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"James K. Polk" is a song by alternative rock band They Might Be Giants, about the United States president of the same name. Originally released in 1990 as a B-side to the single "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)", its first appearance on a studio album was 1996's ''Factory Showroom''. It also appeared on their compilation albums ''Dial-A-Song: 20 Years of They Might Be Giants'' and ''A User's Guide to They Might Be Giants''. The song is about James K. Polk, 11th President of the United States, beginning with a description of the 1844 Democratic National Convention and going on to cover some of the highlights of Polk's presidency. Although the band set out to write a song consisting entirely of historical facts, it includes a few errors or misstatements. The ''Factory Showroom'' re-recording of "James K. Polk" includes an interlude featuring Julian Koster playing a musical saw. The song has become a fan favorite and is frequently played live, although the band has expressed antipathy towards Polk himself; John Flansburgh has described Polk as "evil". ==Composition== According to John Flansburgh, John Linnell wrote "James K. Polk" with Matthew Hill, a childhood friend of theirs and a history buff. The concept for the song came from a conversation the two had about writing a song that was based entirely in fact. They were specifically drawn to James K. Polk due to his relative obscurity today despite his tremendous influence during his presidency.〔 They proceeded to write the song despite personal disagreement with Polk's policies as president. Flansburgh speculated that if they had included their opinion that Polk was "evil", it would have defeated the purpose of writing a song of pure fact.〔 Prior to writing the song, Linnell and Hill were not familiar with Polk's presidency—they chose Polk at random from a list of presidents. Only after researching Polk did they discover that he was, according to Linnell, "really intense and kind of…creepy".〔 In a review of the "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)" single, which had "James K. Polk" as its B-side, Christian Huey called the song's main instrumentation a "plodding synth line". He also compared the bridge's melodic non-lexical vocables to those in "Istanbul". The ''Factory Showroom'' recording features Julian Koster of Neutral Milk Hotel playing a musical saw. Linnell and Flansburgh call the effect "spooky".〔Flansburgh, John and John Linnell (1996). "A Guided Tour of Factory Showroom". Elektra.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「James K. Polk (song)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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