Election day in the United States this year appears to offer a stark choice between Tweedle-dum and Tweedle-dumber. What I mean is that both parties’ corporate-sponsored candidates really offer little by way of substantive economic relief to the country’s working people. Nevertheless, millions of Americans are going to spin that big wheel of electoral plutocracy, er, I mean democracy, anyway. Regardless of who wins I predict there will be bitterness for many, guaranteed. That’s why we need to crank a carefully curated batch of timely electoral tunes now. Don’t eat your ballot!

We open this election-themed post with The Submarines‘ simple, plaintive, jangly “Vote.” It just seemed apropos. This gem from the band’s 2006 debut Declare a New State! is so hipster-TV-show-montage good it hurts. Like a warm hug shielding you from bad news. Next up, a shameless musical appeal for support from The Stiff Joints urging you to “Vote For Me.” Do we need more Madness-like English Ska with horns aplenty? You bet we do. This gets my vote, for sure.

People have views on electoral processes, how they work and why they don’t add up to a very good democratic experience. London UK band Project Culture manage to name-check a number of different voting systems as well as bemoan strategic voting on their rollicking onslaught of guitar pop, “Polling Day.” I really didn’t see anyone pulling that off – but they do. John Wesley Harding blows up what typically goes on in American politics on “Hostile Two-Party System” in a protest folk-meets-rockabilly tune. David Hodgman gets a bluesy pop groove going on his talk/sing must-play-every-electoral-cycle classic “Talking Post-Millennial Electoral College Blues.” The song never loses its relevance, unfortunately. The off-Broadway musical Soft Power is not power pop or poprock. But it is just too of-our-present-moment to overlook. The show is a reverse King and I, one where America is exotified rather than some nameless Asian country and actors of Asian descent play everyone, including white characters in white-face. The cast performs “Election Night” as a key song in the show, laying out America’s electoral process – but not quite.

Really though, what are Americans fighting over in this election? If you follow the minutiae of the legislative process you can find a great many important things that should be fueling political debate. But at the headline level the contest is just a slugfest of competing insults. One side decries the ignorance and unsuitability of a former President returning to office while the other plays patriot games about who loves American more. Amy Rigby works up a Brydsian jangle with help from partner Wreckless Eric on “The President Can’t Read,” carefully detailing a litany of Trumpian faults. She’s not wrong but logic and facts won’t reach an audience that has chosen to ‘identify’ with their chosen one. Meanwhile Aaron Lee Tasjan also parses America’s many political travails on “I Love America Better Than You” in his best Tom Petty style but it is the song title that really captures what is going for so many across the U.S.A. With so little to show, money and career-wise, all they’ve really got to hold on to is that tattered, out-of-reach American dream.

Hey America, good luck with that election thing (and whatever chaos comes after). Actually, luck is probably something we’re all gonna need soon.

Photo courtesy Rob Elliott, Swizzle Gallery.