“Music is medicine,” the poetry professor, literary scholar, music historian, and author Andrea Benton Rushing used to tell me. Her words ring true and continue to educate. Volume up:
“Impeach the President,” by the Honey Drippers, immortalized an uptempo funk beat so irresistible it’s been sampled hundreds of times since 1973: “Behind the walls of the White House there’s a lot of things we don’t know about. Behind the walls of the White House there’s a lot of things we should know about…Impeach the president. Impeach the president. Impeach the president.”
Immortal Technique, the Afro-Peruvian hip-hop musician, adapted the Honey Drippers’ classic: “How many times I gotta state my position before y’all say, ‘This lip service, he’s wishin’?’ I been organizing. I got a thousand petitions, been up before sunrise, writing. I’m on a mission.”
“Impeach Me Baby,” by Beverly “Guitar” Watkins, from 2010: “I’ve got to impeach you…The whole world is laughing because of how you done messed up on me. Yes you did.”
“Dance for Impeachment,” by Taarka, is a 2004 ballad built on violin, mandolin, slapped drums, and bass that eases into a crescendo of conflict and resolution.
“Impeach,” by Confab, is a rock riff recorded in Alabama for a 2017 album with another resonant song: “Reason Will Not Save Us.”
“Impeachment With Honor,” by Joe Grease and the Dump Dubya Band, recorded (with honor!) in 2007: “What say our forefathers? If they were around, this White House would crash on down. A disgraceful Bush administration. Cheney seems to want world domination. The president’s fate and Halliburton is on the tape—folks are wonderin’ who’s running our nation…Many times I wonder about Bushie and the lies he’s tellin’ me. With no congressional expense he wants a long Texas fence.”
“Impeach,” by Tom Chelston in 2007: “Well hello, George! The framers of our Constitution, fresh on the heels of revolution, must have seen the writing on the wall. They secured for us an open door in Article 2 Section 4 to commence a presidential overhaul. Now we’ve run this play a few times before. With thousands dying and Bush go lying—illegal torture, illegal spying…I-M-P-E-A-C-H.”
“Impeachment,” by Dream Techno, is time-warp trance with effects-heavy loops glued loosely together by a pulsing beat from 2004.
“Impeach” by Zemog El Gallo Bueno is a 27-second interlude of post-salsa dissonance, commensurate with the headlines. “Each composition is a battleground,” says Abraham Gomez-Delgado.
“Impeach God” by Dethklok is metal apocalypse set to an animated short: “I’m having my Cabinet schedule a debate. The world will be our witness, judged in eyes of hate.”
Bonus tracks:
“Let’s Impeach the President,” by Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young (live in 2008)
“Impeach, Indict, Imprison,” by Pro-Pain (2007)
“Impeach the Planet,” by Naughty by Nature (2011)
