Musicians banded together on John Oliver’s Last Week Tonight to take a stand against politicians appropriating their music without permission the best way they know – through song.
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Oliver’s main segment on Sunday night’s episode was campaign songs – particularly relevant coming days after Donald Trump used two unauthorized songs during the Republican National Convention last week.
Trump came out on stage in typical bombastic style on the opening night of the convention – to Queen’s We Are The Champions – and after giving a speech accepting the Republican nomination in Thursday night’s grand finale, ended the event with The Rolling Stones’ You Can’t Always Get What You Want.
These latest incidents spurred Oliver to form a super group – featuring Usher, Cyndi Lauper, Michael Bolton, Josh Groban John Mellencamp, Imagine Dragons’ Dan Reynolds and Heart’s Nancy and Ann Wilson – to send a simple message to self-serving politicians: ‘Don’t use our song.’
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Musicians banded together on John Oliver’s Last Week Tonight (above) to take a stand against politicians appropriating their music without permission the best way they know – through song
From left, John Mellencamp, Nancy and Ann Wilson, Josh Groban, Usher, Sheryl Crow, Michael Bolton, Dan Reynold and Cyndi Lauper formed a super group to sing 'Don't Use Our Song'
In the style of charity singles such as We Are The World, Ann Wilson begins the song with the words: ‘It’s that time of year, campaign season’s here.’
Michael Bolton sings: ‘You wave and point make your speeches while balloons fall everywhere.’
Usher continues: ‘But we notice something’s wrong and it’s gone on way to long/ So we’re asking you right now/ Stop using our songs!’
‘It might seem appealing, but you’re just stealing,’ they sing in front of American flags, baseball stadiums and Mount Rushmore.
Numerous references are made to falling balloons – with images from the RNC – as Bolton adds: ‘By the time this tune is through, you’ll be lucky if we don’t sue.’
Oliver explained his reason for the message earlier in the segment.
After playing a clip of Trump making his entrance to Queen’s most famous track, he joked: ‘Yes, that is being played at the Republican National Convention, so it’s with a heavy heart that I pronounce Freddie Mercury dead again at age 69.’
Michael Bolton (above) sings: ‘You wave and point make your speeches while balloons fall everywhere’
Cyndi Lauper, who criticized the DNC for using True Colors, was part of the group of musicians in the clip
Oliver noted that Queen did not give Trump’s campaign permission to use the song – and took to Twitter to say that it was an ‘unauthorised use at the Republican convention against our wishes.’
But that didn’t stop Trump from using another unauthorized song on the convention’s closing night, Trump used another unauthorised song – You Can’t Always Get What You Want.
‘Trump has used unauthorised music throughout his campaign and if you think You Can’t Always Get What You Want was a bit on the nose, just wait until you hear what song he used ahead of a speech he gave on the Iran nuclear deal,’ Oliver said.
‘And just so you know, this is real, we haven’t altered the audio.’
He then plays the clip, which shows Trump used REM’s It’s The End Of The World As We Know It.
‘That is just too perfect. Trump may as well have been riding out on stage with the three other horsemen of the apocalypse,’ Oliver says.
Sheryl Crow appeared on a podium with steelworkers working behind her as she sang her parts
They stood in front of patriotic images, including baseball stadiums, as they delivered their message
Oliver also cites other politicians guilty of using music without permission from the artists, including Mike Huckabee – who angered Survivor by using Eye Of The Tiger – and Scott Walker.
After Walker used music by the Dropkick Murphys, they tweeted him: ‘Please stop using our music in any way… we literally hate you!!! Love, Dropkick Murphys.’
‘None of this is anything new,’ Oliver said.
‘Politicians have been appropriating pop music for as long as anyone can remember.
‘Over the years, Sarah Palin has gotten into trouble for using Heart’s Barracuda, John McCain was asked to stop using two John Mellencamp songs, the DNC was criticized by Cyndi Lauper for using True Colors.’
Song lyrics included: 'It might seem appealing, but you're just stealing.' Above, Sheryl Crow and Usher
He added that perhaps the most famous example was Ronald Reagan using Born in the USA for his 1984 re-election campaign - until Springsteen asked him to take a look at the lyrics, as the song was not a patriotic number but actually about the harsh treatment of Vietnam War veterans.
The supergroup formed after Trump came out on stage to Queen's We Are The Champions (above) on the opening night of the RNC last week - which Queen said was against their wishes
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