No president has performed heavy metal or even any good rock. Or rap. We have had some insipid piano playing, some mediocre saxophone, and a good version of Amazing Grace. But no real rock ‘n’ roll. Or rap. And I believe the country would be better if the president rocked. Or rapped. However, after extensive, made-up research, I have found that many presidents did make music. Some examples:
Of course, the hits began with George Washington and his surprising novelty, Does the Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavor in the Dentures Overnight?
This was followed by Thomas Jefferson’s unclassifiable, but revealing, song that was huge in the South, Love in Chains. The third president had a follow-up success in the North, Set My Love Free?
It was Dolley Madison who had a hit that referred to her husband’s constitutional amendment career with a refrain still resonating today: “Oh, Jimmy, Jimmy Mad, Are those rights just a fad?”
Andrew Jackson sang now forgotten plaintive Appalachian songs accompanying himself on the acoustic dulcimer.
Then there was Millard Fillmore. No one knew who he was, so no one knew if he sang anything.
Abraham Lincoln accompanied Mary Todd Lincoln on the concertina as she sang, Re-United. Lincoln himself on the late-night tavern circuit tried to set With Malice Toward None to music, but, of course, he never finished it.
Rutherford B. Hayes performed with disastrous consequences still felt today, Reconstruction is for Suckas.
The insomniac William McKinley sang with some success his Mr. Tariffing Man. It was only after the full effects of Smoot-Hawley were seen in the Depression that the lyrics were expanded to include: “that evenings empire has returned into sand/Vanished from my hand/Left me blindly here to stand. . . .”
William Taft, who could not lie, was too obvious when he sang,”I like big butts.” The country back then, however, apparently did not.
Woodrow Wilson seemed convincing when in 1916 he sang “War! What is it good for?” And then he led us into war.
Warren Harding sang old family “darky” songs that would be considered offensive by many today but would be banned by others as DEI.
Calvin Coolidge did not sing but he was a trained mime. He did not get enough recognition for his Man Walking Backwards Against Heavy Wind although he was overpraised for miming handcuffing the Boston Police strikers.
Not surprisingly, FDR could not rock. His only memorable song was The Wheels on the Chair Go ‘Round and ‘Round.
Eisenhower avoided music. He thought that the public would demand from him martial tunes, which he hated.
Kennedy largely spared us those Irish jigs where four or eight bars are endlessly repeated until the fiddler gets tired and stops.
Not many people know that W wrote many lyrics, but they were so filled with malapropisms that no one could understand them.
And now under Trump we have endlessly repeated I Am Just a Fool (in Love) ((with Myself.))
