Presidential Campaign Songs: JFK's battling ditties

By Richard K. Barry

Frank Sinatra had a hit with "High Hopes" in 1959, and then put it on his 1961 album, All the Way. He recorded a version of the song with different lyrics for JFK's 1960 presidential campaign.

You may also recall (I didn't) that there was another song commissioned by the Kennedy campaign called "Kennedy, Kennedy," as I discovered on this website:

[A]fter the convention, the campaign would commission a song, "Kennedy, Kennedy" with a jumpy mix of graphics and still photos used as a television commercial [which] sought to convey through its lyrics the idea of Kennedy as old enough to be seasoned and experienced but young enough to innovate policy with new ideas. [T]he chorus of alternating men and women had the distinctive sound of popular television commercials from the 1950s making it sound a bit dated next to the new version of the Sinatra hit.

Here are both songs. I think I'll stick with Frank.





(Cross-posted at Phantom Public.)