Laziness is a pressing issue. Is Britain for or against it? Let's get the workshy off benefits, say some. Let's free our children from the tyranny of productivity, say others (albeit in less strident tones). As we cascade through an economic slump and head towards the reckoning of a general election, it's time to get serious about sloth. And that's where the Moldy Peaches come in.

I should confess to having approached this topic from a decidedly Matt Biancan angle. Laziness is a scourge and its practitioners should be forced out of bed before the more industrious are forced to count to three. Listening through this week's nominations though, what quickly became clear was that laziness was, for some, not only a good thing, but a near-political act. Paul Westerberg of the Replacements makes just such a statement. "I'm shiftless when I'm idle and I got time to waste," he snarls, knowing the alternatives on offer are not ones he would choose for himself. Recorded in 1981, it also has the benefit of being a punk song that features more than three chords.

The idea of "indolence as political act" was also abroad in the 60s (Give Peace a Chance, the product of John and Yoko's bed-in, missed the list by a whisker). Pink Floyd's Cirrus Minor, from 1969, is ostensibly about lazing on a riverbank. But it's also about being so off your noggin on psychoactive drugs that you're simultaneously able to take a trip to the furthest reaches of the solar system. Nancy Sinatra's Sugar Town was, according to Sinatra herself, about the consumption of LSD. With its sinister meaning obscured under a sweet melody, however, it becomes a song about the restorative powers of idling. A third hymn to the virtues of languorous excursions comes from Hoagy ­ Carmichael, who was not a hippie.

Another nuance that I hadn't considered was laziness as a form of protection. This is an idea expressed brilliantly by Yo La Tengo in Little Eyes, where a reluctance to wake up is also a desire to avoid conflict: "Little eyes are open/ But they don't see very far/You can only hurt the ones you love/ Not the ones you're thinking of." Georgia Hubley's vocals are delivered as if she's on her last legs; a real numbness that makes the sentiment all the more discomfiting.

Back to the Moldy Peaches, and if any band could qualify for this topic on the laziness of their sound alone, it is they. In Jorge Regula, Adam Green and Kimya Dawson bat lyrics back and forth lopingly; behind them is the horn riff from War's Low Rider slowed so far down that it can barely parp.

This list isn't entirely pro-torpor. It's a fair bet the charm of the Moldy Peaches would be lost on Morrissey who, in a glorious piece of lyrical misanthropy, rages at self-absorbed ray-chasers: "A world war was announced days ago, but they don't know." Del tha Funkee Homosapien offers a more prosaic diatribe against his friends, whose laziness is sapping at his own resources. Howlin' Wolf's rooster is "too lazy to crow for day", and could do with some hard work and no mistake. As for David Byrne, he confesses freely to his wicked laziness. So readily, in fact, you think he might not really mean it.

The A-list

1 Shiftless When Idle - The Replacements

2 Cirrus Minor - Pink Floyd

3 Sugar Town - Nancy Sinatra

4 Lazy River - Hoagy Carmichael

5 Little Eyes - Yo La Tengo

6 Jorge Regula - The Moldy Peaches

7 The Lazy Sunbathers - Morrissey

8 Sleepin' On My Couch - Del tha Funkee Homosapien

9 Little Red Rooster - Howlin' Wolf

10 Lazy - Xpress 2 featuring David Byrne