Celeste and Halley enjoy song lyrics, especially ones that make their hearts flutter. Here is part 1 and part 2 of their series of lyrical appreciation.
Stale conversation deserves but a bread knife.
(Vampire weekend – Step)
Really every lyric in this song makes my heart flutter (you’d curse the sun if it stepped to your girl) but if I had to choose just one it’d be this. I want it framed and hung on my wall (of course: http://etsy.me/1wA2xiI)
Always feeling tired/smiling when required/write another year off/and kindly resign
(Mac Demarco – Salad Days)
Hal and I have created mottos for every year – and each year they get slightly less enthusiastic and more depressing:
2011 why not?
2012 no shame
2013 let’s make it happen
2014 trashy but not illegal
our plan for 2015 is: Walk it off
2016 and 2017 will now be: ‘write another year off’ and ‘kindly resign’
Mr steak he’s such a bachelor at heart/he’d never met another cut that likes to booty booty shaky shake/Do you believe that steak couldn’t love/or is it hard to manage the fact of meat jerkin to the beat/But Mr. Steak he is practically an animal of joy/the rarest of all cuts: tenderloin!
(Kishi Bashi – The Ballad of Mr. Steak)
Everything about this song is amazing. First of all (unless I’m grossly misunderstanding it) it’s about a steak having a dance party. Second of all who ever thought they would hear Kishi Bashi utter the lyrics “booty booty shakey shake?”
All my friends think you might leave me for dead (Generationals – ten-twenty-ten)
This one’s all in the tone – yup. All my friends think you might leave me for dead. Also we’re out of dryer sheets.
You say ‘Christopher,’ I say ‘Walken’/You love, I love, Christopher Walken/I guess at least we’ve got the one thing in common
(Courtney Barnett – Pickles from the Jar)
Well of course you both love Christopher Walken, Courtney – you’re both human.
You say you need someone to love you, but it ain’t me
(The Kooks – Forgive & Forget)
This one reminds me of the story of how author John Green arranged his first date with his wife (no idea if it’s true but it kills me). He sent an email out to a group of friends, including his wife-to-be, asking if they wanted to go to a movie and then immediately sent a follow up to all his friends excluding his wife-to-be that just said “NOT YOU!”
You’re a no show/shows what I know.
(Bishop Allen – No Show)
If I ever get stood up for a first date, I’m texting him this.
I was scared of dentists and the dark/I was scared of pretty girls and making conversation.
(Vance Joy – Riptide)
All such reasonable phobias. Change that to handsome men and Vance Joy and I have the exact same fears.
Here come the jets/Hide my money in your tube socks
(New Politics – Harlem)
New Politics giving you some very reasonable places to stash your cash.
And to show our true hipster nature, we’re not limiting ourselves to the indie music genre (hipsters = multidisciplinary + artistic + can’t pin me down + full of feeling), we’re also invading the hip-hop space!
Oh hey Nicki Minaj:
Have a drink, clink, found a bud light/Bad bi*ches like me, is hard to come by.
(Nicki Minaj – Starships)
Honestly, Nicki, you befuddle us hipsters: Are you degrading women? Celebrating them? Or merely giving a shout out to Bud Lite? So many ways to interpret this woman’s genius. Hipster approved.
And one more lyric, to give some throw-back cred to the predecessors of our hipster generation: Mavis Staples for the ultimate win with “I Like the Things About Me”:
There was a time/When I wished my hair was fine/And I can remember when/I wished my lips were thin/Oh but now I wonder why should I be surprised/I like the things about me
Lest we forget, Meghan Trainor is not the first big-eyed, natural beautiful woman to sing about the glory of our true selves. Let’s all sing along to the goodness of gospel, reminding us it’s a-ok to ourselves the way we are (as long as we can fit into our skinny jeans…)