As the 2008 Presidential election season approaches, reflection on past elections is natural.  At the same time, loading up my new iPod with tons of stuff from my collection and shuffling the 3500+ songs brought me to a song that immediately took me back to the 1988 election in a number of ways.

In the summer of 1988 Bobby McFerrin released a CD called ‘Simple Pleasures’.  McFerrin was already a major star in the jazz world due to his talent and innovation and also the way he injected fun into everything he sang.  I had heard about him and bought his second album ‘The Voice’ when it came out in 1984 and was hooked.  Here was one person who could range from soprano to bass, keeping rhythm by slapping his chest and making sounds in a way that mimicked a full drum kit.  The recording came from a live show and was amazing in that these were fully realized works performed acapella by a single person with no overdubs or other tricks.  The following year ‘Spontaneous Inventions’ brought more of the same, but by then his stature had grown to the point that he was joined by artists on different tracks including Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, The Manhatten Transfer, Jon Hendricks and Robin Williams.  Yes, THAT Robin Williams!  Of course there were some great acapella tracks as well.

But Simple Pleasures marked a breakthrough for McFerrin.  He had won a half-dozen Grammy Awards the previous three years for his work in various areas, and while his first three records were all top-5 on the jazz charts, Spontaneous Inventions nearly cracked the Billboard Top 100 in 1986.  He was beginning to gain considerable mainstream notice, which was certainly helped by Bill Cosby tapping him for the theme song for the uber-popular Cosby Show.

Simple Pleasures is an interesting album in several ways: first, it is quite short at 33 minutes.  Also, for this record McFerrin actually used overdubbed layers of his voice to create fully realized harmonies.  Finally, this record took off like a rocket and hit #5 on the Billboard Album charts and #1 on the Singles charts.  It was further remarkable as the first #1 acapalla song, despite famous groups like Lambert, Hendricks & Ross in the 50’s.

But of course the song became entwined with the Bush campaign just as Bruce Springsteen’s Born in the USA became part of Ronald Reagan’s 1984 re-election bid.  In both cases the artists were Democrats who hadn’t been consulted about the use of their material, but in McFerrin’s case he actually got the song taken off of Bush’s campaign playlist … albeit too late to stop the association.

So let’s take a look at all of the songs from the record:

1. Don’t Worry, Be Happy – one of the simplest, yet most misinterpreted songs of all time – not in the least bit aided by the Republican Party co-opting the song without permission!  People took it completely out of context, as stated here “Never mind that the joyful song, much like Sly Stone’s Hot Fun in the Summertime, is a sarcastic and satirical celebration, contrasting a mindlessly positive outlook with bleak circumstances and context. Sure, the chorus everybody remembers from McFerrin’s hit encourage smiling above all else, but if you take a look the verses mostly refer to traumatic events like eviction that reveal a dire economic crisis.”
2. All I Want – there was a guy in college whose girlfriend had nicknamed ‘pooh’, and so when I would visit my best friend in Connecticut at his new place (I was still living in my parent’s house then) we would sing along with the CD (I had gotten him into Bobby Mcferrin) … and instead of ‘All I want is You’ we would sing ‘All I want is Pooh’.  We thought we were hilarious.  His wife thought we were idiots.  When I told my wife (we were friends but didn’t start dating until the following year) she agreed with his wife.
3. Drive My Car – yes, the Lennon & McCartney classic is here.  It has a nice fresh and funky feel that makes it thoroughly modern while also capturing the classic Beatles feel.
4. Simple Pleasures – there was a lot of stuff going on in the world in the late 80’s, so it is nice to have these refreshing songs telling us to stop worrying about things outside of our sphere of influence and start focusing on the small things we do have to be happy about.  Timeless good advice, set to a catchy little tune.
5. Good Lovin’ – crazy stereo effects and Bobby voices everywhere drive this fun and frantic cover of the Rascal’s 60’s hit.  And the contrast of his high notes at the ending with the running bass line is a stunning reminder of the immense talent of this performer.
6. Come to Me – this is a bit of an oddity, feeling like it mixes some of the spirituality that has always been present in Bobby’s music with a tune and vocal feel that could have been done by Prince during his ‘Kiss’ era.
7. Suzie Q – the CCR classic that I always associate with Apocolypse Now seems a strange choice for inclusion in a very upbeat CD like this, yet it works … because of Bobby.  Before the first word he has such a complex of layers established that you can’t help but be carried by the tune in spite of yourself.  It reminds you that it is just another song of lust and unrequited attention by a boy for a beautiful woman.
8. Drive – ultimately just a catchy blues song, but with a deceptively complex structure in place.  It feels like a cover that has been modernized, yet it is an original.  It brings together his soul, blues and jazz roots with a pop sensibility.  And the way he sets up such a driving rhythm without an actual drummer is simply astonishing.
9. Them Changes – digging back once again, this time to Buddy Miles for an inspired ‘instrumental’ outing.  It is a wonderful jam session that is a fitting tribute to a landmark drummer and great contributor to the turbulent times of the late 60’s and early 70’s.  A side note, Buddy Miles, who was also the voice behind the California Grapes, died earlier this year.
10. Sunshine of Your Love – the sound of Bobby’s distorted voice wailing out of the end of the song a la Clapton’s best stuff is worth the price of admission!  This captures as well as anything else the spectacular talent that many of us had been proclaiming for years.  The whole band is captured here, with greater harmonic depth than the original, and … dare I say it, Clapton isn’t missed for a second.  Yes I dare, because Mcferrin is a better guitarist than Clapton, a better bassist and vocalist than Jack Bruce, and a better drummer than Ginger Baker … and all at once.

