Contributors:

The Big Steamy Thing

The TMBG FAQ

Jonathan Chaffer

Christy

Matt Shapiro

This song does not need much interpretation, as it is based on fact. Most of the facts in the song are correct. The only real poetic license employed is in the line "The three nominees..." Actually, there were seven nominees on the first ballot, with Buchanan fifth. By the eighth ballot, the candidates were Martin Van Buren, James Buchanan, Lewis Cass, James K. Polk, and John Caldwell Calhoun (not mentioned in the song). Polk was elected on the ninth ballot unanimously. "Napoleon of the Stump" was one of Polk's nicknames; "stumping" is the act of campaigning for votes. The song was written by the Johns with Matthew Hill after a conversation about the president. They originally thought he was obscure, but then found out that he accomplished some pretty important things during his one-term presidency.