“ClosingTime” by Semisonic is just one of those songs that — should it come on at a bar — mostly everyone knows the lyrics.
But some — like the White House — don’t seem to know the point of the song.
The 90s group has come out and criticized President Donald Trump administration’s use of the song for a clip shared to X on Monday. The clip shows Border Patrol agents handcuffing men on a plane to the emblematic anthem, according to Billboard.
“You don’t have to go home but you can’t stay here,” the post’s caption reads, echoing the lyrics.
In a statement to Rolling Stone following the post’s publication, Semisonic criticized the clip as being nativist propaganda. And that they weren’t informed “Closing Time” would be used for it, either.
“We did not authorize or condone the White House’s use of our song in any way,” the statement read. “And no, they didn’t ask.
“The song is about joy and possibilities and hope, and they have missed the point entirely.”
Lead singer Dan Wilson informed Billboard in 2018 how the song — long believed to describe the end of a night of drinking — was partially inspired by the birth of his daughter, Coco.
“We had spent seven years of our lives at that point, four nights a week entertaining people. That was our life,” Wilson told the publication at the time.
“Some bouncers yelling things, closing time coming, all that imagery, literally, that’s how the song started and then when I was halfway done, I started realizing the whole thing was a pun about being born, so I made sure that the rest of the thing could ride with that double meaning, but nobody got the joke and I didn’t bother to explain. I thought everyone would get it.”
The White House has not responded to Semisonic’s denouncement as of the publishing of this report.