the Silent Majority

I’m a pretty big fan of Andrew W.K.  The album “I Get Wet” is one of my favorite albums, and seeing him in concert five years ago is still one of the best concerts I’ve ever seen (that’s saying a lot).  However, following the release of his second album, “The Wolf,” Andrew W.K. has been steering clear of the public eye.  Yet, unbeknownst to me, he apparently emerged from his absence a few months ago, reclaiming his urge to rock while watching…”The McLaughlin Group.”

That’s right.  The show, a weekly half-hour public affairs program on PBS where current political issues are discussed in a roundtable format, must’ve sparked the rocker’s creative genius.  For all intensive purposes, the show is pretty dry, yet I tune in every now and then because I enjoy the commentary of Pat Buchanan, who sits as one of the five panelists.  Apparently, Andrew W.K. tunes in as well.  With songs such as “It’s Time to Party,” “Party Hard,” “Party Til You Puke,” and “Long Live the Party,” it seems inconceivable that Andrew W.K. would be awake that early on a Sunday morning.  It seems even more inconceivable that he spends his Sunday mornings watching “The McLaughlin Group.”  Yet, upon watching an exchange that took place between host John McLaughlin and Pat Buchanan, Andrew W.K. was apparently prompted to awaken from his creative slumber and record a song inspired by their mutual dialogue, appropriately titled, “The McLaughlin Groove.”

The exchange that inspired the song is as follows:

MR. MCLAUGHLIN: Question: Does Romney’s endorsement seal the deal? Is McCain now the inevitable Republican nominee? I ask you, Pat.

MR. BUCHANAN: John, absent celestial intervention, I think he’s going to get the nomination.

MR. MCLAUGHLIN: Absent what?

MR. BUCHANAN: Celestial intervention.

MR. MCLAUGHLIN: Well, it happens, Pat. May he rest in peace, Paul Wellstone.  John Heinz was killed in an airplane crash.

MR. BUCHANAN: Well, let’s not speculate on it.

MR. MCLAUGHLIN: Death comes in the night on cats’ paws, Pat. You never know.

MR. BUCHANAN: On little cats’ feet. That’s the fog, John, that comes in on little cats’ feet.

How I missed this, I don’t know.  But it’s good to know that the genius that is Andrew W.K. is still at work…and that, of course, he still rocks.

To hear the song, click here.