Joe Scarborough Writes Songs But He's No Charles Dawes

Former U.S. Rep. Joe Scarborough, the former Republican congressman from the Panhandle turned MSNBC show host, released a country song this week to mark the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Scarborough wrote and performed on Reason to Believe which he has compared to the anti-war songs from the Vietnam War era. The former congressman is calling for less American military involvement in the Middle East.

While it may be an odd sidetrack in Scarboroughs career, he is far from the first American politician to try his hand at writing songs. U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, has released CDs of his own musical compositions. Jimmie Davis, who served two terms as governor of Louisiana, wrote You Are My Sunshine. More than 15 years before he signed the Deceleration of Independence on behalf of New Jersey, Francis Hopkinson, one of the more colorful and overlooked Founding Fathers, wrote "My Days Have Been So Wondrous Free and he continued writing songs and hymns during his public career. And, of course, Charles Dawes, who served as vice president under Calvin Coolidge, wrote Melody in A Major back in 1911. After Carl Sigman put lyrics to it in the early '50s, Tommy Edwards took Its All in the Game all the way to the top of the charts in 1958.