Happy Presidents Day! Music Times is taking it upon ourselves to bring music inspired by the Presidents of the United States to our readers. Namely, our first two Presidents, George Washington and John Adams. Check out the best music done in the name of the first head of the United States below:
"George Washington" by Brad Neely
Any list dedicated to music and George Washington has to begin and end with the class animated video "George Washington" by Brad Neely. Forget everything you learned in school about how he was a simple dude, or how historical revisionists want you to believe that the General actually had a rather lackluster record in major battles. Neely gives the real story of Washington in full, awkwardly animated fashion. Among the biographical details you learn are of his bloodlust, his sexual prowess, and his willingness to save children...just not the British children. If you were in college at around the same time we were, you couldn't have missed this, one of the earlier viral videos in YouTube history. WARNING: This is fairly NSFW, probably R-rated in theaters.
"Father of The Land We Love" by George Cohan
Although every good American loves George Washington, the Babe Ruth figure in the history of American politics-as-baseball, George Cohan was an especially large fan. He was a Tin Pan Alley writer so he could have easily written about every American president up to that point but he focused on the first: One of his first musicals was titled George Washington Jr., about a boy (played by Cohan) so disillusioned with his own corrupt father that he begins to look at the father of the country as his pops. That musical also featured the tribute "Washington, He Was A Wonderful Man." Several decades later, to celebrate the 200th birthday of his real-life idol, Cohan wrote the tribute "Father of The Land We Love," repeating the old adage that the President was "first in war, first in peace."
"Washington Dreams of The Hippopotamus"
The Standard Recording Company released an epic three-disc set during 2008 titled Of Great and Mortal Men: 43 Songs for 43 U.S. Presidencies. Washington's entry to the catalogue was special in that it got a music video and a guest spot from Vince DiFiore, the the longtime trumpet player for Cake. His ode isn't much of an ode however: Like the rest of the album, it tends to be more sarcastically written than reverential. In it, Washington spends a little time mocking the gullibility of Congress and a lot more time discussing his dreams and concerns that the hippopotamus from which the ivory for his famous false teeth will come back for revenge. Better watched than listened to:
"Hail Columbia" by Philip Phile/Joseph Hopkinson
The United States wasn't aware that it was going to set the standard for democracy for the future, and in fact many of its citizens didn't really think Washington would step down after eight years as he did. Perhaps that's why Joseph Hopkinson and Philip Phile, the respective lyricist and composer of "Hail Columbia," made him seem like a god during the song, composed for his inauguration in 1789. Working Washington's name into the lyrics ("Let Washington's great name/ring through the world with loud applause) and indeed even some of the praise of his governing ability ("with equal skill, with God-like pow'r") suggest this was new territory. The most surprising thing: "Hail Columbia" essentially remained the national anthem until being officially replaced with "The Star Spangled Banner" during 1931.
"From Vernon's Mount Behold The Hero Rise" by Oliver Holden
Indeed, Washington eventually ceded his power but that didn't stop the citizens of his country from treating him as a divine figure (and indeed, that may have been the downfall of the less statuesque John Adams, who only served one term). Upon Washington's death during 1799, many dedicated tributes to the fallen hero. Oliver Holden composed "From Vernon's Mount Behold The Hero Rise," almost painting Washington as a Christ-like figure who would rise from his own grave. The song was featured at his memorial service.
"George Washington" by Brad Neely
We were serious. Every list of music dedicated to Washington should begin AND end with this video.
