They Might Be Giants - James K. Polk Lyrics

apush kids wya

fuck you Van Buren, we need another Polk, lets take fucking Canada they're pussies now anyway

my social studies teacher knows these people irl, lmao he showed us this video

Julian Koster, the singing saw player of Neutral Milk Hotel and the lead singer of the Music Tapes, was the singing saw player in this song. So you can technically link Neutral Milk Hotel to TMBG.

Thank you for having this song online. They Might Be Giants created a lot of fun songs.

This song has helped me SO MANY TIMES in figuring out American history timelines.

I have to analyze this song for AP US History.

play at 1.25+ speed for a real party

Los territorios que le quito a Mexico estan llenos de paisanos; poco a poco iremos reconquistando lo que EUA nos robo.

Good historical content, but a terrible song

Fuck u Lukas

In my TMBG playlist. Thanks for the upload!

Fucking leftist cuckolds. Expansionism is one of the few sane policies.

One of the coolest and funniest songs ever.

Thank you Mr. Angelo would've never found this piece of art without you

Theremin FTW

Technically a singing saw.

This is cool I guess. i found out James K. Polk is my great x7 Grandpa! So that's cool.

He didn't have any kids....

I think he might mean great x 7 granduncle

One of the most successful presidents in American history, he achieved almost every single thing he campaigned for and set about doing...which unfortunately included a campaign promise to only serve one term , which he of course kept. Polk County Tennessee named after him is a very beautiful part of the country.

#presidentsDay !!

the instrumental in the beginning is kind of a rip off of Peggy Sue

Remember the Alamo was from the Texas Revolution and not the Mexican War

sounds like Trump!

this song was how i found out about TMBG because of the presidential podcast YAYA

When you got a history test tomorrow..

Happy birthday, James K.!

12 people wanted Senator Henry Clay to win instead

Can confirm, I am an immortal democrat representative who supported him

Paul Seaton I'm from Kentucky. So yeah. I mean hey, anyone's better than the senators we have now...

Henry Clay was the best president who was never president.

As distinguished from Benjamin Franklin, "the only president of the United States who was never president of the United States" (Firesign Theater).

Now all Henry Clay has is an epic cigar brand named after him.

My apush class is obsessed with this song XD

They left out that whole slavery part...seems like a prettty big oversight.

+Liam James It did mention Van Buren ran as an abolitionist. The interesting thing about that is that earlier in his career Van Buren didn't oppose slavery, but his views changed later.

+Liam James 
From what I read of him in A Country of Vast Designs by Robert Merry he didn't seem like he particularly _cared_ one way or the other as far as preservation of it. The moments where he seemed to care were mostly pragmatic concerns about infighting and keeping the party together. No doubt he held views on race of that era (nonwhites being inferior), but I don't think that informed his expansionist goals. I think it was more nationalism and pragmatic politicking that motivated him than racism...unlike Jackson. I'm still shocked that guy (Jackson) is _still_ on the the 20 dollar bill! Even by those days standards he was a psycho and a fucking lunatic.

+Benny W A flip flopper! My how the news channels would roast him in this day an age.

Decaffeinated 4671
Not to mention a murderer

Slavery? Xin loi, my man. Xin loi!

The singing saw and drums right after the " in four short years..." part are just amazing.
Also, funny how this song was also a dark horse, becoming unexpectedly popular.

Sung to the tune of "The Man on the Flying Trapeze"
Written in 1963 by Jon Hill (no relation to Matthew) at Inglewood High School, Inglewood, California, for the James K. Polk Fan Club, of which three members were suspended for distributing unapproved material (including this song) on campus.

(Verse)He's our man from Tennessee, and we all love him dearly.
We all know his name, we all know his fame, Jimmie--he's for me.
(Chorus) Abe's got a beard, Ulysses S. drinks, Mallard's a quack, and Zachary stinks.
Everyone knows Van Buren's a fink, let's do the James K. Polka
(Verse) We don't want to waltz, we don't want to mash
Those new hectic dances are just so much trash
Let's do the favorite of all simple folk-a
Let's do the James K. Polka

Pretty funny.

cracking song

They left out the real reason he only served one term... Chronic Dysentery. 

Irritable Bow-wow Syndrome

That's right  in there with Mar-Tie's "Tribute To Beethoven".

This should have been Al Bundy's high school alma mater.

James Polk

Best President we ever had, seriously

@Michael Fox True, but Washington was an enigma and I don't count him...he was much more than a President, and he did have issues his 2nd term with Politics and bitches like Alexander Hamilton who was the Liberal of his time "People cannot make decisions for themselves"

you serious? you think he was the best? 

