Orleans Not Ones for Bush
The Bush-Cheney campaign has agreed to stop playing Orleans’ 1976
hit “Still the One” at its rallies after the band’s frontman John
Hall objected today.
“I was watching TV last night, and I saw the coverage of the
campaign in Ohio and they said, ‘Here’s the new campaign song,’ and
all of a sudden our voices came out of the speakers,” says Hall,
who lives in upstate New York. “It was a shock. My wife and I were
looking at each other with our mouth’s hanging open.”
Hall wrote the song with his former wife, Johanna, and says that
they and BMI own the publishing, while Orleans own the performance
copyright, and that the Bush campaign didn’t have permission for
either. A former county legislator and school board president, Hall
said he is “enthusiastically urging people to vote for John
Kerry.”
“I certainly hope there would be an apology coming from
somewhere,” Hall says. “It’s an unauthorized use of a
double-copyrighted work. But more important to me is to get the
knowledge out to the public, our fans and friends that we did not
collaborate in this and we are not supporting the re-election of
the President.”
For Hall and Orleans, who formed in New York in 1972 and still
play together, there are financial implications as well as
ideological ones. “The song has been the biggest component of our
income for the last twenty-eight years,” Hall says. “It’s been
licensed by ABC-TV, Burger King and this summer it was used by
Applebee’s for a couple months. This election has been so divisive
and mean-spirited, I’m afraid if the song is associated with the
re-election campaign, advertisers will steer clear for some
time.”
Ironically, the band passed on an offer two weeks ago to play a
Republican fundraiser in Maryland. “It’s not because we couldn’t
use the ten grand — we’re working musicians — but we would have
made a statement by showing up and letting our music be used for
that purpose,” says Hall. “And it’s the same thing here — we don’t
agree with that statement.”
Calls to the Bush-Cheney campaign were not returned by press
time.