The Honey Drippers’ “Impeach the President” Lyrics Meaning
To put this song in its proper historical context, “Impeach the President” was written during the peak of the Watergate scandal, when all hell broke loose in American politics. At the time there was a debate as to whether or not to impeach Richard Nixon (1913-1994), a politician who served as President of the United States from 1969 until 1974. And that argument is what this track is based on.
Thus in the first verse we are introduced to the multitude of ways the general public are viewing the situation. Some people consider him “guilty”, while others aren’t so sure. And there are still others who are giving him the benefit of the doubt, waiting for the situation to completely play out before making their judgment.
But for the most part, the stance of the Honey Drippers seems clear. And that is they want the President impeached. That basically means they are calling for Nixon to be sacked from office due to misconducting himself.
But again this is a debate. So there is a counter point of view presented, whereas one speaker states that an impeachment should not occur. But this voice is drowned out by the opposite position, even being proclaimed a “fool” in the process.
Indeed by the time the second verse rolls around, the stance of the song is made pretty clear. In this particular section, the singer laments that there are a lot of secrets which are part and parcel of the American Presidency which the public “should know about”.
Conclusion
So basically, the Honey Drippers are siding with the view that Watergate was indeed a credible scandal, even before the situation was resolved the following year. And as such, they are calling for Richard Nixon to be removed from office. And though not directly related to this song, such must have in fact reflected the public sentiment as Nixon was indeed compelled to resign on 9 August 1974.
Facts about “Impeach the President”
This song has remained relevant throughout the years primarily due to the efforts of hip-hop and R&B artists. Indeed the prominent artists who have sampled “Impeach the President” are too numerous to mention here, with the number reportedly being in excess of 600 times in general. But a few especially notable names are Shaggy, Prince, Stevie Wonder, Janet Jackson and Tupac Shakur.
“Impeach the President” was written and produced by Roy C. He caught on to the fact that his song was being sampled by “hundreds of people” a bit too late. In fact the rights to “Impeach the President” were purchased by another individual in 1992.
That individual is a man by the name of Aaron Fuchs, founder of a label called Tuff City Records. In fact Tuff City Records re-released “Impeach the President” themselves in 2017.
Despite the historical significance of this track, you may have never heard of the Honey Drippers until today. That was because they were a group of students, specifically from Jamaica High School in New York City, whom Roy C discovered in 1973 and dropped some tracks with. They were relatively-obscure, with “Impeach the President” being their most-notable song.
Earlier, in 1971, Roy C also released a song dealing with the Vietnam War which was entitled “Open Letter to the President”.
“Impeach the President” itself was originally released in 1973 via Roy C’s own label, Alaga Records.
