Let's Impeach The President

Album: Living With War (2006)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This song deals with US president George W. Bush, and Young's desire to remove him from office. In the 40th anniversary issue of Rolling Stone magazine, Young said this is "A political song about something that's so wrong that the only way to point out how wrong it is is by doing a song that's wrong - smashing and pounding away at it. A lot of people criticized it as a crappy song, that it was such a terrible melody. You want a melody that pisses people off, that's so stupid and repetitive that it aggravates people."
  • Like most songs on the Living With War album, this was written and recorded all in one day.
  • On a 2006 appearance on The Colbert Report, Neil had some fun with the faux-conservative host. In a staged bit, the pair pulled out acoustic guitars, and Young began teaching Colbert this song. When Young sang the title, Colbert feigned shock and threw to commercial.
  • Young's lyrics tend to be rather cryptic, but on his Living With War album, he went for the obvious, exemplified in this rather unambiguous song title.

    Saturday Night Live had some fun with this, airing a spoof on their May 20, 2006 episode in the form of a commercial for a Neil Young album called I Do Not Agree With Many Of This Administration's Policies. Among the song titles:

    "President George W. Liar"
    "If You Love Oil So Much, Why Don't You Marry It"
    "The Bush Administration Should Be More Forthcoming With The Press"
    "I'm Just Going To Say It, I Don't Think Iraq Is Going Well"
    "Dick Cheney Is Overweight"
    "The NSA Wiretapping Shuffle"

    Young was portrayed by host Kevin Spacey.

Comments: 8

  • Dustin from Myrtle Beach, ScGreat song, and I could not agree more with neil. George Bush is the biggest piece of trash that has ever walked the earth and i would not be upset at all if he was to turn up dead somewhere. and for the obama bashers, this is all i have to say...

    Bush destroyed our country in the 8 years he was in office. give Obama at least 2 to clean up the mess Bush made.
  • Mike from Matawan, NjThis is hysterical. The comments I mean. You'll never hear the words 'great president' and 'George W. Bush' be uttered by me in the same sentence, however....if you think the guy that's in the White House now is any better, you guys are in for a rude awakening. He as spent 4 TRILLION dollars in 8 1/2 months. FOUR TRILLION. Our grand children's, grandchildren are going to be paying this debt off. Well done.

    Oh yeah....this song kinda sucks anyway, so....there's that.
  • Frank from Granchester Meadows, GreenlandToo bad it didn't happen. it's what he deserved anyway. oh well, he'll have to answer for his ignorance on judgement day!
  • Steve from Fenton, MoNeil claims this song is about impeaching President Bush, but I think it's really about drugs.
  • J.r. from Elkhart, InI don't like Neil Young but I am not thrilled with Bush either. Darrell,Eugene: You can wish all you want but it just isn't going to happen buddy.
  • Matthew from Milford, MaWhy do people in Albania like Bush?
  • Andrew from New Bethlehen, PaWhat he said
  • Darrell from EugeneMy opinion on Bush is even more extreme than Neil's. I want to see him be permanently banished to either Iran, Iraq or Afghanistan. He would be an honored guest. On the other hand, he could move to Albania, which is probably the only place on earth where everyone likes him and where he can get his watch back.
see more comments

Editor's Picks

Peter Lord

Peter LordSongwriter Interviews

You may not recognize his name, but you will certainly recognize Peter Lord's songs. He wrote the bevy of hits from Paula Abdul's second album, Spellbound.

Superman in Song

Superman in SongSong Writing

Not everyone can be a superhero, but that hasn't stopped generations of musicians from trying to be Superman.

Gary Numan

Gary NumanSongwriter Interviews

An Electronic music pioneer with Asperger's Syndrome. This could be interesting.

Evolution Of The Prince Symbol

Evolution Of The Prince SymbolSong Writing

The evolution of the symbol that was Prince's name from 1993-2000.

Barney Hoskyns Explores The Forgotten History Of Woodstock, New York

Barney Hoskyns Explores The Forgotten History Of Woodstock, New YorkSong Writing

Our chat with Barney Hoskyns, who covers the wild years of Woodstock - the town, not the festival - in his book Small Town Talk.

Commercials

CommercialsFact or Fiction

Was "Ring Of Fire" really used to sell hemorrhoid cream?