Comments on: Washy Ad Jeffy

By: Nic

Nic — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 18:09:46 +0000

I’ve been searching for this for 10 years. I wanted to teach it to my kids. I learned it in grade five, upson elementary school in Euclid Ohio in the 70’s, and my teacher was miss bugeda. Thank you a million times!!

By: JGR

JGR — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 22:01:21 +0000

Re: How to determine who died / was asassinated in office: All presidents up intil Reagan (Who was shot, but didn’t die) elected in a year ending in zero (1940,1960,1980 etc) were either asassinated or died in office.

I don’t remember if this goes back all the way to Washigton; but it seems to have stopped at Reagan.

Thanks for the song! Cool!

By: Len

Len — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 12:21:11 +0000

I, too went to South Euclid/Lyndhurst schools and learned this in grade school in the 50’s. Must have been around 4th or 5th grade at Anderson school, because I distinctly remember having to change “Ike” to “Ikey,” when he won his second election in 1956.

Len Blake

By: CJ

CJ — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 22:24:18 +0000

I just stubled on to the Washy Ad Jeffy song when doing a Goggle search for a rhyme about the US Presidents. Someone told me one years ago that started with “Washington and Jefferson…” and there was something about painting a fence. I could never find that rhyme, but I really loved your song. So much so that I played it over and over. I loved that your song teaches how many terms each President served.
Kind regards,
CJ

By: Roman V

Roman V — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 18:24:41 +0000

@JoCO! Yes, Lyndhurst. I went to that Memorial Junior High.

By: snortingmarmots

snortingmarmots — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 13:23:53 +0000

Wonderful song. Right up there with the mnemonic song for pi over at Songs to Wear Pants To:

http://www.songstowearpantsto.com/songs/i-am-the-first-fifty-digits-of-pi/

By: Ryan Something

Ryan Something — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 14:54:43 +0000

Joco: nope, nevermind than

By: Wayne

Wayne — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 02:36:40 +0000

This is great and all, but shouldn't this be done with the list of famous people with dyslexia?

By: JoCo

JoCo — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 00:46:21 +0000

Ryan: Lyndhurst?

By: Ryan Something

Ryan Something — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 22:26:17 +0000

exactly what part of Ohio was this “Memorial Junior High School” located?

there’s a “Memorial” here in northern ohio where i live, but i’m sure there are many around….

awesome song by the way!

By: SevinPackage

SevinPackage — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 18:55:28 +0000

Sounds great, JoCo! I still prefer ‘The Presidents’, but hey, nothing wrong with expanding on the idea.

Len did a great job on the VTAW – and so fast, too!

Maybe next time, you could do a version where you sort them by how good they were at being the President. That would put the ol’ forums in a frenzy!

By: JoCo

JoCo — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 16:22:17 +0000

Jimbo: yep, Bob’s absolutely right. Too late! Sounded great in my head though…

By: Jim Boggia

Jim Boggia — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 15:03:34 +0000

Hey – Mr. School House Rock, Bob Dorough called. He said it really doesn’t help the kids much when your vocal is so low in the mix you can’t hear the words. But YOU WOULDN’T CARE ABOUT ACTUALLY TEACHING THE KIDS SOMETHING, WOULD YOU. FREAKIN’ LONG-HAIR!

I’d like to point out that *I* thought it was great but Bob doesn’t have internet and I promised him I’d pass that along.

By: Andrea

Andrea — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 06:19:05 +0000

@marcy NOOOOO you’ll jinx it! :O

By: Jen

Jen — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 20:26:01 +0000

I put together "an historical remix" of the song, with some of the extra info Gitelson mentions woven in. Enjoy.

By: selene

selene — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 17:58:04 +0000

happy dadys day!!!!!!!!!

By: Grant

Grant — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 15:05:17 +0000

I love the specifically because the vocals lay exactly in my shamefully limited vocal range, so I get to sing along without embarrassing myself.

Extremely catchy. Wonderful work.

By: LilMarauder

LilMarauder — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 14:43:32 +0000

“I’m playing a tambourine and an empty kitty litter jug with my feet”
I was wondering what that was… not the tambourine…

Another great one! Looking forward to seeing you in Cleveland!

By: Dobblesworth

Dobblesworth — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 21:36:17 +0000

Wow, very nice item JoCo. Now I just need to play The Presidents in synch with it so I know which ones you’re referring to in places.

