Brad Neely's 'George Washington'
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About
Brad Neely's "George Washington," also known as Cox and Combes' "Washington," refers to a viral, musical short animation by Brad Neely, creator of Wizard People, Dear Reader and China, IL, in which Creased Comics characters Cox and Combes perform an exaggerated rap about the features and exploits of American president George Washington. The short has been widely referenced on social media for decades, and in 2023 saw a resurgence, as some people remarked the Olivia Rodrigo song "get him back!" sounded like the track.
Origin
While it is unclear when Neely first published "George Washington," he has stated he believes he completed it in "2003 or 2004."[1] The short appeared at Spike & Mike’s Sick and Twisted Festival of Animation 2007.[2] The earliest extant repost of the video was made to YouTube by unvemebad86 on January 27th, 2008, gaining over 5.3 million views in fifteen years (shown below).
Memorable lyrics include: "Washington, Washington / Six-foot-eight, weighs a fucking ton" and "He'll save children, but not the British children."
Spread
The short was widely celebrated and quoted online throughout the 2010s. It was reposted to Reddit multiple times in the decade, including in 2012,[3] 2013,[4] 2018,[5] etc. The short has its own page on TV Tropes.[6] In 2020, it was jokingly compared to Hamilton by Polygon.[7] The song has been the subject of an academic paper on how YouTubers portray the Founding Fathers.[8]
"get him back!" Comparisons
On September 8th, 2023, Olivia Rodrigo released her second album, Guts.[9] On the day of release, several social media users remarked that the track "get him back!", which would go on to be the album's third single (shown below), had verses that reminded them of "Washington."
For example, Twitter user and music writer @BonnieStiernberg[10] made the comparison that day (shown below, left), gaining seven likes in five days, as did Twitter user @GrannyRocko[11] (shown below, right).
Search Interest
External References
[2] Chicago Reader – Spike & Mike’s Sick and Twisted Festival of Animation 2007
[6] TV Tropes – Cox And Combes' Washington
[7] Polygon – We relived Hamilton, now it’s time for Washington
[8] JStor – You Tube on Masculinity and the Founding Fathers Constitutionalism 2.0
[9] Teen Vogue – Olivia Rodrigo’s New Album Guts Track List, Release Date, and Everything You Need to Know
[10] Twitter – Bonnie Stiernberg
[11] Twitter – GrannyRocko
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