The Magnetic Fields' "69 Love Songs" + related Merritt-ness

[Crimen y Castigo]

This is a thread for extolling the glories of The Magnetic Fields’ “69 Love Songs.” I suppose it can also be used for singing the praises of other things Magnetic or Merritt related, such as “i” or The Sixths, or Future Bible Heroes, etc.

However, the truth is I don’t know much about that other stuff. I’m a latecomer to this game and have only a few other things by Merritt. I plan on buying much, much more, trust me. But I have made up extraordinary time by fostering a full-blown obsession over the past few months about his three disc 1999 opus "69 Love Songs." And I’m here to share.

First off, I’d like to re-do the whole thing. Re-record the entire collection. I would arrange and record each of the songs with different bands. The fact that I'm neither a producer nor an arranger is moot.

It’s maddening. He’s written tons and tons of perfect pop songs and then buries them in garbled no-fi insularism. You can barely hear the vocals on “When My Boy Walks Down the Street” and the lyrics are absolutely incredible. “Let’s Pretend We’re Bunny Rabbits” is one of the funniest, catchiest tunes ever, yet its treble range is somewhere between a Fisher Price piano and UHF static.

I would remedy this. Neko Case would blow the doors off “Kiss Me Like You Mean It.” Rufus Wainwright could bring congregations to their knees with “Nothing Matters When We’re Dancing” or “Busby Berkeley Dreams.” And if the Pixies were born to play any song, it was “Meaningless.” You get the idea.

This is not to say that the Merritt versions are not perfect in their nonsensical, self-referential cocoon. Because they are. My versions would just be an appendix. A brilliant, timeless, grammy winning, multi-platinum appendix.

In closing, here is my edit of the three discs into one manageable, 30 song collection, which might fit neatly onto your average CD-R media storage device, were you so inclined:

Absolutely Cuckoo
I Don't Believe In The Sun
All My Little Words
A Chicken With Its Head Cut Off
Reno Dakota
I Don't Want To Get Over You
Come Back From San Francisco
The Luckiest Guy On The Lower East Side
Let's Pretend We're Bunny Rabbits
The Book Of Love
Parades Go By
A Pretty Girl Is Like ...
Nothing Matters When We're Dancing
When My Boy Walks Down The Street
(Crazy For You But) Not That Crazy
Washington, D.C.
Kiss Me Like You Mean It
Papa Was A Rodeo
The Way You Say Good-Night
Busby Berkeley Dreams
I'm Sorry I Love You
Acoustic Guitar
The Death Of Ferdinand De Saussure
Wi' Nae Wee Bairn Ye'll Me Beget
Yeah! Oh, Yeah!
Meaningless
Queen Of The Savages
How To Say Goodbye
For We Are The King Of The Boudoir
Zebra

[bmurphyfl]

Great thread. I have a Mag Fields mix disc that I drive with in my car. I was only able to fit 28 tunes. There are only 14 duplicates between our mixes which goes to how much there is to choose from on those discs.

Busby Berkeley Dreams
The Death of Ferdinand de Saussure
Bitter Tears
How to Say Goodbye
A Chicken with It's Head Cut Off
I Think I Need a New Heart
When My Boy Walks Down the Street
World Love
Papa Was a Rodeo
Acoustic Guitar
Love in the Shadows
Meaningless
All My Little Words
I Don't Wanna Get Over You
Come Back From San Francisco
The Luckiest Guy on the Lower East Side
Fido, Your Leash Is Too Long
Nothing Matters When We're Dancing
Famous (from "Get Lost")
The Desperate Things You Made Me Do (from "Get Lost")
(Crazy for You But) Not that Carzy
The Sun Goes Down & the World Goes Dancing
I'm Sorry I Love You
Underwear
The Night You Can't Remember
I Don't Believe in the Sun
The One I Really Love
Very Funny

Back in 1996, at the end of my first date with my future wife, I asked her if she wanted to go to see a Magnetic Fields/Yo La Tengo double bill later in the week. She agreed immediately and I had the great feeling that things were going to work out. So, I've always had a soft spot for Magnetic Fields. (Although we ultimately chose YLT's "My Little Corner of the World" for our wedding song; 69 Love Songs hadn't come out when we got married and the earlier Mag Fields stuff wasn't...hmmm...wedding material.)

