Have you seen the new trailer for The Shining? It was the winner of a contest in which entries had to recut the trailer for a film and change the genre without altering the visuals. About halfway into the new version, Peter Gabriel's "Solsbury Hill" starts playing. The song has become a signpost to indicate heartwarming triumph and/or revelation ahead. Sort of in the same way that Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" movement in the Ninth Symphony signals feats of greatness, so much so that it's been used ironically for the same reason.
One of the strangest examples is Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the U.S.A."
It's been used almost as widely as Lee Greenwood's version of "God Bless the USA," but "Born in the U.S.A." is closer to a protest song than an unqualified expression of patriotism. Still, in 1984, then-President Regan called Springsteen's song, "a message of hope so many young people admire."
A more innocuous example is Queen's "We Will Rock You." I can't ever hear that song without thinking of an entire stadium of sportsfans pounding metal bleachers.
What happens when music becomes tied to an emotion or situation that's separate from the original intent of the piece? Does that original intent even matter after the song becomes well known? After all, some music enjoys a resurgence (or even a first time around "surgence) when it gets picked up for a commercial or a film. Do you have a favorite song that's become so overused, you can hardly bear to hear it anymore?
Well of course Ronnie never listened to the song.. but his handlers knew then, as now, jingoism sells.
I believe The Boss tried to sue the GOP over that one, and lost..