playlist itself right now in our Instagram bio. Our handle is @noteswithkai. I've been speaking with Chris Willman, who is Variety senior music writer and chief music critic, and also with Noriko Manabe, who is professor and chair of music theory at Indiana University. Let's try to get in a few more submissions. Let's go to Jonathan in New York. Jonathan, welcome to the show.

Jonathan: Hi. Thank you. I'm blind, so I can't actually read the CD case to a CD that someone gave me, but I love it. I'm not sure if it's the name of the band or the name of the album, but it's called WookieFoot, and the entire album seems to have a similar theme. I guess if I had to pick one song in particular, I think it might be called Wash Your Brain.

The general message, I guess it's about not falling for the red meat and divisions and hot-button issues that people push at us to try to divide us. A republic really depends on unity and open communication. Not that we're all going to agree, but we all agree that we're part of America, and we do agree on far more than we disagree. I don't know of anyone who thinks that corporations should have unlimited right to pollute our air and water. Generally, people help each other after natural disasters. People care about poverty. People care about [crossstalk]--

Kai Wright: Jonathan, I'm just going to stop you there just for time. I'm going to stop you there, but thank you for that. Jonathan. Let's go to Lucinda in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. Lucinda, welcome to the show.

Lucinda: Thank you. My choice would be Jimi Hendrix All Along the Watchtower. It's a powerful song, and the hour is getting late.

Kai Wright: Okay, thank you, Lucinda. Let's go to David, also in Minnesota. David, welcome to the show.

David: Yes, I live in Tim Walls old district.

Kai Wright: Okay.

David: The song that I think of often is an early Billy Joel song called Angry Young Man. It starts out, "There's a place in the world for the angry young man with his fist in the air and his head in the sand." I think of that because so often, I've been long active in Democratic politics. I saw in 2000, where people voted for Ralph Nader, and it likely cost Gore the election. People voted for Jill Stein in 2016 or stayed home because they found something they didn't like in Hillary Clinton. We had to put up with Trump, court picks and so on.

Sometimes people won't vote for a good candidate because of a few relatively minor things compared to the big picture. That always bothers me, and it's something we battle all the time. I'm sure the Republicans would say the same, too.

Kai Wright: Thank you for that. David, I got to stop you just for time. We've got a couple of minutes left, Chris and Noriko, and I want to be able to get your input as well. Noriko, I know in a conversation with our producer, you mentioned the song We Belong '21. That feels very relevant right now. In about 30, 40 seconds. Can you tell us about that song?

Noriko Manabe: Yes, it is a song that was written in the wake of anti AAPI violence that happened during COVID because somebody decided to call COVID the China virus. It really speaks to me because the chorus is taken from a song called Asian Song by Chris Ijima, who is one of the most important early Asian American songwriters from the 1970s. The song is written by a New York-based hip hop group called Magnetic North & Taiyo Na . The chorus goes, "We're getting tired of proving we belong." It talks about the continuous exclusion of Asian Americans into the fabric of American life and how we're always considered to be perpetual foreigners. The chorus really kicks. That is my vote for it for the playlist.

Kai Wright: Chris, really quick, really quick. What song you want to put in?

Chris Willman: I'm hoping that somebody digs up. JD Vance is used as his theme song, this Merle Haggard song, America First.

Kai Wright: America First.

Chris Willman: Yes. I interviewed Merle Haggard about that song and history.

Kai Wright: I got to stop you there. Chris Willman is Variety's senior music writer and chief music critic. Noriko Manabe is professor and chair of music theory at Indiana University. Thanks to you both.

Listeners, you can find a link to the 2024 Notes From America summer playlist in our Instagram bio. Our handle is @noteswithkai. Check it out, see what's already there. Your submissions from this hour will be added shortly, and do keep them coming. We'll be updating the playlist with your submissions for the rest of the summer, so leave a voicemail at 844-745-8255, or send a voice memo to notes@nyc.org.

Notes From America is a production of WNYC Studios. This episode was produced by Regina de Heer, theme music and mixing by Jared Paul, with help this week from Mike Kutchman. Matthew Mirando is our live engineer. Our team also includes Katarina Barton, Karen Frillman, Suzanne Gaber, Varshita Korrapati, Siona Petros, and Lindsey Foster Thomas. I am Kai Wright. Thanks for spending time with us.

 

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