6 - Personality and Political Participation

Summary

I write children's poetry and song lyrics, and also lyrics for songs in other genres. In 2008, I attended an annual gathering of songwriters in Nashville. I previously had met many of the people in attendance, whether at earlier gatherings, while working with them in their studios, or upon seeing their live performances. Several have cowritten songs with me. At this particular gathering, I attempted to round up a group to get up on stage and perform my parody of “Michael, Row the Boat Ashore,” a song called “Michael Closed the Bathroom Door.” The group was to be led by my friend and fellow political scientist Sergio Wals, who has often traveled with me for performances at elementary schools, bookstores, and libraries. The people Sergio and I approached all are seasoned, talented songwriters and musicians, and thus we did not envision much difficulty in signing up recruits for the song.

One person we asked was “Dan.” Dan told us that although he has been writing songs for thirty-five years, he had never yet played in public, and that this history certainly was not going to change in front of hundreds of people on stage in Nashville that evening. We also asked “Larry,” an extraordinarily talented studio guitarist, producer, and engineer. Larry shuffled his feet a bit and mumbled, “that sounds like fun, but I don't want to.” Lastly, we approached “Curt.” Curt answered, “Absolutely. Anything, any time, anywhere”.