K-Chuck Radio: The Song-Poem of Jimmy Carter

Rest in peace, Jimmy Carter. This was a President who truly embodied public service. Every family who now lives in a Habitat for Humanity home can thank Jimmy Carter’s commitment and generosity. And while he was President, he helped author the Camp David Accords, the groundbreaking peace plan between Israel and Egypt.

And during his presidency, he was the subject of a song-poem.

Song-poems were a scheme that offered budding songwriters and poems a chance to have their words placed to music and pressed on records. These song-poem companies often advertised in cheap magazines, promising to turn your words into song that will eventually guide you to superstardom. What you received instead were a box of hastily pressed 45’s, all containing a hastily-recorded one-take musical performance. Oh, and you paid for the 45’s. In the book world, this would be called a vanity press. In the music world, it was just another hustle to make money off a consumer.

And people sent in the gooniest poems and songs to these companies, who had no problem setting those words to music. As long as the check cleared, these song-poem companies would make your musical dreams come true.

Trust me, someone once sent in a song-poem with the lyrics “A blind man’s penis is erect because he’s blind,” and a song-poem company pressed some 45’s with those lyrics.

Oh, and while I’m at it … there’s this – er – um – song – called “The Duck Egg Walk.” Don’t blame me for this.

Now I say all this … because someone actually composed a song-poem about his faith in Jimmy Carter as a president. I mean, if you gotta pay the money … look what you get for your efforts. You get “Jimmy Carter Says ‘Yes,'” a song-poem recording that is equal parts sincere and simplistic.

Then again … if I’m going to enjoy any off-the-wall demented recordings about Jimmy Carter … I think I’ll stick with the Dickie Goodman collection, if that’s all right with everyone.