Small talk. It’s something every one does multiple times a day and invariably, it’s just noise we use to fill an otherwise awkward space. How many times do you see someone in passing and say “hey, how’s it going” or “how are you?” just because eye contact was made? It’s almost automatic for us.
Also automatic are our responses. Over the years we have finely honed our answers to these responses. Most people say something like “I’m good” or “I’m alright” and then that is the end of the conversation. Everyone feels good and they go on in their merry way.
Which brings me to a few days ago. I was at work just going to get coffee when a fellow coworker came from an opposite direction also going for coffee.
Small talk time.
For some reason I had already anticipated him asking either “how’s it going” or “how are you” to which I already predetermined to answer with “good”
Instead it went like this:
me: “hey!”
him: “what’s up?”
me: “good”
So in conclusion, I’m an idiot.
Here’s a song called “Little Talks” by Of Monsters and Men. It actually has nothing to do with what I wrote, but whatever.
A few months ago my esteemed sister and I wrote a “Lyrics that make hipsters’ hearts flutter post.” While it was, among music experts, viewed as a crowning achievement of 2012, it was underwhelmingly “liked” on Panic Manual (not that we obsessively check how many likes we get on our posts. Absolutely not. Shnope!) So we’re giving y’all a second chance to truly appreciate our good taste in ingenious lyrics in 2013. Here goes:
My thoughts are wicked and rotten/my goat don’t want to be gotten/and I had my fill of the whippoorwill/when he broke into song I shot him/leave me alone
Dr. Dog gets it. Sometimes you’re just having one of those days. Like those lovely summer mornings when there’s that one bird that won’t stop chirping outside your window at 5am. Or most Mondays. and Sundays. and Tuesdays. and a lot of Wednesdays too. sometimes Thursdays
Tell me what your boyfriend thinks about your braces/what about them?/I’m all about them.
Yes Sleigh bells! Way to give a well-deserved shout out to all the mature ladies out there working hard to keep their teeth in line. And kudos to all those women who keep their men happy with their dazzling grillz. Dental work for the win!
Don’t you know I’d chop a limb off just to have a good time
Wombats come through in a big way when it comes to quality lyrics. We wish we could claim to love fun as much as this band does. We might be willing to stay up past midnight… sometimes…
Carrots help us see much better in the dark/don’t talk to girls/they’ll break your heart.
Wombats again ftw! This time offering words of wisdom both for the well-being of our physical bodies and emotional state. So keep eating those root vegetables and steer clear of those women. Nothing but trouble.
I am a marathon runner/and my legs are sore/and I’m anxious to see/what I’m running for
Yellow Ostrich also offering true words.to its listeners. You run 26.2 miles… yeah you might hurt a little bit the next day…. and there’d better be something damn good at the end to make it all worthwhile.
We form a tarot pack/and I’m aware of that/but we can fist fight drunk like the parent trap
We don’t really get this lyric but we love it anyway. We don’t know what it means to form a tarot pack and we don’t really remember any drunken fist fights in the parent trap (are we talking the original or the Lindsay Lohan version?) but we love it nonetheless.
You’re alright but I’m here, darling, to enjoy the party/Don’t get too excited ’cause that’s all you get from me, hey/Yeah, I think you’re cute, but I really think that you should know/I just came to say hello, hello, hello, hello
Everytime we hear this Dragonette lyric we just wanna wiggle until dawn. The thought of coming into a party, owning the scene, and not giving a second thought to whatever boy/girl makes your heart flutter is something we’ve always aspired to do. #impossibledreams
Well Jeeze, Louise
Asteroids Galaxy Tour wins for including the most antiquated, and most adorable, turn of phrase in their song.
St. Peter, don’t you call me ’cause I can’t go/I love my friends in hell as above and so below/when the rapture comes, if you don’t mind/I’ll be waiting down here and sweating
Is it baller or blasphemous to speak directly to St. Peter in your song? Either way this lyric by YACHT always makes us giggle.
No time for cameras we’ll use our eyes instead/no time for cameras we’ll be gone when we’re dead.
To everyone with >2,000 pictures of themselves on facebook, Matt&Kim are looking at you.
I wish I was a little bit taller/I wish I was a baller/I wish I had a girl who looked good I would call her.
We admit, we’re stretching the hipster label and time-frame on this, but we had to give these late 1990s-early 2000s rap lyrics a shout out. Way to call it like it is, Skee-lo. Who doesn’t wish for all of these things? Who wouldn’t love to be able to claim another two inches and have a good looking girl/boy in their life? And hellz yeah you’d call them.
It is now January, which means we all start looking forward to bands that play at SXSW. We might sound like a broken record, but this is what we do. Fear of Men is a four piece band from Brighton and London who have been making waves for over a year now overseas. Naturally, they are going to test their mettle over hear in the year 2013. Early Fragments, a compilation of singles they have released over the years is to be the first “official” release and it comes out in February. This will be followed by a journey to Austin and probably other cities as well.
Fear of Men has that dream/surf-pop sound that bands like La Sera have been sounding like in the past few years. Only this time, the singer is English. Actually, lead singer Jessica Weiss reminds me a bit of a less intense, less Irish version of that girl from the Cranberries. Doldrums is a laid back track with just about the right amount of jangly guitars and subdued vocals to make you want to put it on for a lazy afternoon. Check it out.
It’s been four long years since Toronto singer-songewriter Hayden has released any new material. This means it’s been four long years since I made a Hayden/Hayden Panetierre joke. However it is 2013, and Heroes is no longer on the air so that joke is no longer relevant. I think that girl is on some show about country music now, but I think that show isn’t very popular and is probably on a second tier network like CW or something, so making a joke about that would probably make it seem like I watch second tier television shows, thereby directly effecting my status as a cultural taste maker.
Anyways, Hayden is back. His seventh album, Us Alone is set to be released February 5th. It will be his first album since signing on with Arts and Craft, who seem to be signing everyone these days. In anticipation of this album, Hayden put out a sampler last week which included this track. Rainy Saturdays has all the hallmarks of a good Hayden tune – his voice, a toe tapping beat and lyrics that you somehow think you know even though you are just listening to the song for the first time. It’s a catchy song and hopefully is an indication of good things to come.
Hayden will be playing a lot of live shows this year, including SXSW, probably NXNE and maybe your mother’s house if you ask nicely.
