Princeton Prez Day Song Spectacular!

Less than an hour left of President's Day -- scant time, you might think, to properly honor our nation's leaders.  You might think that, but you'd be wrong.Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you The American Presidents, an edifying little ditty composed by Princeton's own songsmith Genevieve Ryan '11.  Take it away, Washington Post:

When [second coming of Mozart Genevieve Ryan '11] was 12 or 13, her dad asked her to memorize the order of the presidents as a Father's Day gift. With the help of presidential historian Hugh Sidey, she came up with rhymes to help her remember. She then got former National Symphony Orchestra conductor Leonard Slatkin to help her put her rhymes to music.

Listen here: The American PresidentsIf that's not educational enough -- and really, can you ever know too much about Millard Fillmore? -- also check out the supplemental reference notes that give the story behind each mnemonic presidential couplet.For example, when Ryan writes, "Chester Arthur, twenty-one / Sought reform and got it done," what she means, of course, is that

"as President he signed into law the Pendleton Civil Service Act.  These reforms called for federal government jobs to be filled by those who had the proper experience for the appointment or passed an examination."

If only there was a music video... I've heard Franklin Pierce was quite the looker (sorry, Woody Woo).

(image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/branditressler/ / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)