"United States of Whatever" is a comedy song written by Liam Lynch for his 2002 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 various situations. He refers to his world as "my United States of Whatever".
| "United States of Whatever" | |
|---|---|
| Song |
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), being one of the shortest songs ever to hit these charts. The song is only one minute and 29 seconds long.
Structure
The song is a faux-punk song, comprised of two simple power-chord riffs played by an overdriven distorted electric guitar and bass. The song begins with Lynch proclaiming "whatever!" The song's main riff played three times. Following the riff, Lynch talks about a particular person who tried to say something to him. He ignored them all by saying "whatever!" The song moves back to the riff. This happens three times before the chorus. The chorus is a different riff and consists of Lynch yelling the words "This is my United States of Whatever
However, in a dramatic twist, Lynch meets Zaphlon and whilst listeners expect him to say "whatever!", the dialogue instead happens to be:
- And then up comes Zaphlon / I'm, like, "yo, Zaphlon. What's up?" / He's, like, "nothin'" / And I'm, like, "that's cool."
The song is silent for a second and a half before Lynch sings the chorus again.
Parodies
Many people edited out portions of Lynch's brief stories and added various phrases of their own. Most notably, a version with a George W. Bush impersonation about Bush's supposed indifference to American and world opinion about the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
Edited versions of this song became a fad on the humor website YTMND.[1]
Trivia
- Steve Lamacq from BBC Radio declared it to be "the greatest single of 2002". [2]
- On Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn, Lynch performed "United States of Whatever" with Tony Kanal and Adrian Young of No Doubt.[3]
- This song was also featured in an ad for Tony Hawk's Underground. [4]
External links
Music videos
- Bush - U.S. of Whatever - a music video on Newgrounds.
- Naruto-Based-United States of Whatever Anime music video