Still The One

November 10, 2006 8:18 AM

The Democrats' Sonny Bono? When George Bush used the 1970s Orleans hit, Still the One, as a campaign song in 2004, John Hall issued Bush a cease and desist order for using his song without permission. A founder of the antinuclear group, Musicians United for Safe Energy (best known for the 1979 concert film, No Nukes), Hall decided to run for Congress in upstate New York, winning upset victories this year in both the Democratic primary and the general election against GOP incumbent, Sue Kelly. Before his Congressional victory, Editor & Publisher posted From Soundchecks to Soundbites, an interesting discussion with Hall about music journalism vs. political journalism.
posted by jonp72 (30 comments total)

He is, indeed, still the one.
posted by jonmc at 8:19 AM on November 10, 2006

He's still havin' fun, too.
posted by psmealey at 8:21 AM on November 10, 2006

he also had a couple of great segments on The Colbert Report, pre- and post-election
posted by Busithoth at 8:27 AM on November 10, 2006

Way back in the early days of MTV, I remember a video of the John Hall Band featuring a shaven-headed lead singer, but I can't remember the song. Drivin' me nuts.
posted by jonmc at 8:28 AM on November 10, 2006

Dance With Me?
posted by hal9k at 8:31 AM on November 10, 2006

Maybe.
posted by jonmc at 8:33 AM on November 10, 2006

(MTV was way more interesting when they pretty much had to play whatever was sent to them to fill time. You had dinosaur rock, aspiring stars, hit makers, and underground stuff all side by side. Twisted the tastes of a lot of people, myself included.
posted by jonmc at 8:34 AM on November 10, 2006

Orleans also had one of the worst album covers ever.


posted by mcstayinskool at 8:45 AM on November 10, 2006

jonmc: Perhps it is actually driving you Crazy?
posted by hal9k at 8:45 AM on November 10, 2006

that's the one. nice work.
posted by jonmc at 8:48 AM on November 10, 2006

Orleans also had one of the worst album covers ever.

Now that's a MAN sandwich!!

apologies to Jon Stewart
posted by psmealey at 8:50 AM on November 10, 2006

Well, Kelly seems to think that she might still be the one.

Albany – The election attorney who represented Senator Nicholas Spano of Westchester County in his close election two years ago that ultimately wound up with his 18 vote win has been retained by Congresswoman Sue Kelly.

The 19th District representative is down by some 3,500 votes with her opponent, John Hall, already declaring himself the winner.

But, with some 10,000 absentee ballots to be counted along with several types of paper ballots like affidavit ballots, military ballots and others, attorney John Ciampoli said the first step in the process is to re-canvass the actual voting machines.

posted by ibmcginty at 9:16 AM on November 10, 2006

Nice to see Hall and Oates finally having some political impact.
posted by tranquileye at 9:29 AM on November 10, 2006

Loved his duet with Colbert.

Sue Kelly was one of those page housemothers back in the Foley days.
posted by maggieb at 9:40 AM on November 10, 2006

Not the same Hall as Hall and Oates.

Heck, John Hall was around the same scene as Jimi..... back when Jimi was "Jimmy James" (not Newsradio JJ......)
posted by maggieb at 9:42 AM on November 10, 2006

Was he the dude who played Colbert's "My opponent smokes marijuana" card? I love that shit!
posted by afx114 at 9:55 AM on November 10, 2006

I guess he could only truly be the "Democratic Sonny Bono" if he were to sponsor further legislation making copyright term limits something of the order of

lim (x -> inf) author's life plus x years

Oh, and if he died in a skiing accident. As for a certain equine woman in his life, I quote Gregg Allman (on Family Guy, as I'm assuming that's a primary source around here):

I did a lot of drugs, married some broad named Cher. I wouldn't recommend either.

As for any other events in Sonny's life, which may or may not actually be more important than those I've named—in my defense, I was born in 1981 and none of it really matters to me.
posted by adoarns at 10:20 AM on November 10, 2006

I remember a video of the John Hall Band featuring a shaven-headed lead singer, but I can't remember the song.

What is, "Love Me Again?"
posted by Smart Dalek at 10:21 AM on November 10, 2006

yep, afx114, same guy
posted by maggieb at 10:22 AM on November 10, 2006

thought the duet with colbert was awesome. (though, he's gonna have to learn to keep his hand over his heart for the entirety of the anthem.)
posted by lapolla at 10:37 AM on November 10, 2006

thought the duet with colbert was awesome.

Me too... At first I was kind of dreading it, but then suddenly remembered, after the first couple notest that, duh, they can both sing. The segway was so awkward I had forgotten the Hall made his bones as pop singer.

This is really un punk rock of me to say, but "Still the One" is a great, great pop song. Pure AM gold, baby, AM gold.
posted by psmealey at 11:04 AM on November 10, 2006

This is really un punk rock of me to say, but "Still the One" is a great, great pop song. Pure AM gold, baby, AM gold.

Actually, that's one of the most punk rock things you could say. And I agree, it's a great radio song. ("Dance With Me" on the other hand is dangerously close to Air Supply territory)
posted by jonmc at 11:11 AM on November 10, 2006

Actually, in Sonny Bono's defense, he co-wrote the Searchers' "Needles and Pins," which is a better song than "Still The One." It still doesn't make up for the Copyright Extension Act, but music-wise, I'm just sayin'...
posted by jonp72 at 11:39 AM on November 10, 2006

Sting pulled "Brand New Day" from Bush's 2000 campaign too.
posted by augustweed at 2:27 PM on November 10, 2006

It's a neat story.
posted by bardic at 2:49 PM on November 10, 2006

Ummm... but that's hardly upstate...
posted by Doohickie at 3:21 PM on November 10, 2006

Doohickie: In New York geography, everything north of the Bronx is, by definition, "upstate".

"Upstate" is not a purely geographic term, it's the center-of-gravity of the population map. (Fully half of New Yorkers really do live south of Westchester.)
posted by AsYouKnow Bob at 8:09 PM on November 10, 2006

Ummm... but that's hardly upstate...
posted by Doohickie at 3:21 PM PST

Oh boy... if you ever want a good argument ask a bunch of NYers about where "upstate" is.

Two different things here; political and cultural geography. Generally in NY politics talk "Upstate" is anything north of NYC.

Now as for the cultural phenomenon of where "upstate" starts it's all a matter of perspective. To my friends from Ronkonkoma crossing the Whitestone Bridge put you "upstate." My mom from Kingston thinks "upstate" starts somewhere between Catskill and Hudson. I swear when my brothers lived in Troy "upstate" was north of Saratoga.

When I was growing up in Hall's district (Northern Westchester County,) the exit from the GW bridge to the NB Deegan used to read, simply, "Upstate" and I found the concept of me being "upstate" as hilarious as when our relatives from Maspeth, Queens would say they'd be coming up to visit us "in the country." But in terms of political talk, Westchester and up are usually called "upstate" districts and everybody knows what you're talking about.*

*And yes, these "upstate" districts include the areas more properly known as Central NY, Western NY and the Southern Tier (don't ever accuse somebody from Rochester or Buffalo from being an upstater unless you're ready to fight.)
posted by Opposite George at 9:20 PM on November 10, 2006

Actually, Wikipedia does a pretty good job explaining the different "upstates." That article suggests many wouldn't consider Hall's district as "upstate," but I presume the folks who penned it don't get their news from the NYC stations. To them, Hall's district would be considered upstate.
posted by Opposite George at 9:36 PM on November 10, 2006

Jon Stewart, Enemy of Democracy?
posted by homunculus at 9:51 PM on November 10, 2006