YOU MAY NOT GET TO HEAR MUCH WILCO MUSIC ON THE RADIO... UNLESS YOU HEAR SOME SHERROD BROWN CAMPAIGN ADS!

It always flips me out when self-important politicians think they can just steal songwriters' music and use it for their campaigns. Not surprisingly, while I was running Reprise Records it was always the Democratic politicians who would call up and ask if they could use our artists' music. Clinton/Gore were eager to use Fleetwood Mac's "Don't Stop Thinking About Tomorrow," but they were only going to do it with the band's blessing. Oddly enough, the political party that makes believe it stands for the sanctity of private property rights, the Republicans, never asked. They just used and hoped no one would complain. I remember when John Hall, who's iconic "Still The One," was stolen by Bush, did complain and told Bush to stop desecrating his song by playing it at his rallies. (I wish Hall would have done the same thing when Bush's favorite former Democrat, Joe Lieberman, in true GOP tradition, also illegally appropriated "Still The One." Hall let it slide since at the time Lieberman was still sort of making believe he was a Democrat.)

Anyway, it hardly surprised me when a friend in the Sherrod Brown for Senate campaign called me and asked me if I would contact my old pals in Wilco and ask them for permission for him to use "Monday" in one of his campaign ads. Having spent some time interviewing Sherrod and blogging with him as part of the Blue America campaign, I already knew he's a real person and a cool guy. But still... I mean Wilco hasn't exactly achieved the same level of mass recognition as Fleetwood Mac, and "Monday" isn't exactly... "Still The One."

But what Wilco is, is an unpretentious, Midwest, all-American band with an all-American sound that fits really well with Sherrod and with a campaign based around his all-American values. They also happen to be personal faves, musically, of Congressman Brown. And with taste like that... wow!

Yesterday I pointed out a Sherrod supporter's use of the classic "My Boyfriend's Back" in a clip about the interlocking relationships between George W. Bush and Mike DeWine. Today, Sherrod's campaign has a clip up on YouTube about who Sherrod is. It's very fitting that the music is Wilco's. Take a look: