Photo: Chaiel Schaffel/WBZ NewsRadio
BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — Presidential campaign songs are a genre of music unlike any other.
From the 1840 tune "Tippecanoe and Tyler Too," to the 1968 Connie Francis single "Nixon's the One," these novelty songs are meant to inspire American voters and drum up support for a candidate hoping to win the White House.
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One such campaign anthem can be found on its original manuscript at the John J. Burns Library at Boston College, and goes all the way back to the United States' early years.
The rallying song, written with quill and ink, supports then-Vice President John Adams against his opponent Thomas Jefferson in the 1796 presidential election.
"It is handwritten, it’s not printed, so it’s not like it was printed out and distributed," Marta Crilly, Head of Public Services at the Burns Library, told WBZ NewsRadio Wednesday.
A note scrawled at the top of the page reads "Sing to the tune of 'Auld Lang Syne.'"
"It’s not unusual that they would have sung this song to the familiar tune of 'Auld Lang Syne,' because everyone would have known it," Crilly said.
Library archivist Elizabeth Peters sang the centuries-old ditty to see how it sounded. She said figuring out how the tune fit was a little tricky in some spots.
"There certainly are some things that would have been pronounced differently at this point," Peters said. "Usually, you’ll find those through rhymes."
Adams won the election to become the nation's second president; perhaps he owes a smidge of that success to this rare piece of music history.
WBZ’s Chaiel Schaffel (@CSchaffelWBZ) reports.