Shut Up and Sing!: that’s the message from Ron Radosh to musicians who like to wear their politics on their sleeves and rub your nose in it.

We went to hear [Nancy Griffith] sing, not to be harangued about politics. Griffith could not stop herself from sharing her ecstasy at Barack Obama’s election victory and proclaiming that for the first time America was united and proud. I wondered if she is even aware that some 46 per cent of the popular vote went for John McCain, and that perhaps some of his supporters were in the audience? Well, she didn’t forget. She then said that at a previous concert, she said much of the same, and sitting in the front row with flowers for her, was a man she described as “looking like a football player” who clearly supported McCain. She had told the crowd that if anyone did support McCain, they should “get over it.” The man handed her the flowers and mumbled, “I’m getting over it.” Griffith’s audience cheered. Then she had to tell a really stupid Sarah Palin joke, one definitely not repeating.

Ron says later in the piece that he wishes more musicians would take a lesson from Bob Dylan on this whole subject, in terms of how he has conducted himself with regard to politics over the years.

Reflecting back on what Dylan said in Minnesota on election night, I think it can be seen that Bob has never considered it his job to argue with his fans about politics — one way or the other. The gentle and philosophical warning he delivered that night was a typically classy way of handling it, even if it was widely misinterpreted (nothing much new there).

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