69 Love Songs
69 Love Songs is the sixth studio album by American indie pop band the Magnetic Fields, released on September 7, 1999, by Merge Records. As its title indicates, 69 Love Songs is a three-volume concept album composed of 69 love songs, all written by Magnetic Fields frontman Stephin Merritt.
69 Love Songs
September 7, 1999
April 1999
Polar West, Mother West, Polar Mother, and Sonics
172:03
Conception and live performance[edit]
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."[1] He also found inspiration in Charles Ives' 114 Songs, about which he had read earlier in the day: "songs of all kinds, and what a monument it was, and I thought, well, I could do something like that."[2]
Band member Claudia Gonson has claimed that Merritt wrote most of the songs hanging around in bars in New York City.[3]
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[edit]
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."[4] 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 the track "Yeah! Oh, Yeah!" which tells the story of a husband murdering his wife. The songs of 69 Love Songs features lyrics exploring heterosexual, homosexual, and bisexual relationships.
Release[edit]
The album was initially released in the United States by Merge on September 7, 1999, as a box set with Merritt interview booklet with Daniel Handler, 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 6×10″ vinyl version limited to 1000 copies.[5]
69 Love Songs, A Field Guide[edit]
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 33+1⁄3 series of books on influential pop/rock albums.[24]
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/photographer 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.
Notable cover versions[edit]
"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". Taylor Hickinson covered the song as her character Raelle Collar in the Freeform series Motherland: Fort Salem.
"Papa Was a Rodeo" was covered by Kelly Hogan and the Pine Valley Cosmonauts on the 2000 Bloodshot Records album Beneath the Country Underdog.
"My Only Friend" was covered by Deadsy and featured on the soundtrack for the 2005 film Winter Passing.
"I Think I Need a New Heart" was covered by Black Country, New Road for the vinyl only EP Never Again Part 2.[25]