The most difficult part of this article is trying to limit it to only three songs. Richard Nixon was a huge target in the counterculture movement during his time as president. He was the subject of artists and comedians in addition to musicians. His caricature would exaggerate his nose and usually show the scowl that he often had when he was irritated.
His re-election campaign was mocked with the phony slogan of, "Why change Dicks in the middle of a screw? Vote for Nixon in '72!" There were protesters on college campuses. The break-in at the Watergate Hotel had been uncovered. He had become the image of distrust and dishonesty.
He won forty-nine states in 1972 in one of the most lopsided victories in American history! Oh well, these musicians had songs to sing about Richard Nixon that make you wonder how that happened!
How High's the Watergate by Phil Ochs
Phil Ochs is often overlooked for his significance in folk music during the '60s and '70s. Those of us who grew up in the '60s might not recall the name, but most of us will remember his song with the greatest commercial success. It, too, was a song of conscience about social apathy titled Outside of a Small Circle of Friends.
Ochs shows why Dylan described him as more of a journalist than a songwriter in this Watergate parody of Johnny Cash's song Five Feet High and Rising.
Ohio by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
In one of the ugliest protests of the Nixon era, National Guardsmen were deployed to Kent State University in 1970. Shots were fired. Four students were dead.
That event prompted Neil Young to write another of his prolific protest songs of the era. This song was released the band as a single with Stephen Stills' song Find the Cost of Freedom on the 'B' side. The appeal he makes with "what if you knew her and found her dead on the ground" become even more haunting with the chorus of "four dead in Ohio."
Here is a much older Neil Young performing the song at Farm Aid in 2018.
You Haven't Done Nothin' by Stevie Wonder
Though Nixon won the 1972 election in landslide fashion, his second term was even more tumultuous than the first. Vice President Spiro Agnew resigned amid a tax scandal, and the Watergate story had evolved from one about a break-in to that of a cover up.
Nixon's resignation coincided with colleagues within the party saying the issue was, "What did the president know, and when did he know it?" He did not want to force them to decide his fate knowing he had conspired with others to cover up when he knew what he knew.
Still, songs like this classic from 1974 made it known how many people felt about him and his conniving.
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As a bonus for those of you who made it this far, here is Phil Ochs with Outside of a Small Circle of Friends complete with the lyrics so you can sing along!
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Here are other posts in the series:
