“Vote!” – An Accidental Hit Song

post no. 5

At the People’s Music Network Winter Gathering in 2004, in Andover, Massachusetts, only three months after we first met, Pete Seeger shared many pearls of wisdom with me.  One of them is kind of hard to put into words without seeing the gestures Pete made.  But it goes something like this:

“The height of a pyramid is equal to the length of its base….”  Now, being a math major I know that isn’t always true, but I listened as he continued.  “… So if you write this many songs,” he said holding his right thumb and right index finger about two inches apart and horizontal to each other, “then you are bound to get one that is this good.”  He continued to hold the two fingers apart, but now held them vertically.

“But if you write this many songs,” he said now holding his hands about a foot and a half apart and parallel to each other (imagine the right thumb very close to the right shoulder and the left thumb very close to the left shoulder), “you are bound to get one that is this good.”  He continued to hold his hands the same distance apart, but now vertically (imagine one hand near your navel and one near your chin).

The vast majority of the times Pete shared wisdom with me, he did not include a “moral to the story.”  Nor did he this time.  He did not say, “So write lots of songs.”  But that’s what I took him to mean.

Fortunately, I already had written hundreds of songs over the previous 21 years, and I have written hundreds more since then.  Some songs take years to write and they often turn out to be not so great.  But some fly out of the ethers lickety-split. 

3 Minutes to Write a 5 minute Song

I joke that my song “Vote!” is a five-minute song that took three minutes to write.  It was Election Night, 1992.  I was at a friend’s house watching the results trickle in before scooting off to run my weekly talent showcase, “The Spook Handy Show,” at the Corner Tavern in New Brunswick, New Jersey.  While driving from my friend’s house to the show, “Vote!” just popped out – chords, melody, and lyrics – in less time than it takes to sing it.  And in all the years since, I have only made one change.

Flop-Flopping Lyrics

There are a lot of lyrics in this song.  And for a long time, they were difficult to memorize.  In one of the verses, I originally described one bloc of voters as “tree-hugging, owl-loving pro-environmentalists.”  But one day, while rehearsing the song, I accidentally mixed up the words and sang “tree-loving, owl-hugging ….”  A light bulb the size of the moon snapped on over my head and I had a good chuckle.  Those instantly became the new words, and I have sung it that way ever since.

Destined for the Trash Heap

But I almost abandoned the song as soon as I wrote it. Not realizing that elections happen every year, and often more than once, I lamented that I had written a song with a shelf-life of one night.  But at that month’s meeting of the New Jersey Songwriters Circle, I presented the song because I didn’t have anything else I thought was worthy.  To my surprise, it was a big hit.  People told me it was a keeper.  A few even asked if they could cover it.  Little by little, over the years, the song gained more and more popularity.

Peter, Paul, and Pete

In 2001, I recorded “Vote!” on my second album “Breakfast at Bill’s”  A few weeks later, a friend told me about a “political songwriting contest” run by Noel “Paul” Stookey of Peter, Paul & Mary.  I sent my song in even though I insisted it’s not really a political song.  The next thing you know, I’m on a plane to Texas to play the song at the Kerrville Folk Festival.

In 2003, somebody sent Pete Seeger a copy of the song and he was “delighted” by it.  It was because of this song that Pete invited me to play at the Pumpkin Festival in October.  That’s where I first met and performed with Pete.

In 2008, the song reached no. 10 on the International Folk Radio Charts.  In 2010, it reached no. 6 on the same charts.  Then it reached No. 2 in 2018 and again in 2020. 

A Video

Here is a re-recording of the song I made with friends including Tom Paxton, Noel Stookey, Christine Lavin, Guy Davis, Dave Rimelis, Friction Farm, Dennis Warner, Carla Ulbrich, John McCutcheon, Tret Fury, Eric Lambert, Gregg Cagno, and many others.  I made sure to include a few big names and lots of local folks.  The video could not have come to life if not for the incredible loving input of Tom Florek.

Please Vote in this coming Election Day and help …

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