During my college years in the 1950's there was a popular drinking song called "The Pope."
See an article about the history and lyrics in the Yale University Songbook:
https://www.firstthings.com/blogs/firstthoughts/2013/01/the-pope-he-leads-a-jolly-life
And an older manuscript in the Library of Congress.
https://www.loc.gov/resource/ihas.100007307.0?st=gallery
This song humorously -- and, admittedly, irreverently -- addressed the advantages and disadvantages of the lives of various leaders.
“The Pope”The Pope he leads a jolly life,
He’s free from every care and strife;
He drinks the best of Rhenish wine,
I would the Pope’s gay life were mine.He drinks the best of Rhenish wine,
I would the Pope’s gay life were mine.But he don’t lead a jolly life,
He has no maid or blooming wife,
He has no son to raise his hope,
Oh! I would not be the Pope.He has no son to raise his hope,
Oh! I would not be the Pope.The Sultan better pleases me,
His life is full of jolity,
He’s wives as many as he will,
I fain the Sultan’s throne would fill.He’s wives as many as he will,
I fain the Sultan’s throne would fill.But still he is a wretched man,
He must obey the Al-Koran,
He dare not drink one drop of wine,
I would not change his lot for mine.He dare not drink one drop of wine,
I would not change his lot for mine.So when the maiden kisses me,
I’ll think that I the Sultan be,
And when my Rhenish wine I tope,
Oh then I’ll think that I’m the Pope
Not to be bested by our friends from Yale, during the late 1950's when I was at the University of Chicago and Dwight D. Eisenhower was president, we joked about our president's golfing proclivities with these lines to the same tune:
"The present President of us,
Over poverty he makes no fuss!
At golf he daily doth excel,
And lets the country go to Hell!"
Soon after he was elected in 1960, President Eisenhower's immediate successor, President John F. Kennedy, launched the War on Poverty. Could this ditty have been part of the impetus for this?
Today as I watch our sitting president belittle the seriousness of COVID19 and head for the golf course with increasing frequency, I cannot help but change just one word in our 1950's parody of "The Pope:"
The present President of us,
Over COVID deaths he makes no fuss!
At golf he daily doth excel,
and lets the country go to Hell!
