Democrats chose a quirky song to represent Idaho at DNC roll call. It was the best pick
Watching roll call at Tuesday night’s nationally televised Democratic National Convention was like witnessing a DJ party marathon.
Theme music was cranked for each state and territory — from Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Sweet Home Alabama” for the ’Bama contingent to Prince & The Revolution’s “Kiss” for the purple one’s home state of Minnesota.
Before Idaho’s song started blasting, I already knew what it had to be.
“Private Idaho” by the B-52s.
It’s a quirky, paranoid little dance number — but catchy as hell. Peaking at No. 74 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1980, it’s also upbeat and recognizable. (Even if the B-52s have no clue what the song is actually about. More on that in a sec.)
What other songs might have worked well for Idaho? I’d argue none.
But here are some long shots.
▪ Lynyrd Skynyrd claimed to have a grand ol’ time in Boise, Idaho, in the first verse of “What’s Your Name?” It’s a popular, rockin’ classic, but Idaho is only mentioned once. Plus, the chorus “What’s your name, little girl?” sounds like something the Republican presidential nominee might say to the Democrats’ choice in next month’s debate.
▪ Train’s 1998 debut album includes a song called “Idaho.” But the lyrics also mention Texas, Maine, Florida and D.C.
▪ Ex-Idahoan Josh Ritter captured the essence of home by singing about wolves and “Idaho.” It’s a haunting, not festive, tune.
▪ Despite having never visited, British singer Nerina Pallot sang longingly of “Idaho” in 2005 — and got lots of local radio airplay on 94.9 The River.
▪ Jewel performed that silly little “No Z in Boise” ditty for delighted fans at the Idaho Botanical Garden years ago.
▪ Texas-via-Idaho country band Reckless Kelly put out a track about heading back to “Idaho” in 2013.
▪ BoDeans’ “Idaho,” released in 1993, includes a chorus about how “we’re staring at the world from my home little Idaho.” Solid song — but not exactly a party banger.
▪ Would the majority of folks at the DNC have a clue that critically acclaimed indie-rock band Built To Spill hails from Idaho? Or know any songs? I think not.
▪ There’s even a band called Idaho. From Los Angeles, naturally. Reportedly, Idaho gigged in Moscow (the Gem State version) in 1993, but never seems to play Boise. Even if the title of the band’s 2011 CD, “You Were a D**k,” suggests I must have reviewed them at some point.
So “Private Idaho” is the clear winner.
The song inspired the title to a Gus Van Sant movie and, among other things, has fired up lots of hockey fans at Steelheads games over the years.
The B-52s formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1976, yet somehow didn’t perform in Idaho until 2011. They gigged outdoors in Eagle (at the Eagle River Pavilion).
Prior to that show, I got singer Fred Schneider on the phone and interrogated him about “Private Idaho.”
How was the song inspired? What are those ominous lyrics about?
Schneider, the yelping, borderline-frantic half of the B-52s’ “boy vs. girls” new-wave sound, was friendly — but not exactly enlightening.
He coined the song title. But I got the feeling that even he wasn’t sure about the significance of lyrics about wild potatoes and bottomless pools. Not to mention: Why exactly are we living in our own private as opposed to public Idaho?
“It’s sort of a combination of ‘private eye’ and — it’s just basically a song about ... “ Schneider said before starting over.
“Idaho is pretty mysterious to, you know, all of us,” he continued. “I know it’s a beautiful state, but then I know there’s also a lot of crazy right-wingers and all that stuff.
“Well, actually a lot of my friends have summer homes there,” he added.
As the interview progressed, you could sort of see where this was headed. Idaho’s reputation used to be — OK, still is — a tad eccentric, right? So combine that general sense of wackiness with a “private eye”/“Idaho” play on words, and you had a hit song.
“Just basically that,” Schneider said. “We just take a title or an idea, and we run with it, and we all collaborate and piece it together.”
But what about those lyrics about “swimming ’round and ’round like the deadly hand of a radium clock”?
“In Athens, a lot of people were dying from tongue and throat cancer because they painted the radium dials on watches. They would dip their tongue and then dip it in the radioactive paint,” he said.
And that relates to Idaho how?
“It doesn’t relate to Idaho,” Schneider says. “The song’s about all different things. It’s not like a parody of Idaho or anything.”
The best course of action probably is to do what the vast majority of music fans do to B-52s songs: Shout along gleefully to the chorus and go-go dance to the rest of the words in ignorant bliss.
Judging from the jubilant atmosphere at the Democratic National Convention, it definitely worked.
This story was originally published August 21, 2024 at 12:08 PM.