Fanfare For The Common Man

-by Valley Girl

I have watched the ad (above) that Randy Bryce ran during the SOTU address many times. And suddenly, something about it rang a strange bell with me.

I wrote to Howie:

Some bit of music, just a tiny bit, in the ad Randy Bryce put up for the SOTU address reminded me of the Vangelis theme music for Chariots of Fire. Coincidence? Purposeful? I can't guess.

Randy is a Chariot of Fire. I am reminded of his first ad, when he was welding iron and the fire sparks were flying.

This the music video for Chariots of Fire. Pay attention to the music, and visuals of the runners, running to win. Forget the sappy stuff.



Randy is running to win. And he will.

The title for the movie comes from a verse in the hymn Jerusalem. 

Bring me my bow of burning gold:
Bring me my arrows of desire:
Bring me my spear: O clouds unfold!
Bring me my chariot of fire!

But, after I wrote to Howie, I thought of another piece of music, and wanted to see if the slight bit that I heard might bear some resemblance to that: Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man. After all, this would suit Randy perfectly.



No, that wasn’t the little bit of  music I was thinking of. But I couldn’t resist doing some research on the history of Coplin’s Fanfare for the Common Man. And, along the way I discovered an often forgotten political figure. 

Fanfare for the Common Man is a musical work by the American composer Aaron Copland. The piece was written in 1942 for the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra under conductor Eugene Goossens. It was inspired in part by a famous speech made earlier in the same year; in that speech, the vice president of the United States of America, Henry A. Wallace, proclaimed the dawning of the "Century of the Common Man."

Next:

Copland, in his autobiography, wrote of the request: "Eugene Goossens, conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, had written to me at the end of August about an idea he wanted to put into action for the 1942-43 concert season. During World War I he had asked British composers for a fanfare to begin each orchestral concert. It had been so successful that he thought to repeat the procedure in World War II with American composers." A total of 18 fanfares were written at Goossens' behest, but Copland's is the only one which remains in the standard repertoire.

It was written in response to the US entry into World War II and was inspired in part by a famous 1942 speech where vice president Henry A. Wallace proclaimed the dawning of the Century of the Common Man.

...Goossens had suggested titles such as Fanfare for Soldiers, or sailors or airmen, and he wrote that "[i]t is my idea to make these fanfares stirring and significant contributions to the war effort..." Copland considered several titles including Fanfare for a Solemn Ceremony and Fanfare for Four Freedoms; to Goossens' surprise, however, Copland titled the piece "Fanfare for the Common Man." Goossens wrote "Its title is as original as its music, and I think it is so telling that it deserves a special occasion for its performance. If it is agreeable to you, we will premiere it 12 March 1943 at income tax time." Copland's reply was "I [am] all for honoring the common man at income tax time."

The forgotten political figure:  Henry A. Wallace:

Henry Agard Wallace (October 7, 1888 – November 18, 1965) was the 33rd Vice President of the United States (1941–1945), the 11th Secretary of Agriculture (1933–1940), and the 10th Secretary of Commerce (1945–1946). He founded the Progressive Party and served as its presidential nominee in the 1948 presidential election. He was a strong supporter of New Deal liberalism and sought conciliation with the Soviet Union.

...After Roosevelt dumped John Nance Garner from the ticket in 1940, he selected Wallace as his running mate in his bid for an unprecedented third term. The selection of the liberal Wallace upset many Democratic delegates, and Wallace was only nominated by the 1940 Democratic National Convention after Roosevelt threatened to decline the presidential nomination. The ticket of Roosevelt and Wallace defeated the Republican ticket in the 1940 election, and Wallace was sworn in as vice president in 1941. As Wallace remained unpopular with many Democratic leaders, the 1944 Democratic National Convention denied Wallace re-nomination and instead selected Harry S. Truman as Roosevelt's running mate in the 1944 presidential election. Roosevelt appointed Wallace to the position of Secretary of Commerce in March 1945 and Wallace continued to serve under President Truman after Roosevelt died in April 1945.

Truman dismissed Wallace in September 1946 after Wallace made several controversial comments. Wallace became the editor of the New Republic and emerged as a prominent critic of Truman's foreign policies. In 1948, he undertook a third party bid for president, calling for universal government health insurance, an end to the incipient Cold War, and the abolition of segregation.

Why would Randy Bryce, an iron worker from Caldonia, Wisconsin, bring Vangelis, Copeland and, most of all, Henry A. Wallace to mind? That's easy enough. And we get reminded everyday. Today Randy responded to Ryan's latest plan to screw over "the common man." In an email to supporters, #IronStache said, "Speaker Ryan rebranded his plan to destroy Medicaid as a way of 'helping people,' today, showing he couldn't be more out of touch with how to actually help Americans struggling to get by. We aren't lazy individuals who need to be motivated to work. We are working harder than ever and getting less and less in return. What we need is for Paul Ryan to stop giving tax breaks to the Kochs and stop trying to repeal basic healthcare protections, and to start increasing wages and pass Medicare for All."