White House Blues -- the Death of President McKinley

As readers of this blog will quickly learn, I try to find ways to use examples in my classes primarily from two sources -- Seinfeld and bluegrass and older country lyrics (anything before Randy Travis, though I do like Randy and even some of the newer folks). 

A colleague of mine (Ken Gormley) is editing a book entitled Presidents and the Constitution.  The manner in which Roosevelt took office following the death of William McKinley is the subject of a chapter written by the David Shribman, Publisher of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette (sheer coincidence, I promise, that I'm giving them so much air time).  

Being the good colleague that I am, I pointed out, as I often do, there's a country song that covers this.  "White House Blues" was written about the death of President McKinley and succession of Teddy Roosevelt.  First done by Charlie Poole and the North Carolina Ramblers in the early 1930s, my favorite version is Bill Monroe's with Don Reno on banjo, a work which really proves how Bill Monroe invented bluegrass by integrating a whole new style of banjo.  (Here's a youtube clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqrN9TBmfZQ) In the interest of completeness, apparently John Mellencamp also recorded "White House Blues."

Despite my best efforts, my colleague is not including a link to the audio in his book.  How often, I ask you dear readers, do you find a song written about an issue involving the constitution and a president.... 

Comments

[AnonR]

Hmm, let me think.

The Honey Drippers, "Impeach The President"

The Byrds, "He Was A Friend Of Mine" (about assassination, but not constitutional)

Neil Young, "Campaigner"

They Might Be Giants, "James K. Polk" (surprisingly educational! Mentions the election and low tariffs)

[anonanon]

Aside from the above-mentioned versions, other versions of White House Blues that I find on my ipod are from The Dillards (from the live A Long Time Ago album), a version from Broken Valley Road Show, a great band out of Montana, a version from The Bluegrass Sessions Bela Fleck configuration, and a Yonder Mountain String Band version.

Another search of my ipod for 'president' reveals the Norman and Nancy Blake tune 'President Garfield and the Mountain Ranger' - it's just an instrumental and I don't really know what the title references and a quick internet search didn't uncover anything. I have another N&N tune called the 'Constitution March'.

Incidentally, someone who's all about bluegrass and Seinfeld should probably be one of my best friends.

[anonanon]

And continuing with the legal theme, I also find a few versions of 'Philadelphia Lawyer', as done by Woody Guthrie and then a bluegrass version by Bill Keith & Jim Rooney from 1962. It's not a song about legal issues, though.

[Former Editor]

CSNY's "Ohio" arguably counts. I'd hazard a guess that there are a few rap songs that would also fit the bill.