I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it...

Bush’s Surprise Serenade Hits YouTube

WASHINGTON – Did they really think it wouldn’t make You Tube?

President Bush has turned up on the popular Internet site singing an off-key spoof of “The Green Green Grass of Home,” which he performed Saturday night at the supposedly off-the-record Gridiron Club dinner in Washington.

The Gridiron, for those unschooled in the ways of Washington, is the city’s oldest journalistic organization, and is best known for its annual invitation-only dinner, which brings together the government and media elite. It typically features songs and skits, including remarks by the commander-in-chief. (The dinner has also generated controversy for creating the appearance of coziness between the media and government; New York Times editors did not attend this year.)

Mr. Bush’s aides were said to be stunned when he told them he wanted to sing his remarks. Some of the lyrics of his surprise serenade leaked out immediately. But the recording, which is apparently being played on at least one radio station in Portland, Ore., is a rare chance to hear the president warble on in his own voice about his vision of life back home in Texas after eight years in the White House.

The video is grainy, and Mr. Bush isn’t visible on most of it. But the lyrics, which poke fun at some of the most controversial moments in the Bush administration – the prosecution of vice presidential aide Scooter Libby, the collapse of his nomination of Harriet Miers, former White House counsel, to the Supreme Court – are almost entirely clear, over the laughter.

Not everyone thought it was funny. Chris Matthews, the host of the MSNBC program “Hardball,” lambasted reporters the other night for yukking it up with Mr. Bush.

“Nothing funny about a war fought for bad intelligence and a top aide, Scooter Libby, who committed perjury and obstruction of justice to cover it up,’’ Mr. Matthews said. “Nothing funny about a president who commuted that sentence to keep the cover-up protected. Otherwise, I’m sure it was an enjoyable get-together between journalists and the people they’re charged with covering.’’

In the interest of allowing others to judge the lyrics’ humor, or lack thereof, for themselves, here they are, as heard by this reporter, with ellipses to mark breaks in the recording.

I spend my days clearing brush

I clear my head of all the fuss

Oh, like the fuss you made over Harriet and Brownie

Down the lane, I look out

Here comes Scooter

Finally free of the prosecutor

It’s good to touch the brown, brown grass of home.

I awake and look around me

At the oval walls that surround me

And I realize I was only dreaming

There’s Condi and Dick, my old compadre

Talking to me about some oil-rich Saudi

But soon, I’ll touch the brown, brown grass of home

Yes you’re all gonna miss me

The way you used to quiz me

But soon I’ll touch the brown, brown grass of home

[inaudible] Dick Cheney strolling with documents he’s been withholding

It’s good to touch the brown, brown grass of home

Yes you’re all gonna miss me

The way you used to diss me

But soon I’ll touch the brown, brown grass of home.

It’s not the first time Mr. Bush has made You Tube; cell phone videos of his dancing in Africa were all over the Internet after his recent trip there. The White House press secretary, Dana Perino, says Mr. Bush, well known for his irritation over leaks to the press, doesn’t mind these.

“No,” she said in an e-mail message, “he’s not bothered by that. It was a great night – lots of fun.”

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