United States of Whatever

"United States of Whatever"
Song

"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. The song is about someone who ignores or is dismissive of various situations. He refers to his world as "my United States of Whatever".

The song achieved some success in countries like the UK and Australia, where it has charted in the top 10 of both singles charts (#10 and #6 respectively), and (until 2007) was the shortest song ever to hit these charts, beating the previous record held by The Vines for their single "Highly Evolved" in the same year. The song is one minute and twenty eight seconds long.

Structure

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 from Sifl and Olly is spared the disparaging remark.

Notes

• Steve Lamacq from BBC Radio declared it to be "the greatest single of 2002". [1]

• On Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn, Lynch performed "United States of Whatever" with Tony Kanal and Adrian Young of No Doubt. [2]

• This song was also featured in an ad for Tony Hawk's Underground, although it did not appear on the game's soundtrack. [3]

• The video was shown on an episode of The Screensavers.

• This song was featured in the credits of an episode of "High School Stories".

• Liam Lynch stated in 2003 on the radio show "Loveline" that the song's lyrics were improvised, and that it was recorded in one take. [4]

• Charlottesville, Virginia, Radio Station WWWV (97.5 mHz) plays part of the song as part of their 'Friday Freakout' segment played every Friday at 9am and 5pm EST.