The Democratic National Convention held its roll call vote of state delegates on Tuesday night, with all 50 states and several territories pledging their votes to Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota.
Accompanying each state’s pledge was a song, curated by DJ Cassidy, a DJ who has soundtracked each Democratic Convention since 2012, according to the New York Times. For Maine, he chose Walk the Moon’s 2014 hit, “Shut Up and Dance,” a song that has, as far as we know, no connection whatsoever with the Pine Tree State.
Other states had ones with specific connections to their states, including songs by Bruce Springsteen for New Jersey and Prince for Minnesota, and John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads” for West Virginia. Vermont had a song by native son Noah Kahan, a songwriter who has rocketed to fame in the past year, and Massachusetts had the Dropkick Murphys’ iconic song “Shipping Up to Boston,” a staple of Boston sports games for years.
Maine’s Democratic Party chair, Bev Uhlenhake, said she requested a song by The Ghost of Paul Revere, a popular Maine band whose song, “Ballad of the 20th Maine,” was named Maine’s state ballad in 2019.
The request, however, was denied, and the DJ instead chose the Walk the Moon song. Officials with the Democratic Convention did not respond to a request for comment as of Wednesday morning.
“I don’t know the reasoning [for choosing that song], but it was fun,” Uhlenhake said.
Other states that had songs played for them that had little or no connection to their state included New Hampshire, for whom “Don’t Stop Believin’” by Journey was chosen, and Wyoming, which had a soundtrack of the Black Eyed Peas’ “I Gotta Feeling.”
DJ Cassidy told the New York Times that it took about a month to compile the playlist, and that he worked with each state to find a song that captured a spirit of “unity and celebration” that also had meaning to the state.
Here are a few songs that we think might have made a more appropriate soundtrack for Maine’s roll call vote.
Anything by The Ghost of Paul Revere: We agree with Maine’s Democratic party — anything by a band so iconic to the state would have been a perfect fit.
Ray LaMontagne, “You Are The Best Thing”: LaMontagne spent much of his life in western Maine, and was discovered in the early 2000s by a record executive at a Maine music festival. His 2008 song “You Are The Best Thing,” a soulful song that hit the Billboard charts, would certainly fit with the “unity and celebration” theme.
Any song written by Amy Allen: The Grammy-winning southern Maine native has written hit songs for the likes of Justin Bieber, Halsey, Selena Gomez and Camila Cabelo. She also co-wrote the massive 2024 pop hit “Espresso,” recorded by Sabrina Carpenter. Ironically, DJ Cassidy instead chose “Espresso” as the soundtrack for Guam’s roll call vote.
Rustic Overtones, “Check”: The first big single from Portland’s most famous rock band is an uplifting blast of Maine-grown funk rock. It certainly would have been a nice surprise for tuned-in Mainers to hear that on the DNC stage.
What song do you think should have played in the background? Sound off in the comments or shoot us an email at [email protected].
