Hey everyone! Tonight, I, Gus Knorr, will be on the air for another great episode of The Gus Knorr Show! This week, there’ll be more variety in the styles of music, as tonight’s show is a special “Five Days Before Election Day” edition. As this is the first presidential election during my time as a student at Marquette, I will be playing songs by musicians who have ran for political office in America. Most of them have ran for smaller positions, and not all these runs have been successful and/or entirely serious, though all of these figures, whether they be Republicans, Democrats, or without any party affiliation, have contributed significantly towards the music scene in multiple genres. Also, later on during the show, stay tuned for a few politicians who have shown off their musical chops at any point during their lives. That will all be tonight at 8:00 PM, on The Gus Knorr Show, on Marquette Radio!

• The first song on The Gus Knorr Show tonight is by county singing legend Roy Acuff, who unsuccessfully ran for governor of Tennessee as a Republican in 1948, despite his name recognition as a native of Tennessee. Fittingly, this song is Acuff’s version of “Tennessee Waltz.”
• Next up is a song by another Southern musician who ran for governor of Louisiana in the 1940s, though actually won the election, first in 1944, and later in 1959 as well. I’m talking about Jimmie Davis, the Democrat who was well known for singing the next song on The Gus Knorr Show, “You Are My Sunshine,” which later was named a state song of Louisiana.
• The next song is by a band that had a member who ran for the United States Congress in the state of New York in 2006, namely John Hall of the ’70s soft rock band Orleans. Hall, a liberal Democrat, won in 2006, before losing his re-election bid in 2010, but many years before this, was a member of Orleans, where he wrote and performed one of their best known songs (also the next song on The Gus Knorr Show,) “Still the One.”
• Next up is a song by a well-known duo from the 1960s, one of whom successfully ran for Congress in the Republican Revolution of 1994. Sonny Bono, of Sonny and Cher, was partially responsible for the following song, “I Got You Babe,” but sadly, before his death in a skiing accident in 1998, presumably never sang “I’ve Got You Newt,” to then-Speaker Newt Gingrich.
• What follows is a song from Sonny Bono’s solo career, which was not as successful as his singing career with Cher. This song was his best-known single, released in 1965, “Laugh at Me.”
• Next up is a song by a musician who ran for city council in the city of Detroit, Michigan, in 2005, many years after leading one of the best known Motown girl groups, Martha and the Vandellas. Martha Reeves served one term as city councilwoman before being defeated for re-election in 2009, but over 40 years before this, released the next song on The Gus Knorr Show, “Dancing in the Street.”
• Another song by an elected official in a major Midwestern city is next, and is by Jerry Butler, who has served as a Cook County Commissioner (in Chicago) since 1986. Before this, he was a well known gospel and R&B singer, and sang the next song, “Make it Easy on Yourself.”
• A cover of “Make it Easy on Yourself” is next, and is by the ’60s pop group The Walker Brothers. Even though none of those band members have ever ran for political office, their frontman, Scott Walker (which isn’t his real name) shares the same name as the Governor of Wisconsin, Scott Walker, also a Marquette University alum. This connection is kind of a reach, though it’s my show, and I can do what I want! (Except for play songs with profanities.)
• Next is a song by the Dead Kennedys, whose frontman, Jello Biafra, has been active in left-wing politics over the years, running for Mayor of San Francisco in 1979, and then running for President in 2000 on the Green Party. He lost both races, and the presidential nomination to Ralph Nader, but before this, released several singles with the Dead Kennedys, including this one, their debut single “California Uber Alles,” a protest song against California governor Jerry Brown.
• The Wesley Willis Song of the Week is next, and even though Wesley Willis never ran for political office, he was close friends with Jello Biafra, and was briefly signed to Biafra’s record label, Alternative Tentacles. This song is Willis’ salute to him, appropriately entitled “Jello Biafra.”
• OFF TOPIC: Here’s a link to all the presidential candidates who have filed with the FEC to run for president in 2012, and there are a lot more than you might think. It’s a very long list, consisting of many more candidates than Obama, Romney, and the other Republicans who ran, though some of them are quite entertaining, such as HRM Caesar St. Augustine de Buonaparte, so check them out if you have the time.
• Next is a song by Kinky Friedman, a satirical country singer from Texas, who ran for several positions in Texas politics, including as an Independent for Governor in 2006. He lost, but received 12% of the vote. This is one of his best-known satirical songs, “Keep Your Biscuits in the Oven and Your Buns in the Bed.”
• A song by rap group 2 Live Crew is next, which saw one of its members, Luther Campbell, or Uncle Luke, run for mayor of Miami-Dade County in Florida in 2011. He finished fourth in the race, receiving about 11% of the vote. This song is easily one of 2 Live Crew’s more appropriate hit singles, titled “Do the Bart.”
• The next song is one that was performed by an early ’60s garage rock band, consisting of several friends at an elite prep school. It was known featured a bassist who would later run for president on a major party ticket, John Kerry, the future Senator from Massachusetts and the Democratic presidential nominee in 2004. The band was The Electras, and this is their version of “Summertime Blues.”
• The final song on The Gus Knorr Show tonight is by longtime United States Senator Robert Byrd, a Democrat from West Virginia who passed away two years ago. In the late ’70s, he released an album of fiddle music titled Mountain Fiddler, and this is his version of “Turkey in the Straw.”

That’s it for The Gus Knorr Show tonight, but stay tuned for The Gus Knorr Show on November 8, next week, at 8:00 PM on Thursday night, as usual. Be sure to vote on November 6th if you haven’t early voted already, and thanks for listening!