An Inaugural Request

First, here is yet another, nearly 100 year old song-poem ad, in this case from a 1918 edition of Photoplay Magazine, courtesy of correspondent Pete. Thanks, Pete:

And speaking of Pete, he made a request nearly four months ago, which it has taken me forever to get to. However, with the horror that is about to be visited upon us around midday on Friday in Washington, D.C., it turns out that the delay has pushed my honoring of Pete's request to the perfect time. For today, we will remember that point at which multitudes of song-poets descended on the song-poem factories en masse and demanded to have music set to their songs praising a new president: Jimmy Carter.

Jimmy Carter's move to the White House (as was also true of the death of Elvis Presley several months later) came around one of the heights of the popularity of song-poem companies. The volume of product that the big labels pumped out in the mid- and late- 70's is astonishing, and most of it (to my ears, anyway) far crappier than the earlier material. But such was the volume of submissions, that Preview records was able to press an entire album of songs about Jimmy Carter.

And it is this album that Pete asked me about. The most famous song from the album is "Jimmy Carter Says Yes", which was on the first two song-poem compilations, and which is easy to find online. Pete asked me if I owned the album. I don't, but I do have two other tracks from this Gene Marshall spectacular, obtained in my early days of collecting via cassette tape trade. And so, today, here are two songs for one of the great Americans of our time, as we prepare for the assault by one of the far lesser Americans of this, or any time.

First up, the title song from the album, "President Jimmy Carter, We Salute You", written by James Wilson, Jr., and featuring some of the tortured syntax which is a hallmark of his compositions (although it is missing the made-up words that occur in many of Wilson's most interesting songs, such as "Liblanders Cahoot").

Download: Gene Marshall: President Jimmy Carter, We Salute You
Play:

And here is the other song I have from that album, "What A Man, A Man's Man! Jimmy Carter", written by the absolutely wonderfully named Waskey Elwood Walls, Jr.

Download: Gene Marshall: What A Man, A Man's Man! Jimmy Carter
Play:

See you next week. If there is a next week.