A Brief History of Campaign Songs

Barack Obama has had a number of campaign songs this year, from the Ben Harper tune Better Way — considerably hipper than most political song selections — used during the primaries, to Stevie Wonder's Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours, performed live on the final night of the Democratic National Convention. It seems like the Democrats can't go anywhere without Stevie Wonder tagging along; he sang the National Anthem at the 2000 Democratic National Convention and also performed at Al Gore's house with Tom Petty the same year. Obama has called Wonder his "musical hero", and Signed, Sealed, Delivered is one of Wonder's most popular songs; but as a political standard its opening line ("Like a fool I went and stayed too long") is questionable. Ditto the song's bridge — "I've done a lot of foolish things/that I really didn't mean" — although it's a statement just about every politician could admit.

—By Claire Suddath