Surprise: Presidential Candidates May Have A Superficial View Of Their Campaign Songs’ True Meanings
Hillary Clinton has been using “American Girl” by Tom Petty at campaign rallies, but apparently whoever’s been picking out her music hasn’t really bothered to pay attention to the song’s lyrics past its first five words; as the Washington Post notes in a piece about inappropriate campaign songs, the song’s actually about the titular young lady’s dreams of romance being shattered. Witness:
It was kind of cold that night She stood alone on her balcony She could the cars roll by Out on 441 Like waves crashin in the beach And for one desperate moment there He crept back in her memory God its so painful Something thats so close And still so far out of reach
It’s not as much of a head-scratcher as John Edwards invoking the triple threat of Martin Luther King, Jr., Jesus, and Bono in the song that he uses to whip up crowds, but still, if Hillary loses the Democratic nomination by a handful of delegates, those last two lines are going to sting a little bit more than they probably should.
