The Songs of Sarah

When Sarah Palin was picked to be John McCain's running mate, it was obvious which song should be played at her rallies: Heart's "Barracuda." After a few days, though, Heart asked the campaign to cease and desist.

So at the Home Depot Center on Saturday, Palin took the stage to AC/DC's "Thunderstruck." It's a classic pump-up-the-crowd song and its lyrics are borderline-indecipherable. So far so good.

But who picked this song to keep the crowd entertained while they were waiting for the governor to speak?


The song is "Ain't No Reason" (2006) by Brett Dennen. It includes the line "Politicians lie and I am not fooled," which would make sense at a Palin rally only if you think he's referring to Barack Obama. The rest of the song makes that interpretation seem unlikely:

Keep on building prisons, gonna fill them all
Keep building bombs, gonna drop them all

There ain't no reason things are this way
It's how they always been and they intend to stay

In case the mordant irony of those lines was not clear, the video (above) includes images of a military veteran with an amputated leg and a shackled detainee in an orange jumpsuit. It's a protest song.

Was there no other track in the collection? Where was "Raisin' McCain"?