Album: My Head is an Animal (2011)

Charted: 12 20

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Songfacts®:

• Otherwise known as the "da-doot-doot-doot-doot-doot-doot-doot... HEY! song from the early 2010s," "Little Talks" is the most popular song from Of Monsters And Men, a group from Reykjavik, Iceland that had six members at the time, including two lead singers, Raggi Thorhallsson and Nanna Bryndis Hilmarsdottir. They trade off lines in this song, framing it as a conversation where we have to wonder if Hilmarsdottir is talking to a ghost.
  
  It's actually one of their more accessible songs; a lot of their oeuvre is in an abstract realm inhabited by the likes of their contrywoman Bjork. Released as their debut single in Iceland in September 2011, it went to #1 there and earned a global release. The following April the song entered the charts in America.
• Speaking with Interview Magazine, Hilmarsdottir explained the song's meaning: "How we usually make our lyrics is, Raggi and I, sometimes we come up with stories or situations. That one is about a relationship. Sometimes we haven't wanted to give too much away. We like people to read their own things in the lyrics. I guess I could share it. It's about a couple and the husband passed away and it's from the conversation between the two of them. We don't know if she's going crazy or if someone's actually there. We've kind of been inspired by people that lived in my house. This old couple that lived there for 30 years. The woman passed away, so it was kind of different."
• A live living-room performance of "Little Talks" recorded by the Seattle radio station KEXP ricocheted around music blogs and social feeds in October 2011. When Philadelphia's Radio 104.5 began playing the song, it propelled Of Monsters and Men to nationwide popularity in the US.
• The song was used in these TV shows:
  
  America's Morning Headquarters ("November 26, 2021 episode" - 2021)
  Emily Owens M.D. ("Emily and... the Good and the Bad" - 2014)
  Covert Affairs ("Hang On To Yourself" - 2012)
• "Little Talks" was included on the first Of Monsters and Men album, My Head Is an Animal, released globally in 2012. The group did a lot of touring that year and into 2013 but slowed their roll in the aftermath. Their next album didn't arrive until 2015; there wasn't as much enthusiasm for the group by that time, but they maintained a loyal fanbase across Europe and in America, and remained extremely popular in Iceland.

