I Wanna Be Elected

On the eve of the US elections, I offer what is perhaps the most complete expression of political ambition yet attempted in popular music: Alice Cooper's 1972 hit, "Elected."

The lyrics quickly capture the heady mixture of raw ambition, exclusive privilege, religious frenzy, and the desire to control the lives of others that has come to identify most political movements:

I'm your top prime cut of meat, I'm your choice,
I wanna be elected,
I'm your yankee doodle dandy in a gold Rolls Royce,
I wanna be elected,
Kids want a saviour, don't need a fake,
I wanna be elected,
We're all gonna rock to the rules that I make,
I wanna be elected, elected, elected.

By the way, Alice Cooper was NOT elected in 1972. That was the year Republican Richard Nixon crushed Democrat George McGovern. Two years later, amid the Watergate scandal, Nixon resigned in disgrace.