Song of the Day 1/17: The Ting Tings, “That’s Not My Name”
Hats off to the programming whizzes who lined up the entertainment by our new Congress. Not only are we treated to lots of scary stories about the new Republican House of Horrors, we get the George Santos saga for comic relief.
Sure, we can fault the New York Democratic Party for Santos — losing to this guy is like getting knocked out by Glass Joe in Mike Tyson’s Punch Out — but Republicans did enough background research to know they had a loonball on their hands, yet kept mum, so they deserve a portion of blame, too. Did they think this would never come out? Did they think they’d look good when it did? This is why the term “comedy of errors” was coined.
Now that a raft of Santos’ lies have been exposed, reporters have begun uncovering others, such as his use of the aliases Anthony Zabrovsky and Anthony Devolder when making public statements as the founder of something called “United for Trump.” As far as anyone can tell, that’s not his name. And that’s not where this little comic opera will end, either, so keep the popcorn handy.
The Ting Tings were another in the never-ending series of Next Big Things to emerge from the UK. Back in 2008 their first LP, “We Started Nothing,” soared to the top of the British charts, as did this single (it barely nosed into the Top 40 in the US, topping out at No. 39). Her name, BTW, is Katie White, and she and her musical partner, Jules De Martino, formed the Ting Tings when their previous group split up after losing a recording contract.
“That’s Not My Name” sold four million copies, an incredible total in the digital download age, but none of the three LPs the duo has released since has caught the public’s fancy, in part because they keep switching styles and genres. Their big hit keeps on going, though, fueled in the past year or so by its use by celebrities on TikTok, a trend kicked off by Alicia Silverstone and since emulated by many others.
