Yearlong Song Challenge, Day 142: Pat

Prompt: "The song that plays over the end credits of the 2024 remake of Dr. Strangelove"

Selected by Pat

"Living Hell"

Cobra Man

Toxic Planet, 2018

I read an entire book last weekend for the first time in forever. Jason Pargin's I'm Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom exists in the same vein as Dr. Strangelove. Both are stories about people who have been conditioned to assume the worst—Cold Warriors in Strangelove and social media addicts in Black Box—endlessly escalating simple misunderstandings until the world falls apart.

I mean that literally for at least one.

In Strangelove, the world famously ends to Vera Lynn's "We'll Meet Again." It's appalling to hear her croon over footage of mushroom clouds, but also kinda funny. At any rate, it's a dim view of humankind.

Black Box is a little more hopeful. A ton of stuff gets destroyed, and the country loses its mind for a few days, but Black Box is steadfast in its belief that human connections are always stronger than the digital world's attempts to atomize us. So if Black Box—my pick for 2024's version of Dr. Strangelove—were to be adapted into an HBO miniseries (Maybe with Margaret Qualley as Ether? Call me, WarnerMedia!), I would recommend "Living in Hell" to play over the end credits. This world is tough both off and online, but it's easier with you around.