One of the benefits of having a finicky two week old baby who likes to spend significant portions of the night walking around in arms is the opportunity to listen to some old favourites.

Last night’s listen was Boys and Girls In America by The Hold Steady, and boy does it hold up (2006!). It now sounds even more like an elegy, not just for youth and it’s misadventures but for a whole world, pre-pandemic:

And everyone was funny, and everyone was pretty

And everyone was coming towards the center of the city

The dance floor was crowded, the bathrooms were worse

We kissed in your car and we drank from your purse

🎵