by Jason George

My story about music on the campaign trail in today's Chicago Tribune...

DES MOINES

There are few things Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton and Mitt Romney agree on, but they all believe "You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet."

Attend any of these candidates' countless campaign stops here, and you'll most likely hear that Bachman-Turner Overdrive classic on the speakers before they take the stage. And as someone who has sat through these events numerous times -- b-b-b-baby, it gets old.

That song is just one out of more than 50 the candidates are playing this political season as they enter or exit the stage or while the crowds await their arrival. Just like the American flags, the campaign signs and cheering supporters that fill these everyday events in early-primary states, the music acts as a prop, sending a message and meaning.

But just what message and meaning is that?

We asked a couple of professors of musicology -- Robert Fink at the University of California, Los Angeles, and Phil Ford at Indiana University -- to weigh in on the primary-ready playlists we received from seven campaigns.

The other candidates either didn't respond (such as Rudy Guiliani or Dennis Kucinich), or they don't regularly use the same songs or music at all (Mike Huckabee, Duncan Hunter and Mike Gravel).

Here's what the music experts thought this year's song selections say about each of the candidates:

Sen. John Edwards (D)

Songs: "Your Life Is Now" (John Mellencamp), "Land of Hope and Dreams" (Bruce Springsteen), "A Change Would Do You Good" (Sheryl Crow).

Analysis: "White working-class signifiers abound." -- Ford.

"It is the sound of prairie populism; the songs don't move fast, and they use either simple folk chord progressions or the blues to give a sense of unpretentious honesty and 'realness.'" -- Fink.

Gov. Mitt Romney (R)

Songs: "A Little Less Conversation" (Elvis Presley, remix version), "Beautiful Day" (U2), "I'm Free" (The Rolling Stones/Fatboy Slim remix version), "Don't Stop Believing" (Journey).

Analysis: "My first thought is this: The closer you get to the front of the pack, the less there's specificity on policy positions. Romney and Clinton could trade their lists, and the 'message' components would be basically the same -- hope, getting stuff done, etc." -- Ford

"The effect [of the U2 song] is uniformly reported to be exhilarating, and you can see how a song that relies for its feeling on the simultaneous sensation of fast-forward motion and slowly changing harmonic scenery -- old and new at the same time, moving very fast, yet feeling safe and secure -- would appeal to candidates trying to appear both energetic forces for change and reassuring figures of stability." -- Fink

Rep. Ron Paul (R)

Song: "Hope for America" (written specifically about Paul by a supporter and musician named Steve Dorr)

Analysis: "It seems that there is a significant population reliving the 1960s, turned on by Paul's unequivocal anti-war stance, and writing folk ballads about him." -- Fink

Sen. Chris Dodd (D)

Songs: "You Get What You Give" (New Radicals), "Get Ready" (The Temptations)

Analysis: "The New Radicals song was in the movie 'Surf's Up' -- and comes from an album called 'Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Too'!; the lyrics are nice, and the title fits a campaign being run on the cheap." -- Fink

Sen. Hillary Clinton (D)

Songs: "Ready to Run" (Dixie Chicks), "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic" (Police), "Suddenly I See" (KT Tunstall), "Who Says You Can't Go Home" (Bon Jovi with Jennifer Nettles)

Analysis: "Clinton has a lot of songs that, in this context, seem to underscore her gender." -- Ford

Sen. Barack Obama (D)

Songs: "Hold on, I'm Comin'" Sam & Dave), "I'll Take You There" (The Staples Singers), "City of Blinding Light" (U2), "Signed, Sealed, Delivered" (Stevie Wonder)

Analysis: "Clustered around The Staples Singers track, which is a bona-fide civil rights song from the 1960s, are a playlist of "uplifting" soul songs from the 1960s and early 1970s that give the flavor of that era, when black and white liberals were unified by their love of soul music and their support for integration and civil rights. It is an interesting irony that the youngest candidate should have the oldest music." -- Fink

Sen. Joe Biden (D)

Songs: "Centerfield" (John Fogerty), "Takin' Care of Business" (Bachman-Turner Overdrive), "I Won't Back Down" (Tom Petty)

Analysis: "These kinds of songs are supposed to pump up the crowd, make people feel like they're a part of a community, and a lot of the songs would work just as well for a sports event." -- Ford

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