U.S. Presidents Mentioned in Popular Songs

Cafe Society
1

By “popular songs” I mean to exclude campaign songs and any song that is just a list of the presidents. Also, the song has to refer to the President as a person – otherwise we could end up with hundreds of songs mentioning Washington, D.C.

Here are some I can think of:

George Washington – “Washington at Valley Forge” by Jim Kweskin
Abraham Lincoln – “Abraham, Martin & John” by Dion
Warren Harding – “Warren Harding” by Al Stewart
John F. Kennedy – “Abraham, Martin & John” by Dion
Richard Nixon – “Oh Mommy” by Brewer & Shipley
Richard Nixon – “Ohio” by C, S, N & Y

(I can’t stop you from just Googling a President’s name and “lyrics”, but if you can do it from memory, you’re obviously much cooler!)

2

“James K. Polk” - They Might Be Giants

(Also mentions Martin Van Buren and James Buchanan).

3

“We Didn’t Start the Fire” by Billy Joel mentions** Harry Truman**, Richard Nixon, Eisenhower, and Reagan.

4

Sympathy for The Devil - The Stones

“I shouted out “who killed the Kennedys?,” when after all it was you and me.”

5

The “All in the Family” intro song mentioned Herbert Hoover, but I don’t know that it was a “popular song.”
Johnny Cash “Mr. Garfield.”

6

Jonathan Coulton namedropped them all in one song.

7

Andrew Jackson (as “Colonel Jackson”):
The Battle of New Orleans by Johnny Horton

Franklin Roosevelt:
FDR in Trinidad, from Ry Cooder’s Into the Purple Valley album

8

There’s a lot of Bill Clinton in rap, because he such a playa. One that I remember is Snoop Dogg’s "Lay Low"

“They call me Jed Clampett for all the bread I got
But they call me Bill Clinton for all the head I got”

9

So Missus R., with all her trimmin’s,
Can broadcast a bed from Simmons
'Cause Franklin knows
Anything goes!

10

Harry Truman by Chicago.

Nixon is mentioned in David Bowie’s Young Americans.

From my school days, the group Up with people had a song called, Freedom isn’t free, with words “There was a man by the name of George, who led a small band of men at valley forge”

11

Bob Dylan’s manic version of “Must Be Santa” includes the chant:

Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen
Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon
Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen
Carter, Reagan, Bush, and Clinton

(Evidently Gerald Ford gets coal in his stocking.)

12

The Escape Club had a popular hit with Wild Wild West in the 1980’s

:…Ronny’s got a new gun…" I’m sure this is a reference to Ronald Reagan and the SDI program.

13

Oh, the Battle of New Orleans by Johnny Horton mentions just Jackson, as he was not President then, but a soldier.

14

Living Colour’s Cult of Personality includes Kennedy.

15

Warren Zevon’s “Veracruz” mentions Woodrow Wilson.

They Might Be Giants has a song named James K. Polk, about the president of that name.

The Misfits “Bullet” is about the JFK assassination and mentions him by name.

16

And JFK.

Also, two numbers from musicals:

“LBJ” from Hair
“We’d Like To Thank You, Herbert Hoover” from Annie
ETA: Reagan gets a mention in Sting’s “Russians”. And Simply Red’s “Money’s Too Tight To Mention” refers to “Reaganomics”, which probably counts.

17

Abie Baby, the cast of “Hair”: Emanci-muthafuckin’-pator of the slaves.

18

Kennedy is also mentioned (along with counterpart Khrushchev) in Queen’s Killer Queen.

19

Speaking of him, he is mentioned in Car 54 where are you’s, theme song, “Khrushchev’s due at Idlewild”, is that Kennedy airport now?

20

Yes.