I am beginning to think that maybe my memory is not quite correct, since I have Googled and Yahoo!ed the lyrics that I remember from this song but can’t find any references to it.
It was on an 8-track tape that my parents had in the seventies. I am thinking it was one of those “K-Tel” type things with songs by a variety of bands/solo performers.
Anyway, the song was about our dear old, resigned in disgrace ex-President Richard M. Nixon. I am not sure if the song was actually intended to be taken seriously as a re-election ad or if it was supposed to be making fun of the Trickster while seeming to be supportive of him.
The lyrics I remember were (I think) something like “come on everybody, keep the ship afloat, use the power, register and vote!” followed by a chorus of “Dick Nixon, for the red white and blue! Dick Nixon (something that rhymes with blue).”
Anyone else recall this, and who the band was that did the song? And was it really intended as a pro-Nixon statement or was it tongue in cheek (it sort of sounded like the latter to me IIRC)?
You see, I am a huge Lindsey Buckingham/Fleetwood Mac fan, and in 1974 pre-FM, LB guested on the flip side of a single called “Nixon’s the One” with another song called “PreImpeachment Blues” on the B-side. The artists credited were somebody called Kathryn & Duffy & The Enemies.
LB and Waddy Wachtel both played on it. Waddy has played with everyone from James Taylor to Linda Roundstadt, Stevie Nicks, and Melissa Etheridge.
I hope this helps. Maybe it is what you are thinking of. It was a quirky, little-known thing, even at the time.
My brother found a song called “God bless Richard Nixon”, singing about the guy in quasi-religious reverence. I’m not sure if i’s legit or a brilliant deadpan satire.
God, in His infinite wisdom
Put Richard Nixon on the Earth
to bring to us his heritage
One of priceless worth.
Let’s not forget the rock opera Richard Nixon Superstar. It featured such songs as The Football Game, The Loyal Opposition, Sesame Street, and Public Servant Number 1.
No, I am not making this up. I’ve got a copy of the record (the back of the cover says it was also available in cassette stereo tapes and Ampex 8-track) beside me as I type.
Legit (I think). I remember hearing this song (although they said the title was just Richard Nixon) in a PBS documentary about song-poems. There are a number of companies that will take lyrics you write and make a song out of them for a fee. This is an example of one of the results.
(Going off-topic, there was a really funny scene in that documentary where a sort of old-man type sent in his lyrics about something he was inspired by while watching a sci-fi flick. Aliens come to Earth, and the first person they meet decides to ask if they want to dance. They do! However, most of his lyrics, besides the setup, are just “Do you like to boogie? Yes, I like to boogie. Boogie, boogie, boogie.” So the man writing the music also had to come up with a chorus. The man who wrote the lyrics, listening to the finished product, had a look on his face that didn’t really tell us what his opinion of the song was. Very funny.)
Nothing beats Country Joe McDonald’s epic: Tricky Dicky.
*Late last night I was watchin’ the tube when I saw the most incredible thing
They built a new mechanical man, looked just like a human being.
I started to become terrified, Good God it was makin’ me sick
Then I began to realize it was no one but Tricky Dick.
It was Tricky Dicky from Yorba Linda hip hip hip hurrah
It was Tricky Dicky from Yorba Linda hip hip hip hurrah.
Well, he walks and he talks and he smiles, he frowns, he does what a human can,
He’s Tricky Dicky from Yorba Linda, he’s the genuine plastic man.*
Hmm…it might be this one, although I’d have to see the lyrics to know for sure.
Since we are listing other songs about Tricky Dicky, how about “Here’s to the State of Richard Nixon” by Phil Ochs. Which was a slight re-write of his earlier “Here’s to the State of Mississippi.” And which this Phil Ochs fan has since updated to “Here’s to the State of Georgie Dubbya!” If only Phil were still around to sing it…
