We asked people what song they would like to hear Bernie Sanders sing at the Apollo Theater
The Vermont senator is battling to overcome Hillary Clinton in his home state
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Your support makes all the difference.The crowd at Harlem’s Apollo Theatre is not known for going easy on those who dare to tread its boards.
On Wednesday’s Amatuer Night, which over the years has propelled the likes of Jimi Hendrix, James Brown and Ella Fitzgerald into the stratosphere, the singers, dancers and comedians are quickly booed if the crowd takes against them or senses they are not up to the job.
On Saturday night, it was the turn of a youthful dreamer from Brooklyn called Bernie Sanders who said his speciality was leading a revolution. The 74-year-old earned only huge, rapturous applause all night. He said he would like nothing more than to get through to the next round.
“We are going to invest in jobs and education, not prisons,” said Mr Sanders, sharing the stage with performer Harry Belafonte, former state senator Nina Turner, and Erica Garner, an activist whose father was notoriously killed by New York Police in the summer of 2014. “But we have to win in New York.”
Over the years, the Apollo Theatre, whose name dates from 1934 when it first permitted black patrons, has been a regular stopping point for anxious politicians seeking to win votes, particualry those of African Americans.
Hillary Clinton appeared here ten days ago, and ahead of the important New York state primary on April 19, Mr Sanders has been reaching out to members of the African American community, from which he has so far only secured limited support.
As supporters sat amid the theatre’s ornate, painted colours and eased into its comfortble seats, Mr Sanders held what was termed by his campaign team as a “community conversation”.
The man, who by most reckoning is the US’s most progressive mainstream candidate for decades, did not wander far from the positions that have made up much of his stump speech, as his scruffy, insurgent campaign has chased and harried frontrunner Ms Clinton across the country.
He remains several hundred points behind her in delegates but his victory on Saturday in Wyoming – his eigth of the last nine contests - will have given his campaign fresh momentum. He remains up to 13 points behind her in the polls.
And he stressed issues that earned him huge, electric-tinged applause – economic inequality, social and racial injustice, money in politics, the need to demilitarise America’s police forces and making healthcare and education affordable.
Of his proposal to offer free college education in state and community colleges, he said: “It’s not a radical idea. It’s available in Germany and Sweden, and you know it used to happen in the United States.”
“If, in God's name, we could do it fifty years ago, why can’t we do it now,” he added.
Those who lined up outside to see Mr Sanders on a damp, grey New York evening, claimed he was unique. They said they believed he was the only candidate talking about crucial issues, and the only person who had solutions to America’s problems.
While quizzing the queue of supporters as to their thoughts on Mr Sanders, The Independent also asked – if it truly were Amatuer Night – what song they would like Mr Sanders to sing, and why.
Kirsten King and William Smith said they believed Mr Sanders was the only candidate listening to the needs of ordinary people. They were impressed that he did not take money from corporations.
As for a song for the Vermont senator, they would liked to have heard him blast out U2’s 1984 hit (Pride) In the name of Love.
A woman who asked to give only her first name, Heather, said she was a Harlem resident and volunteered for Mr Sanders. She was opposed to the US Supreme Court decision that had allowed unlimited money into political campaigns, something which Mr Sanders was opposed to.
“He has been consistent all his career,” she said. Her karaoke choice for the candidate would be Simon and Garfunkel’s timeless America, which the Sanders’ campaign had adopted as a theme tune.
Honesty Guess, a 36-year-old actor, said he supported Mr Sanders as he shared his opinions on many of the issues most important to him. As for a song for the former Burlington mayor, he would have lived to hear him sing Can You Feel the Love Tonight, by Elton John and Tim Rice, and taken from the 1994 animated film The Lion King.
Joe Grimy said he was from Boston and yet he had come to hear the senator speak. He said he could he could not see himself voting for anyone else – “Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump”. As for a song for Mr Sanders, he suggested a change of pace, with LL Cool J’s Mama Said Knock You Out.
Rachael Singleton, a nurse, who said she had come to learn more about the senator’s views, appeared momentarily stumped for a song. Then with a smile, she suggested We are the World.
Patrick and Jenny Ruff, a married couple who were waiting to see Mr Sanders, had come toghether to see the candidate. Mr Ruff said he was long-time supporter and had seen the candidate speak twice before. Ms Ruff said this was her first time. She said Mr Sanders' tax policies would even things out a little and help “flatten the playing field”.
“I heard one of those spoken voice albums that they made from some of his speeches,” Mr Ruff said, when asked to pick a song. “And we liked This Land is our Land.”
Among those attending the rally in their ninth decade was Cal Jones, an historian retired government employee. He had been born in Harlem, moved to Brookyln for work, and then returned to the city as fortunes changed again.
At the age of 86, he said he believed that every day Mr Sanders’ campaign persisted represented “a victory”. He said no other candidate was raising the issues the Vermont senator had.
Mr Jones, who was African American, said black voters were not opposed to Mr Sanders, but that he had not received the media attention Ms Clinton had enjoyed over the years and was therefore less well known. Once they heard him, they were won over, he said.
“It’s authentic. People have heard so much, you can sense it,” he said,
Mr Jones chuckled when asked to suggest a song. For a moment he considered something by Ray Charles. Then he changed his mind and opted for a song by Josh White, a black singer and activist who was close to President Franklin Roosevelt.
The song he suggested was What Is America To Me, which was later made famous by Frank Sinatra. Its opening lines are as follows:
"What is America to me?
A name, a map, or a flag I see,
A certain word, “democracy",
What is America to me?"