Dear Mr. President (Pink song)
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"Dear Mr. President" is a song by Pink featuring the Indigo Girls, and was recorded for Pink's fourth album, I'm Not Dead (2006). Pink said that the song is an open letter to the President of the United States, George W. Bush, and that it is one of the most important songs she had written. She stated that it would never be released as a single because it was too important to be perceived as a publicity stunt.[1] It was, however, released in Europe and Australia.
Content
The song was written by Pink and Billymann. Pink came up with the idea to ask the Indigo Girls to join the recording of the song. According to an interview, they "believe in the song. An open letter to the president, that's what we needed."[This quote needs a citation] During an interview with an Australian radio station, the Australian girl group Young Divas asked Pink what she was thinking when she wrote "Dear Mr. President". Pink stated that she wrote the song on Martin Luther King Day in 2005. "I read The New York Times every day, and watch the news. And I was completely disgusted with it. I just felt like....I just needed to write a song. I really wanted to write a song to piss my dad off because he is a Bush supporter."[This quote needs a citation]
When I'm Not Dead was released on April 4, 2006, "Dear Mr. President" attracted considerable attention. Most of the discussion concerned Pink's statement that the song was intended for United States President George W. Bush.[2][3] The song's format is a series of rhetorical questions for the President, specifically pertaining to how he really feels about controversial issues such as war ("Let me tell you about hard work/Rebuilding your house after the bombs took them away"), homosexuality ("What kind of father might hate his own daughter if she were gay?"), the homeless ("What do you feel when you see all the homeless on the street"), the attempted ban on abortion ("What kind of father would take his own daughter's rights away?") and drug abuse ("You've come a long way from whiskey and cocaine"), and asks "when you look in the mirror are you proud?".
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In an interview with MTV News Pink stated she hoped George W. Bush heard the song and that "[he] is proud of the fact that we live in a country where we can do things like that, where we can have dissent, talk, communicate and share our opinions."[2] After she performed the song on Jimmy Kimmel Live on April 11, 2007, she thanked Kimmel for letting her sing it, telling him that many radio station DJs had been told they couldn't discuss the track if she was a guest, and that she wasn't allowed to perform it on other U.S. television shows.[4]
After her loss in the Georgia 4th District Democratic primary on August 8, 2006, Cynthia McKinney played the song to her supporters in lieu of a concession speech and sang along.[5]
The song was used during the closing of the fourth season premiere of the television series The L Word.
Release
In Belgium an acoustic version of the song was released as a downloadable single in late 2006. The single was recorded at a showcase for Q-music, a Belgian radiostation. It held the number-one spot on the Ultratop 50 Chart for four weeks,[6] becoming the first download-only song to reach number one, and it charted at number twelve on the Eurochart Hot 100 Singles.[7] It reached number one in Luxembourg and Austria, the top five in Switzerland and Germany and the top forty in the Netherlands and New Zealand.
In February 2007 Pink's official UK website reported that "Dear Mr. President" and "Leave Me Alone (I'm Lonely)" would be released as a download single in the UK.[8] However, in June 2007 it was announced that the song would be released as an import single in the UK. It will be released on July 30 in the UK.[9] Sony BMG Music in Australia announced that "Dear Mr. President" would be the sixth single from the album in that country, and would be released to radio on June 11.[10] "Dear Mr. President" was released in Australia on July 7, 2007, according to sonybmg.com.au. The single was released in a special two disc part commemorating Pink's I'm Not Dead Tour in Australia — part two had space for the part one disc and contained dates of her record-breaking Australian tour and milestones for the album I'm Not Dead. "Dear Mr. President" peaked at number five.
Video
Like the video for "Leave Me Alone (I'm Lonely)", the "Dear Mr. President" music video is a live video, but it differs from the "Leave Me Alone (I'm Lonely)" video in that it includes the live vocal. It is from the performance of the song during Pink's I'm Not Dead Tour in London at Wembley Arena. The performance was featured on the tour DVD Pink: Live from Wembley Arena. Pink is in front of the stage with her backing vocalists and an acoustic guitar, singing the song. On the big screens images are shown of George W. Bush, coffins with American flags over them (pointing to the soldiers that died during the War in Iraq) and more. Those images are also shown on the left and right side of Pink's head during the song.
The video debuted at number four on the German version of MTV's Total Request Live on May 3, 2007. It is shown with German subtitles in Austria and Germany.
Track listings
released: December 21, 2006
released: December 21, 2006
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Charts
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Personnel
- Vocals: Pink and the Indigo Girls
- Backing vocals: Emily Saliers and Amy Ray
- Mixed by: Al Clay
- Protools: Christopher Rojas
- Guitar: Emily Saliers
- Production coordinator: Lana Israel
References
- ^ Haddon, Cole. "Simple Girl". Broward-Palm Beach New Times. July 20 2006.
- ^ a b Vineyard, Jennifer. "Pink Pens An Open Letter To President Bush On New Album". MTV News. January 3 2006.
- ^ Rodman, Sarah. "Whether she's cute or cranky, Pink's music is always colorful". The Boston Globe. July 14 2006.
- ^ "Pink takes on Bush and the 'rednecks'". Gay.com. April 12 2007.
- ^ "McKinney beaten but unbowed". Associated Press. August 9 2006.
- ^ http://entertainment.skynet.be/index.html?l1=entertainment&l2=ultratop&l3=charts&chartid=4
- ^ Eurochart
- ^ imnotdead.co.uk
- ^ "Dear Mr President". HMV.co.uk.
- ^ "P!nk At #1 With Album, Aussie Airplay + Single". Sony BMG Music Entertainment. June 4 2007.
- ^ Australian Singles Chart
- ^ Austrian Singles Chart
- ^ Czech IFPI Chart
- ^ Euro 200
- ^ Germany Singles Chart
- ^ Luxembourg Singles Chart
- ^ Netherlands Tipparade
- ^ New Zealand Singles Chart
- ^ Switzerland Singles Chart
Links
Dear Mr. President lyrics @ LyricWiki.org
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