Washy Ad Jeffy

MP3 at http://www.jonathancoulton.com

When I was a wee lad my father taught me the greatest mnemonic device in the history of mnemonic devices. It's called "Washy Ad Jeffy" and it's a little jingle/rhyme thingie that helps you remember the order of all the US presidents and how many terms (or partial terms) they served - the number of syllables in the nickname is the number of terms. My father learned it from Mrs. Govan, his 8th grade history teacher at Memorial Junior High School in Ohio. He believes she made it up, but he's not entirely sure. At the time he learned it, and of course when he taught it to me, it only went up to Eisenhower. I have added to it over the years, so really it's a collaboration between Mrs. Govan (maybe?) and me.

I've always wanted to set this to music, and with the recent intense primary season, it came back into my mind again. I added the little B section in which I tell all the little children that they can be president too someday, a possibility that has already become that much more possible for many kids, regardless of what happens in November. So yeah, this one's for the Democrats: both of them.

This is the video of me recording it - there's no multi-tracking, it's all live (I'm playing a tambourine and an empty kitty litter jug with my feet). And to save you the trouble of extracting the audio, I've made an mp3 as well, which can be got at http://www.jonathancoulton.com

Category:

Music

Tags:

• jonathan coulton
• presidents

[guineapigwhispererrr]

Jonathan doesn't need a major label.

He has us.

[crowsbeak]

Guess what: I got a fever, and the only prescription is more kitty litter jug!

[howle06]

I like the way he balances two fragile boxes on his head throw ought the entire song. This man's incredible,

[HoneeMustard]

this helped me on my APUSH exam three years ago :)

[sheik530]

@dontlookatme011197 Because he hasn't been found by anyone major that I know of, but he certainly deserves it! ^-^

[Lethnion]

thank you for your conributions for the enrichment of pepole =)

my BFs contribution has a lot o humor aswell look him up hes nighbreed32

the video in perticular is I ate your corpse =) enjoy

[DylanBassTucker]

Dude everything you do is awesome! Keep it up!

[Mellow137]

@dontlookatme011197 There's a lot of talented musicians who don't get the radio play they deserve.

[Zomgwhattehguh]

He likes his non-label status. He has all his stuff up for cheap on his own website, and alot of his songs are optionally free/to pay. He's too awesome for a major label anyways (: If you really like him, look up some of his live shows, he always keeps his fans laughing :D. Oh, and this legitimately made me pass my US History final XD.

[mowmoh]

please do more "educational" songs. this is amazing

[dontlookatme011197]

that guy sings great O.O how come i don't hear him in the radio?

[GtarTravis]

And people wonder why I'm humming this song during my history class...