By Martin Bosworth
I wasn’t sure at first if this is an official video from presidential candidate Mike Gravel (I can’t find it on his YouTube channel), but part of it trails along after the “Citizen Kate” video on the page, so I guess it is, indeed, 2 legit 2 quit. Watch and learn:
This is frighteningly like something I’d see on a Saturday morning cartoon or educational special from the mid-80s, but I can’t argue with the sentiment in these lyrics:
Everybody talkin about pollution. Solution.
Revolution. Evolution. Evolution. Revolution.
Freedom of speech.
Freedom to be who you are.
The Constitution.
Why won’t you let me say what I want to say
Power to the people
Give peace a chance
Word.
(Props to Edmundo for the link!)
Progressive Culture | Scholars & Rogues 
Thanks Martin.
I don’t know what it is about this song. but it is pretty catchy.
Isn’t it from a comercial for soda pop?
No, it was that old mattress commercial from the sixties with the couple that stayed in bed a week.
All we are saying … is give peace a chance.
This is an amazing work- what’s up with trivializing it?
Besides being catchy, it’s pretty dramatic. I’m pretty sure this was by the guy who did Bush singing “Sunday Bloody Sunday”.
B
Pretty amazing. This makes more sense than any campaign ad I’ve ever seen. I’ll bet this little movie wins him a lot of supporters.
http://dosfan.lib.uic.edu/usia/
Above is/was the USIA (see the production credits at the 01:50 mark of the vid) so… I doubt the real (defunt) USIA put this out, enteraining as it is, it’s obviously NOT a gravel campaign (quirky enough but… obviously a cut and pate for the audio & vid)
Who’s trivializing? I think it’s great. 😉 I love Gravel and wish he had more traction–maybe stunts like this will get him attention.
I doubt this came from Gravel’s mind, but kudos to him for going with it.
I imagined Obama, Edwards, or other candidates doing this and laughed when I realized they would probably be seen as disingenuous and pandering. But not this old man Gravel.
Some of his ideas are scary wrong, but I’ve never felt he’s twisted his message to be more popular. Thus he can get away with a hippy-trippy video. Because he really means it.
So yea, terrific campaign vid directed straight at his current fans. It’ll work. With what’s been happening over the last week, it probably already has.
a lot of the background is taken from an amazing 1975 short “200” (http://www.archive.org/details/200), and his “rap” is real and unedited! (I heard it on NPR!)
You’re right about how, for some reason, Gravel comes off as the only legitimate source of wisdom in the current political scene (something rare in politics at any time and it seems especially now). I’d love to see this guy come out with a plan for a national permanent fund like Alaska has…now THAT would be the start of power to the people. Those that control the purssetrings need to be themselves controlled…and not given too many opportunities for temptation from the gold drippin’ lobbyists.