Minnesota governor Tim Walz accepted the the vice presidential nomination at the Democratic National Convention last night (August 21), and did so to the song that many politicians love to blast while campaigning: Neil Young's "Rockin’ In The Free World."
After finishing his speech in which he promised his party has "got something better to offer the American people," Walz was joined by his family on stage while the 1991 classic blasted from the speakers.
CNN confirmed that the Canadian rock legend "personally allowed the Harris-Walz campaign to use his song 'Rockin' in the Free World' as Walz exited tonight," a campaign official told them.
(The song is apparently also a favourite of Walz's.)
"Rockin’ In The Free World" is a long sought-after anthem for many, including Republican presidential candidate and former President of the United States Donald Trump, who previously used the song for his re-election campaign in 2020.
However, the campaign was forced to stop playing the song after Young sued them for copyright infringement, adding that he “in good conscience cannot allow his music to be used as a 'theme song' for a divisive, un-American campaign of ignorance and hate.”
In the lawsuit, Young added that he had “continuously and publicly objected to the use by the [Trump] campaign of the songs. [Trump’s] campaign has willfully ignored [Young] telling it not to play the songs and willfully proceeded to play the songs despite its lack of a license and despite its knowledge that a license is required to do so."
Trump has been denied permission to use songs from many artists in his time as a politician. In fact, Wikipedia has an impressively long list of them that even he would likely be proud of, which includes Adele, Tom Petty, Leonard Cohen, The Beatles and Beyoncé, who just yesterday threatened his campaign with a cease-and-desist after he began using her song "Freedom" - a song that is already being used by Kamala Harris - with permission - for her own presidential bid.
"Health care and housing are human rights. And the government stays the hell out of your bedroom!" -- Walz ends his DNC speech on a rousing note, and the music afterward is Neil Young's "Keep On Rocking in the Free World," which is one of the greatest rock songs ever IMO pic.twitter.com/kI04Bk3tMp
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 22, 2024