Song of the Day 2/4: Lily Allen, “Air Balloon”
Look, up in the sky! It’s a UFO! It’s the moon! It’s a…Chinese spy balloon!
The media loves a balloon story — remember the Balloon Boy Hoax of 2009? — and this one has it all: International intrigue! Jet fighter planes! Calls for shooting it down! (To be fair, “shoot it down” is the knee-jerk American response to everything.) The military is tracking it instead. Will it lead to World War III? Stay tuned!
I’d normally play “99 Luftballoons,” a song about balloons starting a nuclear war, but we just featured it last summer. So here’s Lily Allen instead.
I’m not sure Allen is even a cult figure in the US. She barely scraped the charts when she burst on the scene with “Smile” in 2006 after gaining exposure by posting demos to MySpace (hey, kids, remember the Aughties?), but she’s had three No. 1 hits in the UK. This single, written with Swedish producer Shellback, was the second single from her 2014 album “Sheezus.” Since 2018 Allen has devoted most of her time to acting.
Would you like to ride in my beautiful balloon?
Would you like to ride in my beautiful balloon?
We could float among the stars together, you and I
For we can fly (we can fly)
Up, up and away
My beautiful, my beautiful balloon
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKkNlwpajNk
See the balloon as having immense “Political Theory” games. Such as the balloon contains “secret” viruses that will elevate the intelligence quotient of Trump voters to that of a high school graduate. Let the terror begin!
Yes, love it. The same RWNJ that yelled “it’s leaking viruses” also wants to shoot that thing down!
PS: ” … and this one has it all: International intrigue! Jet fighter planes! Calls for shooting it down!”
This reminds me so much of the routines Bill Hader did as Stefon: “This club has it all … rabbis dressed like Joaquin Phoenix, Furbees, screaming babies in Mozart wigs …”
https://youtu.be/vwm_N2PCUz8
nailed it.
May I also suggest, now that it’s shot down, this song?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pz4b_ZYKiY&ab_channel=BeastiePlaza
Beastie Boys, “Pop Your Balloon”
One of my favorite underrated tracks of theirs.
Fuck You (Very Much) is my go to Lilly Allen song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scXxt6QOyHA