Posts Tagged ‘John Kerry’

Football fans will have something extra to watch and listen for this weekend: the world premiere of a new Bruce Springsteen song, from his forthcoming album due out in January.

“Workin’ On A Dream” will be used as a soundtrack to an NFL highlight reel, probably either pre-game or at halftime.  The lyrics are hopeful and optimistic and talk about working hard to achieve something grand…but the song is not about sports.

Springsteen has played the song live in a stripped-down acoustic version this fall, as a duet with his wife Patti Scialfa, on a tour that has largely been to support Democratic candidate (and now President-elect) Barack Obama. 

It is no secret The Boss supports Obama; he stumped for John Kerry in 2004 on his Vote For Change tour.  What is a secret is why the NFL would choose a song so politically entangled for a highlight reel.  Apparently, the politics don’t bother them…and lyrics like “the sun rises up, I climb the ladder, a new day breaks and I’m working on a dream” are transparent enough not to tie it to a particular viewpoint.

Springsteen and his E Street Band will also be performing during the Super Bowl halftime show this January.

In accepting the nomination for president, TV Decoder reports that Barack Obama not only enticed the attention of the nearly 80,000 supports at the Denver Broncos football stadium, but almost 38 million television viewers too.

The ratings topped last year’s Oscars (32 million), every night of the Beijing Olympic Games (which, at its best had 34.9 million), and last spring’s American Idol finale (31.7 million) according to US Weekly.

Compared to other empowering speeches from Bill and Hillary Clinton, and Obama’s running-mate Joe Biden, Obama’s acceptance speech was easily the most-watched hour of the Democratic convention.

The four days of the convention combined averaged 27.7 million viewers, making it the most-watched convention, Democratic or Republican, on record according to Nielsen Media Research.  (Note Nielsen viewership has only been calculated since 2000).

John Kerry’s speech in 2004 drew 24.4 million viewers and George W. Bush’s was watched by 27.5 million, reports US Weekly.

E! News reports that after Obama, the week’s next-biggest draw was his primaries rival Hillary Clinton.  Tuesday’s prime-time coverage, featuring a speech by Clinton, averaged 26 million. Wednesday night, featuring a speech by former President Bill Clinton, averaged 24 million.