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As Donald Trump wound down his rambling 93-minute speech on Thursday night to close out the 2024 Republican National Convention, the five-piece house band launched into Sam & Dave’s 1966 hit, “Hold On, I’m Coming.”
The track has become a pneumonic device of sorts for the MAGA movement, playing Trump on- or offstage at rallies in a sonic ritual his followers have come to expect.
But while Trump’s base seems to deeply enjoy this bit of theater, David Porter, a 2005 Songwriters Hall of Fame inductee who co-wrote “Hold On, I’m Coming” with late R&B icon, Isaac Hayes, said on Friday that he was never asked for permission to use his music and does not appreciate the ongoing association with the twice-impeached former president.
“I can say [that] I don’t want any of my songs used for political campaigns,” Grammy-nominated Porter, 82, told The Independent. “Certainly including this one… We create music for uplifting people, not separating them.”
Less than a week after Trump’s ear was bloodied in an assassination attempt, the GOP presidential nominee delivered the final RNC address in Milwaukee that started off striking a relatively moderate tone.
A seemingly introspective Trump spoke of uniting the country, and serving all Americans rather than just his supporters. However, Trump soon went off-script, attacking the former Democratic House Speaker as “Crazy Nancy Pelosi,” mocking Joe Biden as the “worst” president in U.S. history, and serving up robust helpings of transphobic and anti-immigrant fodder the RNC delegates lapped up with glee.
Trump’s well-known penchant for indulging the ugliest of impulses has led numerous artists to protest his usage of their music. Creedence Clearwater Revival frontman, John Fogerty, in 2020 served the Trump campaign with a cease-and-desist letter upon discovering the band’s “Fortunate Son” was providing a soundtrack for his public appearances.
Similar objections have been lodged by, among others, Bruce Springsteen, Phil Collins, Neil Young, Adele, Rihanna, Pharrell Williams, R.E.M., Guns n’ Roses, Elton John, the Rolling Stones, and the estates of Tom Petty, Leonard Cohen, Prince, and Sinead O’Connor.
In March, representatives for O’Connor’s estate and Chrysalis Records issued a statement expressing “outrage” upon learning that Trump had been playing her beloved performance of “Nothing Compares 2 U,” which was written by Prince, at his political rallies.
"It is no exaggeration to say that Sinéad would have been disgusted, hurt, and insulted to have her work misrepresented in this way by someone who she herself referred to as a ‘biblical devil,’” the statement said. “As the guardians of her legacy, we demand that Donald Trump and his associates desist from using her music immediately.”
The laws surrounding song publishing and performance rights are complex; “willful” use over a copyright-holder’s objections can result in fines of up to $150,000 per occurrence.
Shortly before Trump took the stage at the RNC on Thursday, his personal attorney Alina Habba relayed a story to the crowd about Trump’s “love” for music, and recalled the day “a few years ago, [when] he wanted me to hear a new song he had selected for an upcoming rally.”
“I could hear it blaring in the background at Mar-a-Lago,” Habba went on. “He landed on a song called ‘Hold on, I’m Coming.’”
That Trump continues to use the song is especially galling to Porter, as well as Hayes’ family, in light of the fact that they first raised their objections more than two years ago.
“The estate and family of Isaac Hayes DID NOT approve and would NEVER approve the use of ‘Hold on I’m coming’ by Sam and Dave by Donald Trump at this weekend’s National Rifle Association convention,” a spokesperson for the Hayes estate told Variety in May 2022.
“Our condolences go out to the victims and families of #Uvalde and mass shooting victims everywhere.”
Hayes’ daughter Veronica, who was unable to be reached on Friday, told a local Memphis TV station at the time: “My father’s legacy was very clean and wasn’t tainted by anything. Since we are the survivors, we get to choose how his music is played and who’s allowed to use it.”
“Hell to the No!” Porter posted about it on his now-defunct Twitter account. “I did Not and would NOT approve of them using the song for any of his purposes!”
Atlantic Records now owns the rights to “Hold On, I’m Coming,” and told K8 News at the time that it had no plans to pursue legal action.
