Yesterday's election has significance for you--no matter what type of American you are. If you are old enough to have lived through civil rights--or had parents who lived through the Civil War--you see firsthand the cultural significance of what's happened here. But us, the younger and more naive (we had it sooo easy, right? The internet and didn't have to walk uphill to school) generation, we see this as the first person in politics to stand up and make us believe in our country. In the end, maybe he'll make a few messes like Bush, but for now, he's brought us together--not pried us apart.

And so for that, we're giving you some free music to celebrate freedom. These are songs in celebration of what's happened here. If any of the following songs run for president some day, I'll vote for 'em.

Mixtape For Obama (click on song title link for MP3)

1. Ben Sollee - A Change Is Gonna Come (Sam Cooke cover)
-Last night Obama totally and appropriately quoted this. No better song for the moment.
Buy / Myspace

2. U2 - Pride (In The Name of Love)
-This one's for Martin Luther King Jr. , who is no doubt smiling where he is right now. And as for U2, this was the song that marked a change for them.
Buy / Myspace

3. Arcade Fire - Keep The Car Running
-This song from early 2007 is a call for the sort of thing that happened yesterday.
Buy / Myspace

4. The Beatles - I've Got A Feeling
-The band that celebrated this type of thing best deserves a spot, right? I think Lennon would be proud.
Buy / Myspace

5. Howard Huntsberry - Your Love Keeps Lifting Me (Higher & Higher)
-This Jackie Wilson cover comes from Ghostbusters 2--that being the movie where the Statue of Liberty marches through New York City to thwart the evil domination plot of a demon ghost. Relevant? You decide.
Buy

6. Eva Cassidy - People Get Ready (Curtis Mayfield & The Impressions cover)
-A beautiful cover of one of my all time favorite songs, and now it has context. All aboard the Obama train!
Buy / Myspace

7. Oasis - Keep The Dream Alive
-They might be from Britain, but they write great music for this sort of event.
Buy / Myspace

8. Kelly Clarkson with Jeff Beck - Up To The Mountain (Patty Griffin cover)
-I swear, I have just one Kelly Clarkson song in my iTunes...and this is it. Beck's guitar and her voice are so excellent together. As you can see with this Patty Griffin cover, lots of great music has been written about the dream of Martin Luther King, and now Obama is bringing these songs to life.
Myspace

9. Bruce Springsteen & The Sessions Band - We Shall Overcome
-After all the support Bruce voiced for Barack, it'd be sacrilege to not include him on this mix.
Buy / Myspace

10. Kevin Michael - We All Want The Same Thing (feat Lupe Fiasco)
-This young neo soul hip hopper from Philly has a bright future. And this song is about everything that's just happened.
Buy / Myspace

11. Robbie Robb - In Time
-I posted this song when The Phils won the World Series too. It's the perfect song for a hopeful future, for celebrating, for believing. And yes, it IS from the Bill & Ted Soundtrack.
Buy

Got any favorite America songs yourself? Share 'em in the comments.


About Scene & Heard's Mixtape For Obama
Sure, you can argue for or against the messy messes made during W. Bush's 8 year residency of the White House--the wars, the economy, the policies, gas prices, foreign relations, America's financial future, yadda yadda yadda.

Here at Scene & Heard HQ, we're too occupied with pictures of Natalie Portman and the new Kings of Leon album to really get bogged down with that.

But now that the age of Obama has dawned, I realized W. is why I had become so complacent in politics and faith in my country. John Mayer's "Waiting on the World To Change" sums that idea up better, but whether you believe W's work in the White House was good or bad, you must see the canyon he created between young America and old America. Idealistic and realistic. Proud and scared. Bottom and top. White and black. We were the un-united States of America for so long now--and I think a movie like The Dark Knight illustrates that rather poetically (and comic-bookly, if there's such a word).

And that's why Obama is special--because he got us paying attention again (like Harvey Dent in The Dark Knight!). Not because of what he says he will do or can do. But because he got us to put down the beer pong for a moment to hear what he had to say on the television. He got us out to the polls--in remarkable numbers. He inspired us to think about the America that we learned about in elementary school--the Lincolns, the Jeffersons, the Roosevelts, the Kennedys--and to believe that that America can still exist.

He saw that rift and said--let's bridge it.

But more importantly, he's illustrated that any building in democracy and America begins with us, the people--not a president.

That is what I want in a leader. I don't care if he's pro-life or pro-choice. I don't care if he's Republican or Democrat. I don't care if he's experienced or unexperienced. Black or white. None of that crossed my mind when I voted yesterday. I just want to be inspired to be better. I want to hear someone ring liberty's bell, even if it's cracked down the side.