POTUS #40: Ronald Reagan

The idea behind my POTUS series was to commission presidential portrait songs, rather than scavenge them, but this little blues for Ronald Reagan, written by Paul Kinman and performed by his party band P. Mirkin & The Bodags, was not possible to resist. I scavenged it from the vast archive of Richard Derrick, Paul's friend and (on this track) guitarist.

Richard explains:

P. Mirkin & The Bodags was our "party band" that started in 1984, when Paul Kinman (P. Mirkin) ended up living next door to my friend Tom Pachal. Their two homes collectively became our Party Central until 1988, when Paul moved to another state. We played a lot of parties, mostly in the outdoor court where they lived; one of these parties was where three songs from D. Boon & Friends were recorded.

Besides Paul and Tom, Rob Ivon played bass, and I usually played drums. We did a lot of covers and a few originals. Sometimes Tom would switch to drums so I could play some space loop guitar. Never got around to playing any clubs, although we did a few live radio gigs. We weren't really serious about this, it was just to have some fun, which for four years we did.

As for Reagan himself, he needs no introduction at this point.

Free mp3

"Ronald Reagan Blues"
(Paul Kinman)
P. Mirkin & the Bodags

Richard Derrick * acoustic guitar
Paul Kinman * vocal
Tom Pachal * harmonica

Recorded at KXLU (Los Angeles)
11 December 1984

Previously unreleased

*

More in this series

POTUS #8: Martin Van Buren
POTUS #14: Franklin Pierce, by John Morris
POTUS #17: Andrew Johnson, by William Tonks
POTUS #18: Ulysses S. Grant, by Waterloo
POTUS #26: Theodore Roosevelt, by Tim McAvin
POTUS #43: George W. Bush, by Steve Allain

*

Reagan birthday cake from Amy Ridenour's National Center blog, provided by David and Nancy Almasi.