Another interesting thing about the meteoric success of the record is the image of McFerrin as a ‘one hit wonder’.  His return to the relative obscurity of being just a jazz star (his next CD, Medicine Music, was quite well done if coolly received and definitely not made for mainstream success) prompted some to postulate his suicide!  Far from true, it is obvious that McFerrin didn’t relish the pop star life, and made efforts to work in creative areas away from the limelight.  So he worked on fostering more acapella groups as well as having a number of prominant posts as orchestra leader, including a nice stand as Creative Chair of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra.  He has done jazz and classical recording work throughout – his duets with Chick Corea and Yo Yo Ma are some of his most critically praised work.  But, speaking from experience, there is just nothing that compares with seeing Bobby McFerrin alone on stage with a microphone.

Well, since I jumped into the ‘Year in Review’ fray by mentioning the unapproved use of ‘Don’t Worry Be Happy’ by George Bush in the ’88 election, why not take a trip in the way-back machine and look at some other stuff from that year.

Some other stuff that happened in 1988:

• CDs outsell vinyl for the first time ever.
• The USSR pulls out of Afghanistan.
• Jimmy Swaggart sets the standard for religious leaders being whoring hypocrites.
• Pan Am Flight 103 explodes over Lockerbie, Scotland
• Canadian Ben Johnson caught using steroids at the Seoul Olympics after setting world record.
• Prozac is introduced.
• Sonny Bono elected Mayor of Palm Springs
• Mike Tyson starts to unravel … his short marriage to Robin Givens ends in a sea of violence and recriminations.
• Benazir Bhutto becomes the first woman to head an Islamic nation
• Iran-Iraqi war ends in August – with an estimated 1 million lives lost.
• The ‘Iran Contra Affair’ heats up: Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North and Vice Admiral John Poindexter are indicted on charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States.
• Surgeon General C. Everett Koop stirs up controversy in a report that states that the addictive properties of nicotine are similar to those of heroin and cocaine.
• Wayne Gretzky is traded from the Edmonton Oilers to the Los Angeles Kings in one of the most controversial transactions in hockey history.
• NASA resumes space shuttle flights, which had been grounded after the Challenger disaster
• Beginning of the end: the Supreme Soviet of the Estonian SSR declares that Estonia is “sovereign” but stops short of declaring independence
• Leveraged buyouts get REALLY big – Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. buys RJR Nabisco for US$25.07 billion.
• End of the K: the last Dodge Aries and Plymouth Reliant roll off the assembly line in a Chrysler factory.
• Legal homophobia: Section 28 (outlawing promotion of homosexuality in schools) is passed as law by Parliament in the United Kingdom.
• Burt Reynolds and Loni Anderson were married and were that era’s ‘Brangelina’ … without the stupid media-created name, of course.

And what about from the political trail that year?

• Quote of the year: “Senator, I knew Jack Kennedy. I served with Jack Kennedy. Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you’re no Jack Kennedy.”
• Quote of the year runner-up: “Read my lips … no new taxes”.
• Picture of the year: Dukakis in the tank.
• Quote of the year sentimental pick: from Bob ‘Shakes’ Cabral, who worked at Bradlees department store part time and during vacations during college: “I’ve had enough of Dukakis doing kakas on our state and don’t want him doing kakas on the country!”.
• Gary Hart fails the ‘Bill Clinton test’ … his affairs and behavior bring his presidential bid to a tarnished end.
• Willie Horton ads during the ’88 election are part of a massively negative campaign by the Republicans … and a clueless one by Dukakis and the Democrats.
• Dukakis had been good ‘n’ dirty earlier, getting Joe Biden clouded in a web of plagiarism that was later shown to be baseless … but much too late for Biden.
• Super Tuesday for the Democrats: Dukakis wins six states, Al Gore and Jesse Jackson win five each, and Dick Gephart wins one.  Gephart had been subject of negative attacks after being the presumed front-runner after Hart dropped out.
• Jesse Jackson stayed in the race until the convention, and claimed his second-place finish entitled him to the vice-presidential spot.
• In concert in early 1988, Frank Zappa had spots to dress-down each of the candidates from both political parties.
• On the Republican side, it was largely Bush versus Bob Dole.  Jack Kemp was in the race for a while but ever much of a contender.
• Surprisingly, Bush came in 3rd place in Iowa, and seemed to be losing in New Hampshire before lodging nasty attacks on Bob Dole, whose response looked to votes to be ‘crying no-fairsies’.
• Bush labelled Dukakis as a ‘card carrying member of the ACLU’, which was a quote from Dukakis himself, and succeeded in painting him as an out of touch liberal opposed to the Pledge of Allegiance.
• Dukakis tried to fight the implication of ‘liberal’ as a negative … and failed.
• Past as future – John McCain on Dan Quayle: “I can’t believe a guy that handsome wouldn’t have some impact.”
• Crime played a huge role, with the Willie Horton campaign indicting that the rampant urban crime problem would come to the suburbs under Dukakis – it worked, Bush won traditionally Democratic suburbs.
• Although the vote total was ~53 – 46%, Bush carried 40 states and won 426 electoral votes!

Well, so much for that trip back to the future!  It is always fun to look back through the decades – and I have enjoyed relistening to Simple Pleasures several times along the way!  Do you have any memories of 1988 or Don’t Worry, Be Happy to share?

Tags: Misc