B-Side Guys

Good morning all you beautiful people out there! I hope you are rolling into your morning peacefully and without too bad of a hangover after Memorial Day festivities. For the morning commute this morning, we wanted to give you something really fun and a little quieter (just in case sun and sound aren’t your friend this morning). Ease into your day with something truly unique. Two steps away from being an acapella track, this is something that has to be heard.

Michael Flynn, who I literally just learned lives four hours away from me, is a self-proclaimed hermit from Charleston, SC. That introverted aspect of his life is on full display in this song. With the facade of being a song about LinkedIn, he tells a story of human contact and the need to be needed. I really love songs like this because it leaves so much to the imagination. I’m going to post the lyrics, and then give you my two best working theories. Here we go.

(I’d like to add you to my professional network)

Oh I get up and make no sound

Waiting on the phone to light up

No messages found I’m ready but I don’t wanna die alone

In my home

Don’t let me cause I don’t wanna die alone

In my home

Oh I get up and make no sound

Waiting on the sun to light up

All the cold wet ground I’m ready but I don’t wanna die alone

In my home

Don’t let me cause I don’t wanna die alone

In my home

Oh I get up and make no sound

Waiting on the phone to light up

No messages found I’m ready but I don’t wanna die alone

In my home

Don’t let me cause I don’t wanna die alone

In my home

Theory 1: The first thing that came to mind, especially given the fact that he is such an introverted person, is that everyone needs someone. He’s reaching out through social media because the thought of doing it in person is crippling. It seems like he may even try to get out in the second verse, but goes back to waiting on that LinkedIn friend to show up in the last verse. Even the most introverted people need a close friend or two, and either Michael, or a character Michael knows/created hasn’t found theirs yet.

Theory 2: Something else that I kept thinking about is that maybe it’s a tongue in cheek way of saying that social media relationships are empty constructs, and he’s ready to move past that. The phone lighting up being that friendship you create online, and the messages being empty being the quality of what you can create via a social media platform. Then, in the second verse, we see him go out and realize that he’s just as scared of what real world relationships are. He is outside and he’s ready to embrace the world, and even though it’s new and challenging, he knows trying is better than dying alone in his house.

Bonus Theory: It’s just a song about LinkedIn. Either way, this is a song that challenges the listener to think about social media in a whole new light.

 

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-Seth