69 Love Songs

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69 Love Songs
File:The Magnetic Fields - 69 Love Songs.jpg
Studio album box set by The Magnetic Fields
Released September 7, 1999
Recorded April 1999 at Polar West, Mother West, Polar Mother, and Sonics
Genre Indie rock, indie pop, lo-fi, baroque pop
Length 2:52:35
Label Merge
Producer Stephin Merritt
The Magnetic Fields chronology
Get Lost
(1995)Get Lost1995		 69 Love Songs
(1999)		 i
(2004)i2004
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
AllMusic 4.5/5 stars[1]
Entertainment Weekly A[2]
The Guardian 5/5 stars[3]
NME 8/10[4]
Paste 9.4/10[5]
Pitchfork Media 9.0/10[6]
Rolling Stone 3/5 stars[7]
Select 5/5 stars[8]
Spin 10/10[9]
The Village Voice A+[10]

69 Love Songs is a three-volume concept album by the Magnetic Fields released in 1999. As its title indicates, the album is composed of 69 love songs, all written by Magnetic Fields frontman Stephin Merritt. It was ranked #465 in Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. It was well received by critics, music critic Nick Mirov claimed that "Stephin Merritt has proven himself as an exceptional songwriter, making quantum leaps in quality as well as quantity on 69 Love Songs".[11]

Conception and live performance

The album was originally conceived as a music revue. Stephin Merritt was sitting in a gay piano bar in Manhattan, listening to the pianist's interpretations of Stephen Sondheim songs, when he decided he ought to get into theatre music because he felt he had an aptitude for it. "I decided I'd write one hundred love songs as a way of introducing myself to the world. Then I realized how long that would be. So I settled on sixty-nine. I'd have a theatrical revue with four drag queens. And whoever the audience liked best at the end of the night would get paid."[12]

Band member Claudia Gonson has claimed that Merrit wrote most of the songs hanging around in bars in New York City.[13]

On seven occasions (five in the United States and two in London over four consecutive nights) the Magnetic Fields performed all 69 love songs, in order, over two nights. Several of the lavish orchestrations are more simply arranged when performed live, due to limited performers and/or equipment.

Genres and themes

Merritt has said "69 Love Songs is not remotely an album about love. It's an album about love songs, which are very far away from anything to do with love."[14] The album features songs in many different genres, including country, synth pop, free jazz and mournful love ballads. All the songs deal with love in one form or another, but often in an ironic or off-beat fashion, such as "Yeah! Oh, Yeah!" that tells the story of a husband murdering his wife. The songs of 69 Love Songs features songwriting with both heterosexual, homosexual or bisexual points of view, such as "When My Boy Walks Down The Street" or "Underwear".

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Stephin Merritt. 

Personnel

The Magnetic Fields
Additional musicians
  • LD Beghtol – harmonium on "Xylophone Track", lead vocals on "All My Little Words", "My Sentimental Melody", "Roses", "The Way You Say Good-Night", "Bitter Tears", and "For We Are the King of the Boudoir;" duet with Merritt on "The One You Really Love"; other backing vocals; graphic design of box and book
  • Chris Ewen – backing tracks and arrangement on "Promises of Eternity" and "It's a Crime", theremin on "Blue You"
  • Daniel Handler (aka Lemony Snicket) – accordion, keyboards, and arrangement on "Asleep and Dreaming"
  • Dudley Klute – lead vocals on "The Luckiest Guy on the Lower East Side", "How Fucking Romantic", "Very Funny", "Long-Forgotten Fairytale", "It's a Crime", and "Blue You;" duet with Merritt on "Underwear;" other backing vocals
  • Ida Pearle – violin on "The Luckiest Guy on the Lower East Side"
  • Shirley Simms – duet with Merritt on "Papa Was a Rodeo", vocals on "Come Back from San Francisco", "Boa Constrictor", "No One Will Ever Love You", "Kiss Me Like You Mean It", "I'm Sorry I Love You", and "Strange Eyes;" other backing vocals
Production

Release history

The album was initially released in the United States by Merge on September 7, 1999, as a box set with Merritt interview booklet, and as three separate individual volumes—catalogue numbers MRG166 (Vol. 1), MRG167 (Vol. 2), MRG168 (Vol. 3), and MRG169 (box set). On May 29, 2000, the album was released by Circus (CIR CD003) in Europe and Australia without the booklet insert. It was reissued in the United Kingdom through Domino as REWIGCD18.

On April 20, 2010 Merge released a limited edition 6x10" vinyl version limited to 1000 copies.[15]

69 Love Songs, A Field Guide

LD Beghtol's explication of 69 Love Songs (ISBN 0-8264-1925-9) was released on December 15, 2006 by Continuum International Publishing Group as part of their 33⅓ series of books on influential pop/rock albums.[16]

The book includes studio anecdotes, an extensive annotated lexicon of words and phrases culled from the album's lyrics, performance notes from the band, fans and friends, full-album shows in New York, Boston, and London, rare and unpublished images by chickfactor editor/photographress Gail O'Hara, and other items such as a crossword puzzle created by TMF/Flare associate Jon DeRosa and a scathing list of academic cant words not otherwise used in Beghtol's book.

Also featured is a candid interview with the songwriter, styled as a surrealist radio play, in which Stephin Merritt answers questions about his Chihuahua Irving Berlin Merritt, his sex life, studio practices, and other esoterica.

Cover versions

"The Book of Love" was covered by Peter Gabriel; this cover version was featured in Scrubs during the final episode, "My Finale", the 2004 movie, Shall We Dance?, and the South Park episode "Tweek x Craig". It was also covered by Croatian musicians 2Cellos on their album In2ition, translated into Italian as Il Libro Dell 'Amore.

The Art of Time Ensemble featuring Steven Page (former Barenaked Ladies singer) recorded "For We Are The King of The Boudoir" for their 2010 album A Singer Must Die.

With the approval of The Magnetic Fields, 69 separate Minnesota-based or born musicians, including Grammy award winner Dan Wilson, covered all 69 of the love songs. The work is titled Absolutely Cuckoo: Minnesota covers the 69 Love Songs.

"Papa Was a Rodeo" was covered by Bright Eyes for the album SCORE! 20 Years of Merge Records: THE COVERS!

References

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External links

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  12. ↑ [1] in the San Francisco Bay Guardian, 1 September 1999
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  14. ↑ Interview in The Independent, 14 April 2000
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