When John McCain used the Van Halen song in the Sammy Hagar era “Right Now” for his presidential campaign on the night he announced Sarah Palin his running mate for Vice President, Eddie Van Halen himself wasn’t happy about it, saying that the presidential hopeful used the song without the band’s permission. Eddie fired back at McCain saying he had no right to use the song.
TMZ reports:
http://www.tmz.com/2008/08/29/van-halen-to-mccain-no-you-cant/
However, the man that wrote the song himself, Sammy Hagar, responded to Van Halen saying that Sammy is all cool with McCain using the song. Sammy defended the song saying that he wrote the song because “Right Now” is a political song, he says the song is basically about if you want something in life, don’t sit around and go out and get it. The song is about making changes.
“Right Now” is a hit single that was recorded for the album “For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge” released back in 1991. The song became one of the biggest Van Halen hits ever made.
Blabbermouth reports:
http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=103798
Kudos to Sammy, I’m glad he spoke out and stepped in before Eddie threatened lawsuit on McCain. McCain don’t need anymore lawsuits by musicians ’cause he already got one by Jackson Browne. If Sammy Hagar is the one who wrote the music and lyrics to “Right Now”, Sammy owns the copyright, that means David Lee Roth has no control over that song since David Lee Roth was no part of it.
Kev
K'Brocking 