Matt Yglesias

“Ping Pong”

Reader W.S. calls my attention to this Pitchfork item noting that it was a bit odd of Meghan McCain to choose Stereolab’s “Ping Pong” as her September 29, 2008 “song of the day.” The video:

Here’s some lyrics:

It’s alright right ‘cos the historical pattern has shown
How the economical cycle tends to revolve
In a round of decades three stages stand out in a loop
A slump and war then peel back to square one and back for more

Bigger slump and bigger wars and a smaller recovery
Huger slump and greater wars and a shallower recovery

You see the recovery always comes ’round again
There’s nothing to worry for things will look after themselves
It’s alright recovery always comes ’round again
There’s nothing to worry if things can only get better

There’s only millions that lose their jobs and homes and sometimes accents
There’s only millions that die in their bloody wars, it’s alright

It’s only their lives and the lives of their next of kin that they are losing
It’s only their lives and the lives of their next of kin that they are losing

Pitchfork wonders if, perhaps, “Meghan McCain completely doesn’t understand sarcasm and truly believes that this song is about how the economy will just work itself out and everything will be all right.” Maybe. It’d be one thing if she’d done something like pick “Bop Scotch” where Stereolab’s lefty politics are expressed in French but I don’t think “Ping Pong” is open to much ambiguity.