By: winegeek

winegeek — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 19:00:21 +0000

Thank you for such a sweet, sweet melody!
(you know you are going to have to make a children’s album of songs, right???)

By: Jamie McCarthy

Jamie McCarthy — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 17:00:33 +0000

“Ken.”

So sad.

By: Gitelson

Gitelson — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 16:18:30 +0000

Cute, man. Now all you have to do is figure out how to indicate which were killed, died naturally, or resigned…

I learned a narrative mnemonic in grade school through Hayes, then wrote my own coda for the year I taught U.S. History, though it doesn’t have the syllabic thing going on. Here it is, for your reading pleasure:

In Washington, Adam and Jeff made money for an adventure to Jacksonville. At the bureau, they put hairy tiles on the poker table to fill more holes left by a cannon when Lincoln jaunted through the grand haze. In a car field, Arthur split hairs to leave land to his next of kin, whose rows of taffy willows were hard and cool. However, only a rose in a true man’s eyes can die jauntily; and only Nick’s son could afford to cart ray guns or bus his clients to the butcher.

By: Demetrius

Demetrius — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 15:58:40 +0000

“Jen Says:”

Yes! My car sports an “FW” sticker proclaiming me to be a proud citizen of the Free World.

By: Tindomiel

Tindomiel — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 15:46:10 +0000

Squee! That is adorable.

By: VonKraut

VonKraut — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 13:31:00 +0000

Like the song, nice finger pickin!

By: Erin V

Erin V — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 12:21:20 +0000

Nice!

By: CoderBlues

CoderBlues — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 04:34:10 +0000

Good tune.

By: Jen

Jen — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 02:35:07 +0000

P.S. More kitty litter jug!

By: Jen

Jen — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 02:33:25 +0000

Ah, peeps, the fate of the free world hangs in the balance — so if you hear this song performed live, be sure to follow the “W” in this song with an immediate, definitive Standing O!

By: Glenn Peters

Glenn Peters — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 01:09:58 +0000

Oh no! I’d only just yesterday finally gotten all your music on my iPod! Now those minutes of work are ruined! RUINED!

You do realize this is a perfect weapon to control the fate of the nation by stating the name of the next president in the lyrics, don’t you?

By: Elaine

Elaine — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 01:06:34 +0000

When I was in junior high I must have been tested on all the presidents up to Lincoln, because for some reason I made up a mnemonic just for those 16:

Wash all jeans Monday morning, after jumping very high to pick the freshest peaches before lunch.

In the intervening 20+ years I’ve tried to expand it, but nothing has ever stuck.

By: Sokkratez

Sokkratez — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 00:53:18 +0000

Love it, man.

By: Angelastic

Angelastic — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 00:20:24 +0000

Oh yeah, and the chords and tabs, because he doesn’t call himself suuupaa for nothing: http://www.jonathancoulton.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=752&page=1#Item_4

By: Angelastic

Angelastic — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 00:18:54 +0000

The lyrics are here: http://www.jonathancoulton.com/songdetails/Washy%20Ad%20Jeffy

(there’s an advantage to discovering a new song on the store before finding it on the blog!)

By: dezrah

dezrah — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 00:14:01 +0000

This is one of my favorite birthday presents ever, thanx!

(and I’ll back Marcy with a lyric request)

By: IndigoMonkey

IndigoMonkey — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 00:13:13 +0000

Awesome, as always.

By: Madame Maracas

Madame Maracas — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 23:55:19 +0000

Thanks for the audio extraction, you rock me all the way to Skullcrusher Mountain and back again, every time!

By: Marcy

Marcy — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 23:50:25 +0000

I like it! Don’t ya’ think you should stick Obama on the end, just in case? ha ha ha ha ha!!!! Would you put up a lyric sheet please?

Thanks!

By: adventureran

adventureran — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 23:42:06 +0000

Love the new song. Thanks! Can’t wait for the Cleveland show!

By: Angelastic

Angelastic — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 23:26:31 +0000

Neat… I just noticed this on the store after clicking a link from zefrank’s page back here (after having finally figured out where those Ze Frank songs came from). What a nice surprise. Of course I already know all of the presidents thanks to The Presidents, and I have no need to know them, not being American. But it sounds good.

By: Oliver

Oliver — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 23:16:36 +0000

Sounds beautiful.

By: Laura

Laura — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 22:47:00 +0000

i love a mnemonic device, especially in song form.

i just watched the daily show from wednesday, nice work.