The Traverse City singer-songwriter says Bush’s campaign has agreed to stop using the song he wrote years ago. But he also loses some conservative fans who’ve expressed their displeasure with Davis on Facebook.
‘Not Endorsing Jeb’: Joshua Davis just wanted to explain what his song was really about. (Photo/Anthony Norkus)
Michigan singer-songwriter Joshua Davis says it was a “shocker” when he learned Republican Jeb Bush’s presidential campaign was using his song, “The Workingman’s Hymn,” without permission.
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But he’s also a bit surprised by the social media response resulting from his comments about it.
Songs That Make People Think: Davis performing at Fountain Street Church earlier this year. (Photo/Anthony Norkus)
“It’s crazy,” Davis said of the debate ignited Wednesday after he wrote that it’s “confusing, hilarious and incredibly ironic” that Bush would use a song for his campaign that was written in 2008 in response to President George W. Bush policies – policies he viewed as “severely detrimental” to the working class.
“I’m not like angry about it. I’m more like confused and I think it’s funny,” said Davis, who grew up in a union family and has long written songs with a social activist bent. “I’m just trying to defend my song.”
Indeed, he noted that the song — which focuses on the struggles of the poor and working-class families during the Bush administration, and “champions collective bargaining rights” — was written in response to Jeb Bush’s brother’s presidency “and to the struggles I saw in the middle class and the lower class. … A lot of these things I wrote the song about and it was not only an anti-Bush song, but it’s also a song that’s opposed to Jeb’s kind of policies.”
While most fans cheered Davis for “standing up for what you believe in,” some conservatives expressed anger and disappointment with the singer, who skyrocketed to broader national and international popularity earlier this year when he finished third on NBC’s “The Voice.”
The Traverse City folk-rock artist has taken time to respond thoughtfully to many of those posting remarks. He called it a “funny, quirky” dust-up and said he just “wanted to clarify the song because people sometimes don’t understand what songs are about.”
He added: “I’ve worked with people being divided so this is nothing new to me. I understand factions but still, to see all that going on from both sides, from the liberals and conservatives, it’s kind of telling how divided we are. I thought I’d get some conservative backlash and lose some fans, but it was worth it to me to help people understand what the song was about.”
Heading Into the Studio in November: Davis (Photo/Anna Sink)
While he’s personally been inspired by activist singer-songwriters such as Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Greg Brown and Bruce Springsteen, Davis realizes some fans dislike mixing music and politics. Still, he insists his music is mostly “about bringing communities together,” not divisiveness.
“I think there’s this sense that musicians should leave politics to the politicians: You should shut your mouth and sing,” he quips. “But … you’re a person and you’re putting yourself out there and I’ve always been involved in social action with my music. It’s part of the legacy of folk music. I want my songs to make people think.”
As for the song in question, Davis said he found out last week from a Colorado reporter that Bush was using “The Workingman’s Hymn” in his campaign, something revealed in a recent Washington Post story.
Davis recalled that someone from Bush’s camp had contacted him some time ago via Facebook, but he never gave permission for use of the song and has since asked that the campaign refrain from using it. He said he received a response on Thursday and the song will no longer be used by the Bush campaign.
“I have nothing against Jeb Bush personally, but I don’t agree with his politics,” he says of the song which rose to national prominence this year after Davis performed it on “The Voice.” (Watch a video of the song below.)
Davis added that he’s always stuck to doing what he thinks is right through his music even if some fans disagree: “It’s important to me that my music and my life is guided by my ethics.”
The singer-songwriter – who goes into the recording studio next month to lay down tracks for a new seven-inch EP – certainly isn’t the first artist to complain about politicians using a song without permission, and he likely won’t be the last.
Springsteen, John Mellencamp, Jackson Browne, Tom Petty and others have demanded that different candidates “cease and desist” using their tunes as campaign themes.
As Rolling Stone magazine put it earlier this year, it has become a “recurring controversy.”
VIDEO: Joshua Davis, “The Workingman’s Hymn”
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