Comments: 49

• Moe Legend from Molalla OregonLittle talks reminds me of my parents. Their older and not doing well and one having dementia (not being able to dress myself and your mind is playing tricks on you my dear). Then I thought in the song where they talk about the ghost of you , that one had died and the other one was telling them to wait for them cause they were right behind them when they closed their eyes and in their dream. Meaning they both died and we're together cause their bodies were carried safe to shore. Where they'll be safe and together forever.
• Alisha from OregonI think it's about an older couple, and the woman has Alzheimer's. She's confused sometimes, can't dress her self sometimes, but she drifts back from this disease, sometimes. The disease drifts her back to shore, but the waves pull her back into dementia behaviors. And she passes away, drifts from shore.
• Anonive listened to this song before, but when my ex told me their interpretation i can no longer look at it any other way. the meaning i associate this song with is about a couple where the woman is depressed and contemplating suicide (which she commits at the end), and the man struggling to pull her out of it. she can't see or feel his efforts, he keeps trying but..nothing. it eats away at him. whenever i hear this song i get incredibly anxious and i have to turn it off. perhaps some day i will have the emotional capacity to enjoy it
• AnonymousThe truth about this song varies and that is the beauty of art.
  For me, the song is about the old self holding the persona back from the New self. The light on the other side is assuring the persona that regardless of her conclusions that are giving her a sense of hopelessness, the lights will will be done.
• Anonymous FoxThis song means a lot to me and i interpretated it in a completely different way with a meaning for me. This was the song my sister made me listen when there were family problems and my parents used to argue a lot, at that time i didnt understand the words of the song and just liked it and wanted to play it everyday. Now that i listen to the song again that i know the words i think about it, my sister being the male voice and me being the female voice.
• Jessica Magnani from MichiganI listen to the song everyday because I has a deeply meaning to me. These lyrics interpretation to me are a couple that is madly in love with each other, unfortunately the woman struggles from addiction. It talks about them being together and happy and moving forward in life. And then eventually she wanders back to the dark side. Then all of a sudden she screams wait wait for me please hang around. Meaning please wait for me while I get better because I'm coming back to our love. Unfortunately he has to keep moving forward in life in order for there home in love not to crumble at the foundation.
• Someone From from MarsAlways loved the lyrics, really filled with so much emotion.
• Name Here from Location HereI have been listing to this song over and over. I think it's about an old couple. The husband has died. The wife is trying to cope with the loss by talking to an imaginary version of her husband.
• El Birdo Au from EarthThis song is awesome I keep this song for some years
• Boca Bill from FloridaBest video I've seen in years
• AnonymousI thought it's about the expedition on a ship and everyone is getting sick and dying. So at the start the wife is sick and the husband is taking care of her but he dies first and that's the ghost she sees
• Anonymous from EarthI interpreted this song as a brother and sister that were really close growing apart and they don’t know what to do without each other. They miss their life together so much the sister is going crazy.
• Appreciative from United StatesMy impression of the song was a little different from what Nanna Bryndís Hilmarsdóttir said; I heard it as an older man speaking with his wife who is suffering from dementia but is still sometimes lucid -- guiding her around the house, helping to still her fears, wishing they could more often have real conversations.
• AnonymousI always related this song to OCD and how when you suffer from OCD it's hard to know what's true and what's not, and he's helping her, i could be wrong, i don't know all the lyrics. but its a comforting song in that respect for me.
• A Eli N Ashryver Whitethorn Galanthynius from TerrasenI always looked at the song like its a couple and the girl is going crazy or dying and the guy is trying to help her as much as he can. He really just wishes that he can get her back and she just really wishes to know whats real and whats not.
• Bngobtch from AlbuquerqueI interpret this song as an old married couple and the woman has Alzheimer's and goes in and out of remembering who her husband is and their past. The tragedy of losing her memories is like losing her life. Each time she forgets it's like she commits suicide over and over. He's doing everything he can to keep her in the moment and processing the pain of both of them.
• Fulminishonestly, i love the song but i always found it a little creepy when i read the lyrics. thought it seemed it was talking about a couple, but one had died and was either asking or waiting for their partner to join them. interesting to know i was kinda right
• Kezma from South Africawell personally i saw this in a complete diffrent lighting as a friendship that is very old and honsetly not in the best condition anymore friends who have grown apart
• BeckerPersonally, I've always viewed this as a reminder of who I used to be and still am. The only difference is the friend I once had has gone. But I know it was just me all along, trying to help myself because of my pride that I don't let others help me. Because I think in order to be understood, the person must have went through the same thing as me. Haha...
• Katniss Everdeen from District 12Why is this exactly like the deal with Katniss and Peeta from The Hunger Games?!? I love it XD
• Hello from HolleThis song reminds me of the 4th Maze Runner Book - The Kill Order, 1 bc I loved this song and played it on repeat while reading the book, and 2 now that I have finished the book it creepily resembles the book’s story. I searched up this website to see if it was based off this book or not, but I guess it wasn’t.
• Yeeeee from America I use to hate this song when I was young before I was damaged and could understand meaning behind lyrics. Going through a huge separation with someone I loved and lived with right now and it’s relatable. He wants me back but I simply cannot go back because it was too toxic and made me depressed. I feel as if I’m the girl and he’s the guy because this is equivalent to our conversations now.
• Who Cares? from Again Who Cares?To me this song feels like a widow who knows she needs help and these conversations with her husband's ghost are actually her telling herself that everything will be okay
  
• MelIt reminds me of schizophrenia and it makes me think of my mother, who has it. it’s a great song though
• Steven from Boston MassThis is my favorite song, and I cry everytime I hear it because of how I interpret it. Reminds me of my grandmother who raised me, lost her shortly before this song was made, feel like the woman is suffering from dementia or alzheimers, just like my grandmother and I had to watch her waste away slowly to the point where she didnt even know who I was. This is the most beautiful song ever made.
• Andy from Americawhy did he commit suicide?
• Andrew from AmericaWhen I listened to this song, I felt like it was a suicidal woman and a man trying to help. This may not be what it was about, but it really resonated with me because my best friend committed suicide recently. Strangely, this song gave me strength. It's been my favorite for years and still is.
• Beatriz from BrazilI can't listen to this song and don't think about therapy, every single word sound to me like the therapeutic process
  