I've never had a problem with the production or order of the tunes. But I listen to a lot of lo-fi crap so my ears have built a giant callous to poor production qualities.

If Merritt ever followed through with his idea of using the songs for an off-broadway nightly cabaret show, I'd leave for NYC tomorrow. I have a friend who is such a nut for 69 Love Songs that he flew to Minneapolis when he heard Mag Fields was going to be performing all tree discs straight through over 2 nights. It can become obsessive though because there is so much there to enjoy.

[Ann]

I went to a show a while back that had a bunch of bands each doing a couple songs. I had never even heard of the Magnetic Fields and I thought it was pretty cool.

[Dolemite]

great, great album(s). so many good songs, very eclectic too.

[art]

One of the great albums of the last 10 years. Saw Mag Fields in boston last May, it was the quietest amplified show ive ever heard, Stephen Merritt has hearing damage apparently.

Anyway that show was notworthy for the opening act as well...Andrew Bird. Who, frankly, blew Mag Fields off the stage all by his singing-fiddling-guitaring-whistling-xylophoning-looping lonesome.

[YanksFC]

I'm new to the Magnetic Fields, too, thanks to obie putting "I Don't Believe You" on a CD club mix. I'm interested in getting more stuff. So what should I start with?

[bmurphyfl]

I'm new to the Magnetic Fields, too, thanks to obie putting "I Don't Believe You" on a CD club mix. I'm interested in getting more stuff. So what should I start with?

"69 Love Songs" is the best place to start. But there are three discs which can be a bit of an investment. All three are worth buying but if you want to start with just one to see if you like it, I'd suggest Vol. 1. It's my favorite of the three.

However, I'm sure if this thread continues, you'll hear people voice their love for the other two volumes over Vol.1. The quality tunes are really spread evenly over the three volumes.

[YanksFC]

This may not be an appropriate analogy, but from reading your posts and several reviews, "69 Love Songs" looks like it might be a latter day Sandinista.

[Crimen y Castigo]

Actually, "Sandinista" was more like James Joyce's Ulysses -- the popular critical reaction to which being that it was overly-long, incomprehensible, indulgent, alienating to his earlier audience and which got everyone involved into heaps of business trouble, although it was ultimately recognized as a work of genius (at least by me).

Whereas "69 Love Songs" is more like James Joyce's Ulysses -- an encylopedic tour de force by a one of a kind auteur that displays an incredible virtuosity in a staggering number of styles that was actually edited down from an even longer, more ambitious blueprint and instantly cemented the artist as one of the greats by the cognoscenti.


On a related note:

Right. As if "The Death of Ferdinand de Saussure" -- which manages to combine a pioneer of linguistic theory and semiotics, Motown, the start of World War I and four surgically placed handclaps into 3 minutes of pop perfection -- is not the greatest song ever. COME ON!

[Dolemite]

Crimen y Castigo......... i hadn't listened to the whole of 69 love songs for a year, maybe two. but i've been listening to it on shuffle non stop for the last couple of days. i'll repeat myself when i say it is a great album. this thread got me back into it. thanks i'd rep you, but i guess i need to spread some around first.

[needs]

Crimen y Castigo......... i hadn't listened to the whole of 69 love songs for a year, maybe two. but i've been listening to it on shuffle non stop for the last couple of days. i'll repeat myself when i say it is a great album. this thread got me back into it. thanks i'd rep you, but i guess i need to spread some around first.

I've got it, b/c it did the exact same thing for me.