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"Our Yankee Doodle Presidents"


Click on the speaker to listen to Ortyn & The Aliens sing:
"Our Yankee Doodle Presidents"

Click on any President's name to see his portrait and read his biographical sketch.


                 

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   "Hi, Everybody!  This is Ortyn...

And we're The Aliens...

There's no place like the U.S.A.!"    

*   *   *   *   *

                 

We were spawned so far away … upon a distant planet

We’ve grown fond of the U.S.A. … we’ve bonded to her granite

Soon we’ll be her citizens … yes we’ll get naturalized when

All her fine Presidents … in order … we have memorized them

             

Yankee Doodle Presidents … oh so fine and dandy

If you would recall them all … this silly song keep handy

             

Washington was “Number One” … “The Father of Our Nation”

John Adams … then Tom Jefferson … who wrote our Declaration

Madison … then James Monroe … he authored his own Doctrine

John Quincy … Squire Adams’ bloke … “Old Hick’ry” … Andrew Jackson

             

Yankee Doodle Presidents … oh so fine and dandy

If you would recall them all … this silly song keep handy

             

Martin Van Buren came eighth … he wore a red begonia

To Harrison inaugurate … poor William caught pneumonia

Tyler Polk … and Taylor … who stood at The White House front door

Were supervened by “Prez Thirteen” … the late great Millard Fillmore

             

Yankee Doodle Presidents … oh so fine and dandy

If you would recall them all … this silly song keep handy

             

Franklin Pierce … then James Buchanan … delayed Civil War strife

They left that fray for “Honest Abe”… which cost Lincoln his own life

Andrew Johnson got impeached … no way he could prevent it

Though at his trial the charge was breached by one vote in The Senate

             

Yankee Doodle Presidents … oh so fine and dandy

If you would recall them all … this silly song keep handy

             

Eighteenth was Ulysses Grant … who’d bested Robert E. Lee

Then dawned the days of Gen’ral Hayes … the brilliant Rutherford B.

James A. Garfield … frontier man and log cabin “Tom Sawyer”

While at the D. C. station got shot by some loony lawyer

             

Yankee Doodle Presidents … oh so fine and dandy

If you would recall them all … this silly song keep handy

                 

Noble Chester Arthur made a splash at one-and-twenty

Up next was Grover Cleveland who got thrashed but still had plenty

Harrison “The Second” functioned longer than the first one

Till Mister Cleveland reappeared … our only pre-rehearsed one

             

Yankee Doodle Presidents … oh so fine and dandy

If you would recall them all … this silly song keep handy

                  

Will McKinley loved to visit … traveling just thrilled him

He shuffled off to Buffalo where loopy Leon killed him

Mighty “Teddy” Roosevelt … by no man could he be licked

A softly spoken war hero … he carried such a big stick

              

Yankee Doodle Presidents … oh so fine and dandy

If you would recall them all … this silly song keep handy

              

Taft gave way to Wilson … then the world began bombarding

The Armistice restored the peace and brought us Warren Harding

“Silent Calvin” Coolidge was as tight-lipped as a cold clam

Herbert Hoover coined the gold to build himself a bold dam

             

Yankee Doodle Presidents … oh so fine and dandy

If you would recall them all … this silly song keep handy

             

Franklin Roosevelt … fifth cousin of intrepid “T. R.”

Scored four elections … beat Depression … won The Second World War

Harry Truman … haberdasher … less refined but well dressed

 Without a middle name to sign … he only had to spell “S”

                

Yankee Doodle Presidents … oh so fine and dandy

If you would recall them all … this silly song keep handy

             

Eisenhower … a golfing man … was wicked with his putter

Though “Ike” might strike you mellow … he whipped Adolf Hitler’s butter

John Fitzgerald Kennedy departed this world too soon

Our astronauts … in memory … shed teardrops on a blue Moon

             

Yankee Doodle Presidents … oh so fine and dandy

If you would recall them all … this silly song keep handy

            

Lyndon Johnson ticked off five years … Texas bred “L. B. J.”

He picked his hounds up by their ears … what else but “Ouch!” can we say?

Richard Nixon … he resigned … that’s written in our textbooks

Before he quit he told his fans … “Your President is no crook!”

            

Yankee Doodle Presidents … oh so fine and dandy

If you would recall them all … this silly song keep handy

              

Gerald Ford then strode erect … composure all collected

Into The Oval Office never having been elected

Jimmy Carter flashed a smile… his style just might impress you

“The Gipper” … Ronald Reagan … rode two landslides to our rescue

           

Yankee Doodle Presidents … oh so fine and dandy

If you would recall them all … this silly song keep handy

         

George Bush “One” was true blue chip … he promised “No new taxes!”

He quipped to Congress … “Read my lips!” … then clipped Saddam’s Iraqxis

Clinton hailed from Arkansas … Bill used to be their “Guv’na”

He plays off-Broadway nowadays … replaced by Bush … “G Dubya”

          

Yankee Doodle Presidents … oh so fine and dandy

If you would recall them all … this silly song keep handy

        

Now we’ve come full-circle from our first through forty-third guy

“George Dubya” to “George Dubya” … such coincidence occurred by

We hope that you’ll keep this song within your mind preserved … thus

Whene’er you sing it then you’ll cite each President who’s served us

       

Yankee Doodle Presidents … oh so fine and dandy

If you would recall them all … this silly song keep handy

        

Yankee Doodle Presidents … oh so fine and dandy

If you would recall them all … this silly song keep handy

                 

© 2002 Damon Leigh (ASCAP)

All Rights Reserved