• Alh from Usa To listen to it back when it first came out meant the novelty song. At a personal level, Now that the years have gone by, I have one parent with Alzheimer’s. At a global level...I can only imagine what people are going through with the pandemic.
• Someone from From Noneshe has scizophrenia thats clear
• Six from SomewhereI always used to listen to this song when I was younger, and thinking it was a really fun song with a positive vibe because of the music. Boy, was I wrong
• Just Me from Somewhere This is funny because when I first heard this song I did not pay too much attention to the lyrics I just knew that I like the song. Fast forward to 2014 and my father passed away. My parents have been married for 54 years when he died. My mother was left behind. This is the conversation that they have with one another. Every time I hear it it makes me think of them.My father passed away in Alzheimer’s. My mother still mourns him. She talks to him she has conversations with him and she tells him to wait for her.
• Someone from Nonebut if its depression why does she hear things
• Someone from NopeI feel like it is about a wife who is very depressed. Her husband is trying to help her, but eventually it just gets too much, and she decides to end it.
• Someone from Noneits abut the girl having a major case of schizophrenia a disease that makes you in most cases see and hear not real stuff but in some cases it can be only through hearing or the opposite you can tell this cause its clear the man doesnt hear the sound and she says she hears it
• AnonymousThis is my interpretation of the song (this may be very off but this is just what I think): It's about as an old couple who had recently moved to a new house which ended up being haunted. The couple is a woman who either got possessed by a ghost (not in a scary way, either way it basically has the effects of a mental issue) in the house or has a mental desease and a man who was trying his very best to help her as much as he can.
• Jessi always tried thinking about what it talked about, but could never come up with an exact response. i just sort of related to it in a way, "Soon it will all be over, and buried with our past, we used to play outside when we were young, and full of life and full of love" i ended up with the conclusion about it being about someone looking back at times, how everything was so simple and it fell beyond reach.
• Cat from Placei am pretty sure its more like a woman and her therapist having a session
• AnonymousI kinda thought this song was something about. How death is always closer than we hope, so take the time to enjoy the good and small stuff even of they are just words
• AnonymousI never knew the song was based on a sad story, though there were a bit of sad vibes in it. It gave me a nostalgic feeling that makes me happy and want to be in the clouds
• Lizzy from Los AngelesThis song resonates SO MUCH with me as a depression song. The husband is trying to help the wife feel better. Having trouble sleeping and the "Some days I can't even dress myself" are things I struggle with when I'm feeling depressed. I just really feel this song as a description of MY depression and my husband supporting me.
• Jake from New YorkThis song always makes me sad because the man on the front cover looks just like my grandfather who taught me guitar.
• Carmaletta from Illinois I went through some very difficult times. When my Grandson saw this video at around 2 he told his mom that was me. What an awakening for me. This little guy understood much more than anyone gave him credit for! It formed an immediate bond, stronger than we had before. He is my hero!!!
• Lemon Boy from Nywhy does everyone think this song is about Alzheimer's disease?
• Jacs from SavannahI would have definitely guessed it was about Alzheimer's. The way the song plays out... Anyone who has dealt with someone who has this horrible disease, would have guessed this.
  
  I'm really surprised this wasn't the case. Huh.
• Sue Paca from Riverside, CaI KNEW it was about a haunted house! Love ghost songs, this one is just pure brilliance.
• Mikey from CaliforniaThe song, to me is describing Alzheimer's. Took care of mom and pops through it.
• Mfernflower from NyIsn't this song about Alzheimer's disease?
• Reyos from Windsor, OnI happen to think the video would have been much better if they had showed the story told by the lyrics, of the woman with her late husband. Much better than the progression of monsters being so easily destroyed.

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