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Author: They Might Be Giants
Sung by: John Linnell
Length: 0: 0
On Albums: Istanbul (Not Constantinople), Factory Showroom, Kit Kat Acoustic Break, Show #1

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From: Eli McIlveen

James K. Polk
They Might Be Giants

[Convention: each chord is two beats/half a measure.
 A dash indicates that the chord is held for another two beats.
 A note in brackets following a chord indicates that the note
 is played by the bass against the chord.]

1.
|:   C            G(B)       C  F(A)         C  G  C  F  :|
In eighteen forty-four, the Democrats were split
The three nominees for the presidential candidate

     C          G        C           F          C   F    G  -
Were Martin Van Buren, a former president and an abolitionist

        C         F   G   -
James Buchanan, a moderate

      C       F       G     Am    D   D(C)  D(B)  D(A)
Louis Cass, a general and expansionist

     C         F      C          F     G  -  -  -
From Nashville came a dark horse riding up

       C        Am      F      G      C    F  C  G
He was James K. Polk, Napoleon of the Stump


2.
Austere, severe, he held few people dear
His oratory filled his foes with fear
The factions soon agreed
He's just the man we need
To bring about victory
Fulfill our manifest destiny
And annex the land the Mexicans command
And when the votes were cast the winner was
Mister James K. Polk, Napoleon of the Stump


Instrumental:
C  G  C  F     C  F  G  -
C  F  G  -
C  F  G  Am    D  D(C)  D(B)  D(A)
C  F  C  F     G  -  -  -
C  Am F  G     C  F  C  G


3.
In four short years he'd met his every goal
He seized the whole southwest from Mexico
Made sure the tarriffs fell
And made the English sell the Oregon territory
He built an independent treasury
Having done all this he sought no second term
But precious few have mourned the passing of

       C        Am        F        G    D7  -  E  -
Mister James K. Polk, our eleventh president

      F    -     G      C -    -     -
Young Hickory, Napoleon of the Stump