K.C. Frogge: Music

• MP3 short clip, hi-fi play (broadband)
• MP3 short clip, lo-fi play (modem)

Inspiration hits at the strangest times, and these times are as strange as any!

I was recently selling my custom jewelry designs at Alameda's "Webster Street Jam" festival and, during a slow moment early in the day, took notice of a fun group of people signing up Democratic voters. These folks were a true cross-section: young... mature... seniors... blue collar, white collar, pink collar, no collar... men and women... sporty, geeky, execs, artists... Caucasian, African-American, Hispanic, Pacific Islander, Asian... you name it, it was one heck of a good mix. Close-by was a life-sized cardboard cutout of Barack Obama beckoning the masses to come by and sign up. Everyone was wearing "Alamedans for Obama" t-shirts, and even a life-sized cardboard cutout of G.H.W. Bush wearing an Obama t-shirt was getting attention. But something was missing, even though everyone was in a festive mood.

As I watched the group, they were bouncy, rhythmic and energetic in their enthusiasm for the message of change... and as most artists usually do, a bit of dyslexia set in as I kept looking at the "Obama '08" logo... then it became "'08 Obama," etc... a classic dance tune popped into my head as I replayed the "'08 Obama" in my head... "OMG, that's IT!" I thought... and the rest was up to creativity and fate.

I went up to the group at the tables, and as they acknowledged me, I said, "To REALLY get things popping, I've got a chant to teach you." "Let's hear it," they replied.

I asked them if they were familiar with the Gloria Estefan & Miami Sound Machine's hit song "Rhythm Is Gonna Get You," and many said YES.

"Okay," I said, "here's the chant... "08, '08"... and asked them to repeat it back... which they did. And then, "'08, Obama"... and repeat it they did. We spent the next 60 seconds tightening it up and getting a second melodic harmony out of it... and within a few moments, the whole table and a dozen people were excitedly chanting the words and getting louder and more harmonious. I smiled and went back to my booth, knowing they had something to make some noise about.

All through the day, I kept hearing that chant wafting its way through the air, and at some times there were as many as 25-30 people gathered around the table chanting it over and over. And they registered a BUNCH of new voters that day. I smiled again, knowing that sometimes, creativity can help nudge a cause closer to its goal through cohesive harmony and just having fun.

The next morning, as we re-set up our booth for the Sunday festival date, the organizer came over and said he had that song stuck in his head when he went to bed. He asked me, "I wonder if we could write a verse to go along with that?" My answer? "I think I can do that."

After we put everything away at the end of the day, I thought a lot about that idea... and that Sunday night, began planting the seeds by listening to the original song and jotting down some ideas as to themes to touch on that perhaps a new and idea-oriented administration could get some traction in, which ended up being: (1) home foreclosures, (2) outsourcing of American jobs, (3) regaining our domestic civil liberties, and (4) unwillingness of the party in the White House now to accept responsibility for getting us into these dilemmas. On the next night, Monday (Sept. 15th), I had the song completed, and it made its public debut on Thursday, Sept. 18th, at the Third Thursday Women’s Talent Showcase at Montclair, with plenty of audience participation and lots of rhythm instruments keeping the pace... I think this is going to be a great song if we can get it out there for the Obama campaign in the next 47 days.

P.S. I did get it out there, and lots of people loved it! I hope in some small way, my creativity helped get Barack Obama elected... I hope so, it was great fun!

'08, '08... '08 Obama...
'08, '08... '08 Obama...
'08, '08... '08 Obama...
'08, '08... '08 Obama

Verse 1:

"No way," would you ever think some day
someone could take your home away, oh no,
but Obama is gonna help you.

Verse 2:

No pay, because your job's been shipped away...
but through your darkest day, oh yeah,
Obama is gonna help you.

Chorus:

Obama is gonna help you,
Obama is gonna help you,
Obama is gonna help you... (whooo!)
Obama is gonna help you... today.

Verse 3:

We... the people who are not so free
want our true democracy... restored,
and Obama is gonna help us.

Verse 4:

McCain... and what's-her-name won't take the blame,
and they sure don't feel your pain, oh no...
but Obama is gonna help you.

Chorus:

Obama is gonna help you,
Obama is gonna help you,
Obama is gonna help you... (whoooo!)
Obama is gonna help you... today.

CHANT:

'08, '08... (repeat)... '08 Obama (repeat)
'08, '08... (repeat)... '08 Obama (repeat)
'08, '08...

Rock the vote!
Rock the vote!
Rock the vote!

Obama is gonna help you,
Obama is gonna help you,
Obama is gonna help you... (whooo!)
Obama is gonna help you...
Obama is gonna help you,
Obama is gonna help you!

la-la-la-la-la...la-la-la-la,
la-la-la-la-la...la-la-la-la,

Obama is gonna help you,
Obama is gonna help you...

'08, '08... '08 Obama
'08, '08... '08 Obama.

Obama is gonna help you... today!