The title track of the CD When I'm President is a standout starting from the underdog opening line "Stranger" from the title of the famous 1961 science fiction novel by American author Robert Heinlein. Even if Hunter were Aladdin with the magic lamp he could not change political and economic conditions. Ian's intent if he were president would be to lean on the 1% fat cats meaning the super-rich. Hunter demonstrates an insider's view of American politics favoring the 28th Amendment. The proposed 28th Amendment means that Congress shall make no law that applies to citizens and does not apply equally to Senators and Representatives. Currently, politicians are pirates and robbers whining that they don't have enough money. His administration would be as significant as the presidents on Mount Rushmore and he will be placed there as well. Presidents aspire to be great but "something happens to you up on the Hill" (Congress). If you try to buck the system you will subject to torture as in "The Pit and the Pendulum" depicted in the short story by American writer Edgar Allan Poe. Hunter realizes this will never happen so he ends the song with the phrase when pigs fly, a figure of speech so hyperbolic that it describes an impossibility.
The started off as a song called "But I Will If I Have To" but Ian had no lyrics for it. He would have lost the melody. He then tried "When I'm Superman" during an electoral year for Obama in the USA but Hunter thought this was ostentatious and he settled for president instead. It's tongue in cheek and not much changed anyway. The song is written as if it were a guy in a bar or a pub thinking aloud if I were president here are all the things I would do: I would be great. The statement is that both the political right and left continue to fail.
There is a radio single edit and live version from 2013.
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When I'm President, explained by Ian.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gqi1z1Ka_4c
"The Pit and the Pendulum" is a short story by American writer Edgar Allan Poe
Stranger in a Strange Land is a 1961 science fiction novel by American author Robert A. Heinlein. It tells the story of Valentine Michael Smith, a human who comes to Earth in early adulthood after being born on the planet Mars and raised by Martians, and explores his interaction with and eventual transformation of Terranculture.
a magic spirit believed to take human form and serve the person who calls it
Proposed 28th Amendment to the United States Constitution: "Congress shall make no law that applies to the citizens of the United States that does not apply equally to the Senators and/or Representatives; and, Congress shall make no law that applies to the Senators and/or Representatives that does not apply equally to the citizens of the United States."
1%
- Super-rich outstrip their extraordinary grab of half of all new wealth in past decade.
- Billionaire fortunes are increasing by $2.7 billion a day even as at least 1.7 billion workers now live in countries where inflation is outpacing wages.
- A tax of up to 5 percent on the world’s multi-millionaires and billionaires could raise $1.7 trillion a year, enough to lift 2 billion people out of poverty.
"The Pit and the Pendulum" is a short story by American writer Edgar Allan Poe and first published in 1842 in the literary annual The Gift: A Christmas and New Year's Present for 1843. The story is about the torments endured by a prisoner of the Spanish Inquisition, though Poe skews historical facts. The narrator of the story describes his experience of being tortured. The story is especially effective at inspiring fear in the reader because of its heavy focus on the senses, such as sound, emphasizing its reality, unlike many of Poe's stories which are aided by the supernatural. The traditional elements established in popular horror tales at the time are followed, but critical reception has been mixed. The tale has been adapted to film several times.
The phrase "when pigs fly" (alternatively, "pigs might fly") is an adynaton—a figure of speech so hyperbolic that it describes an impossibility. The implication of such a phrase is that the circumstances in question (the adynaton, and the circumstances to which the adynaton is being applied) will never occur. The phrase has been used in various forms since the 1600s as a sarcastic remark.[1]
When I'm President
(Ian Hunter)
Mother I'm a stranger in a strange land
I feel like an alien
Like I'm on the outside lookin' in
I don't seem to fit in
Maybe I'm Aladdin with a rusty lamp
The genie never stood a chance
To make all my wishes come true
But here's what I wanna do
I'm gonna lean on the 1%
When I'm president
I wanna 28th Amendment
When I'm president
Like thieves on the holy road
Diggin' up the motherlode
Like pirates on the open sea
Like highway robbery
Still whinin' about your bonus
Man up, you're ridiculous
You know you can't take it with ya
So give a little extra
I'm gonna lean on the 1%
When I'm president
No more bargains in the basement
When I'm president
Washington, Jefferson
Watch out baby 'cos here I come
Abraham, Theodore
You're gonna see my ugly mug up on Mt, Rushmore
You go in with the right intent
When you become president
You hold those truths to be self-evident
When you become president
But something happens to you up on the hill
It's business as usual
How do you wanna buck the sysem?
Welcome to the pit and the pendulum
I'm gonna lean on the 1%
When I'm president
I wanna 28th Amendment
When I'm president
No more bargains in the basement
When I'm president
Everything's gonna be different
When I'm president
Veto this, veto that
When I'm president I'll stick it to the fat cats
Cross my heart, hope to die
When I'm president pigs are gonna fly
Look at 'em!
| When I'm President | 4:21 | Originally issued on When I'm President. |
| When I'm President (radio single edit) | 3:58 | The 'radio edit' version can be found on the box set version of When I'm President. |
| When I'm President (live 20th March 2013) | 5:49 | This live version can be found on Sampling In Reality and on Bag Of Tricks (Vol 3) (box set only). |
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