Herman Cain, before becoming a hot political figure, made his living as an executive and then CEO of Godfather's Pizza. Yes, Herman Cain is a pizza man.
Why am I talking food here?
Because another way to reveal when an artist is performing is to reveal that the artist has performed before. The political and legal idea of precedent.
Precedence, in this case, comes in the form of a gospel song in honor of the food that gave him success. Cain has an album of gospel songs on an album released in 2001, called Sunday Morning. The performance comes in 1991, when he made a parody of "Imagine" by John Lennon. The performance has given him considerable likeability, but examining this performance examines the performer in action.
The beginning of the video is an onstage change into a gospel choir outfit, colored white, to stand out from the back, the tell tale chords of John Lennon continuing in the background. Even when he is completely dressed, he waits a moment before slowly bringing the microphone up to begin. This is a sign of performance preparation, of rehearsal to look at oneself, a way of saying 'Look, I'm starting now' that is present in his campaign advertisements. This song in itself, carefully crafted and performed in a swallow-able style, is an advertisement for pizza, his life's center as he puts it. The advertisement itself is a performance and a parody presented with the most serious of intentions. And even the most serious of intentions has a layer of humor surrounding it.
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