4th of July

4th of July is the third track on Whatever, running 3:21. Aimee Mann plays bass and acoustic guitar, Michael Hausman drums, and Jon Brion contributes Mellotron and vibraphone. The Los Angeles Times quoted its lines about the Fourth of July, another June gone by, and a waste of gunpowder and sky, in a review saying she mixes words like a master.

In a 2018 interview Mann called it probably the best song on the record. She said she cycles it in and out of her live set and had played it throughout the previous year, partly because it is easy to play. She also said she could not come up with a bridge, which is why it has none, and that it could probably use one.