Those masked Fawkeses over at Anonymous heard my plea. Last night, The Stranger received a link to Hillary Clinton’s Spotify playlist, “Rod Rock,” along with a brief note from someone claiming to be an affiliate of the group. The source claims to have found the playlist buried in private emails that Hillary had been writing to TheUnitedStates@aol.com, in moments, the source suspects, of loneliness and of hope, not unlike a child writing to a father who’d died when she was very young, far too young to remember the timber and cadence of his voice, his manner of dress, the way he looked at her mother in the garden, or the way he climbed the stairs.
Brief analysis of The Rod’s choices below.
1. Playlist for an Extreme Occasion: Part Zero, by The Silk Road Ensemble
I’m guessing that Hillary starts with “Playlist For An Extreme Occasion: Part Zero” purely for categorical purposes. It’s no surprise to me that a person who’s been running for president for eight years would rely on advanced labeling systems. Based on the words “Extreme Occasion” I’m imagining that she plays this song before “Big Moments” in the campaign, such as this evening, for example, when she sits down to speak with the press for the first time since she announced her run.
2. Monster, by Kanye West ft. Jay-Z, Rock Ross, Nicki Minaj, and Bon Iver
Hillary, like the rest of America, really gets on board with this song when Nicki Minaj jumps on the track and says “First thing’s first I’ll eatch yr brainz.” This is clearly a pre-debate go-to for the candidate, and the stutter-step beat also makes it a good one for a jog. Also, Hillary’s apparent capacity for love and human affection exactly matches the depth of love conferred by Jay-Z’s admission that the reason for his monstrousness is a lack of “looooooooooooooove.” Sure, Jay. Sure. You don’t get enough of it.
3. Mississippi Goddam – (Live), by Nina Simone
No doubt in my mind that Hillary is a big Nina Simone fan. You don’t serve on the Yale Review of Law and Social Action in 1970 and walk out not loving Nina Simone. Plus, Ole Mississip hasn’t ever been kind to Hillary Clinton. When they do vote for her, it’s only to help the other guy.
4. Don’t Stop, by Fleetwood Mac
An old favorite. Keeps the energy from the first three tracks alive. The weird thing about this choice, though, is that it’s a song from Hillary’s past that encourages her to always be thinking about the future. When this song comes on she’s necessarily thinking about past moments of thinking about the future, which flies in the face of the song’s prescription. In any case, Hillary’s program matrix actually doesn’t allow for thoughts that aren’t about tomorrow, so I’m guessing she listens to this because it’s nice to have feelings confirmed by human beings like McFleetwood and the gang.
5. A Change is Gonna Come, by Sam Cooke
The pure human feeling embedded into the note Sam Cooke hits when he sings the word “born” works like a defibrillator for Hillary’s heart, shocking her out of her past of thinking about the future and into the present of thinking about the future. Suddenly, her path is clear. She needs to get people out of tents.
6. Fire and Rain, by James Taylor
When Bernie’s rapid rise in the polls starts making campaign directors say stuff like, “we are worried about him” and “he will be a serious force,” the only thing that cools Hillary’s circuits is sweet baby James talking about that fire and rain.
7. (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman, by Carole King
The only thing that makes Hillary feel like a nat-u-ral woman is the complex inner-workings of her own political machine. This song comes on and she remembers that Bernie’s just playing into her master plan. He’ll whip up the radicals and the progressives so that they’ll be forced to vote for Hillary when he drops out after a few months of losing to her in the primaries. Plus, Bernie’s rise as a serious candidate buries the coronation narrative she’s been running from. You make me feel, indeed, Hillary.
8-12: The rest of this list appears to consist entirely of robot songs picked at random. I like to see this as a kind of a recharge moment, one that’s well-deserved after allowing herself to spend half an hour feeling the real things real people feel everyday, the same real people she’s been trying to “listen to” for the last few weeks in Iowa.
