| "United States of Whatever" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Liam Lynch | ||||
| from the album Fake Songs | ||||
| Released | 25 November 2002 | |||
| Format | CD | |||
| Recorded | 2002 | |||
| Genre | Comedy rock | |||
| Length | 1:28 2:04 (extended version) 1:16 (Q The Album version) |
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| Label | Global Warming Records | |||
| Liam Lynch singles chronology | ||||
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"United States of Whatever" is a comedy song written by Liam Lynch for his 2003 album Fake Songs. It was the only single released from that album. The song made its debut on Lynch's MTV comedy show Sifl and Olly in 1999; Lynch has stated it was improvised, being recorded in a single take.
The song achieved some success in countries like the United Kingdom and Australia, reaching #10 and #6 in their respective singles charts. Until 2007, the song was the shortest to appear in these charts. Steve Lamacq of BBC Radio 1 declared it "the greatest single of 2002".
The song was also a hit on American alternative radio, peaked at #34 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart[1]
Contents |
The song is in a punk rock style, consisting of two power-chord riffs played by an overdriven distorted electric guitar and bass. The song begins with a dismissive "whatever", and each verse consists of a short encounter which abruptly ends with the word. The chorus proclaims: "This is my United States of whatever." He also dismisses people he should not ignore for his own well-being. In one verse, the character Zafo voiced by guitarist/producer "Chris Tench" from Sifl and Olly is spared the disparaging remark.
On Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn, Lynch performed "United States of Whatever" with Tony Kanal and Adrian Young of No Doubt. Lynch performed the song at a Foo Fighters show in 2003 with Dave Grohl on drums.
The song is played weekly on the radio station WWWV of Charlottesville, Virginia, as part of their 'Friday Freakout' segment. It has also featured in an advertisement for Tony Hawk's Underground,[2] on an episode of The Screensavers, and was played on the credits of an episode of High School Stories. It was also used in behind-the-scenes content for the film Clerks II.
A second version was written where George W. Bush responds to various criticisms of the Iraq War with the refrain of "Whatever!"
The song was parodied by Western Isles comedian Mac a' Noo Noo in "United States of Stornoway".[1]
The song has also been parodied by Tedd Schermerhorn (of T-Ball and BJ) in the song "My West Hollywood Lifestyle Whatever".[3]
The song is featured on the British Virgin/EMI compilation The Best Bands Ever 2004 (2003). It also appeared as the last track on the first disc on Q: The Album (an album made for Q Magazine in March 2003), however it is fourteen seconds shorter, ending abruptly on the line "And then up comes Zafo, I'm, like, "yo, Zafo. What's up?", He's, like, "nothin'", And I'm, like, "that's cool"". This is because the disc was 79 minutes and 54 seconds long, and to include the further fourteen seconds would exceed the capacity of the disc.