@0326hkim OH NO, trying to start a fight with me over the internet?

You serious? 

Not gonna bite

Imapotato Polk is definitely in the top 10 of greatest us presidents.

Well, Alexander Hamilton is the subject of some varying opinion, some say he was effectively the worst person alive for the time, others say he was extremely important in the development of the modern day federal treasury system. His ideas on incurring a national debt were simply brilliant, though he did give a several hours long speech on why he should be president, (only to be rejected and barred for life from the presidency, thanks to a new rule that suggests the president must be a natural born citizen, Hamilton was from the Caribbean.) @Imapotato

I was just looking for a Walker Tariff of 1846 song or rap for school... but i ended up finding this O.0

my history teacher is obsessed with this song

Same here

Who isn't?

more than fortunate son?

You should have been the one making fun of them XD

I love this song~ this made zero period AP history so worth it!

Well Shit.looks like i meant Jake. Love Swype.

Good for you James. You win the "Nobody gives a Fuck about your life" award.

No shame in turning here, AP history students!
Your classmates are probably memorizing Animaniacs songs as I write this.

Alienation's for the rich

Oh big deal. I've worked 12 hour days and foregone vacations for four year stretches. And TMBG never sang a song about me.

Sincerely,
Particle Man

James K Polk was a true workaholic. Twelve hour days were not uncommon during Polk's time in office. He hardly ever left Washington. In his view, vacations were a waste of time. I admire him though for his work ethic and because I think he's the only president in American history who actually delivered on his campaign promises.

And the only sitting president to turn down renomination.

Yeah, it's actually eighth grade though. But most kids are extremely slow.

I clicked on this one cause James K. Polk is the name of the school in Ned's Declassified

Just as a point of clarification, the musical or singing saw is not technically an "actual" saw as they are made to not be sharpened to prevent accidental injuries.

Reading another student's dissertation on this election and this song is coursing through my brain throughout.

Oh trust me, I am no genius XD But I think you could pretty much tell that...

Genius doesn't have an "o" in it. ;)

I LOVE THIS SONG! THANKS FOR THE POST!

No, he just threatened war over it and got them to split it. And Van Buren did hold anti-slavery sentiments, but felt the practice was constitutionally sanctioned. So, if not 100% accurate, then the song is close enough.

Except it's not 100% accurate, i.e. nobody bought Oregon and Van Buren was not an abolitionist.

Yeah I bet that makes you a genious, god damn, oh wait you like the Steelers nevermind lol

is high school really this shitty now that you're learning about Polk in AP classes? holy fuck, they covered him in-depth when i was in like 7th fucking grade in the 90s...

kids these days must be really fucking slow.

Oh, I did as well. Then the topic was re-covered in AP classes. The idea behind the AP course taking two years is the idea of covering EVERYTHING in chronological order. From the formation of Joint Stock Companies to the civil rights movements of the late '60s and on. And seeing as average IQ scores increase each year by ten points due to the Flynn effect, I'd say kids aren't too slow. That isn't to say "Jah-queen" and "lil-bruh wit da juul" aren't drowning in academic failures.

I still waiting for them come to Italy

Didn't knew Julian Koster appears on this album.

listened to this in honors Us. I was the only one who knew these guys.

My only problem with this is that Martin Van Buren wasn't an abolitionist. He was just a guy seizing on the political cause of the time trying to win re-election. *Shrugs*

But it's an awesome song. :)

I felt like such a nerd when I brought this into APUSH class on cd for the whole class to listen to. James K. Polk was badass, he deserves his own song!

Damn straight!

54' 40" OR FIGHT!

I hope this song will come in handy for tomorrow's APUSH test.

Hooray! The good version with the saw! It'd been so long since I heard this. The other version just isn't nearly as good.

Presidents by Jonathon Coulton helps with APUSH pop quiz's as well

Bring back learning through song! It shouldn't be just for kids anymore! Learning is forever.

@IVANLULE I tell you true, that if you are armed with this knowledge, you are very cool.
Good job.

Such power in the lyrical and musical phrasing of this song. When I hear "...Mr. James K. Polk, our 11th President"...I get goosebumps. It's just that good.

Like this if u hate APUSH and this song.

@BKKilby is that an intentional music tapes reference?

One of my favorite TMBG songs. It fulfills my Manifest Destiny.

Really helps with APUSH! 8)

My new favorite song.

we had to sing this in AP US History, everyone made fun of me cuz i know who these guys were :/

best version