‘Hold On, I’m Coming’ closed out Trump’s convention speech. The songwriter says he didn’t want it played

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