COLEEN ROWLEY'S IMPOSSIBLE DREAM ISN'T THAT IMPOSSIBLE-- LET'S GIVE HER A HAND. SHE'S EARNED IT

John Amato and I have been collaborating on lots of music projects this year. And over the last week, we've been asking our Blue America candidates what music they like most. Coleen Rowley is one of the most dedicated and serious candidates I've talked to all year. Go take a look at the archive of the live blog session we did with her at Firedoglake in July. Since then, 633 Blue America contributors have managed to raise around $14,000 for her. And Coleen and her dedicated staff have worked as hard as any campaign anywhere in the country. Unfortunately she's up against a complete corporate shill who doesn't even bother to read legislation; he just votes the straight corporate line. John Kline never met a pro-Big Business law he didn't embrace, especially the ones that involve his Big Pharma and Big Oil campaign contributors. So, Coleen and her dedicated crew are wearing out the shoe leather to even things up a little.

I caught up with her yesterday between campaign events and threw her a curve ball. I didn't mention Kline or even Bush. I just wanted to know what kind of music a genuine American heroine listens to when she's not campaigning.

She laughed. "Forget how to end the war or break our addiction to oil or balance the budget, you can’t have asked me a more difficult question than what is my favorite song because I have so many!" And she started reeling them off. 
 
"Doris Day’s Que Sera, Sera might rank as my all time favorite just for singability and applicability to virtually every life event including a political race. I've sung it at weddings, retirements and maybe it'll get rolled out this November 7th because you just can't get more profound than 'What will be, will be.'" Here's the original version from Alfred Hitchcock's 1956 classic film, The Man Who Knew Too Much.


 
"Then there's Robert Goulet's Man of La Mancha song with its great lyrics about always trying no matter how difficult or impossible. 'To dream the impossible dream, to fight the unbeatable foe, to try when your arms are too weary, to run where the brave dare not go,'… I thought they should have played that song at Wellstone's funeral. And I've often told people that I think politics these days is a lot like a 'march into hell for a heavenly cause.'
 
"For anti-war songs, you can't beat John Prine's song about the guy who gets so carried away with patriotism that he sticks flag decals all over his windshield (and his wife's forehead) just to 'ram his car upside the curb and right into a tree.' Then he goes to heaven where they tell him that his 'flag decal won't get you into heaven anymore; it's already overcrowded with your dirty little war. Now Jesus don't like killin' no matter what the reason for. And your flag decal won’t get you into heaven anymore.'  (If you've never heard it, you MUST!!!) 
 
"Finally there's the song my husband has threatened to play at my funeral: Cat Stevens' Hard Headed Woman because he says I am one. And that's probably true." And we love you for it Coleen! Here's Steven's doing a live version:



Watch the videos, think about the music of her dreams and please consider donating, even if just $5, to Coleen's campaign. She can beat Kline-- if enough of us stand up to Big Oil and Big Pharma and Big Rove.