 Genius Meanings
|
|
The Magnetic Fields – I Think I Need a New Heart
|
|
“I Think I Need a New Heart” is track 11 on the first volume of The Magnetic Fields’s 69 Love Songs. Like an argument put into song, the instrumentation is like a country song with
|
|
Black Country, New Road – I Think I Need A New Heart
|
|
[Intro: Luke Mark] / One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight / [Verse 1: Luke Mark] / Time stands still / All I can feel is the time standing still / As you put down the
|
|
|
The Magnetic Fields – I Don't Want to Get Over You
|
|
“I Don’t Want to Get Over You” is the much-beloved track 6 from Vol. 1 of The Magnetic Fields’s 69 Love Songs. Featuring a full band, Merritt sings lyrics that nail the sensation
|
|
|
The Magnetic Fields – Come Back from San Francisco
|
|
“Come Back from San Francisco” is a desperate lament from The Magnetic Fields, an art form composer Stephin Merritt frequents.
Shirley Simms sings this track to a man from the
|
|
The Magnetic Fields – Yeah! Oh, Yeah!
|
|
A woman is asking her husband if he is no longer in love with her. During the course of the conversation she learns that not only has he fallen out of love with her, but he loathes
|
|
|
The Magnetic Fields – Absolutely Cuckoo
|
|
This is the first song from the first volume of The Magnetic Fields’s 69 Love Songs. The track features Stephin Merritt’s baritone over light ukelele and synthesizer drops.
|
|
The Magnetic Fields – Abigail, Belle of Kilronan
|
|
[Click here to read Stephin's account of the making of "Abigail, Belle of Kilronan"] / [Verse 1] / Abigail, can you feel my heart in the palm of your hand? / And do you understand
|
|
|
The Magnetic Fields – Queen of the Savages
|
|
My girl is the queen of the savages / She don't know the modern world and its ravages / Instead of money she's got yams and cabbages / She lives in a dome / I don't care if I never
|
|
The Magnetic Fields – All I Want to Know
|
|
All I want to know is do you still want me? / And, if not so, why do you still haunt me / Like a song, like a ghost, all night long? / That's almost all I want to know / All I want
|
|
|
The Magnetic Fields – The Luckiest Guy on the Lower East Side
|
|
Featuring some off-kilter instrumentation with bouncy synths percussion, track 8 from Volume 1 from the “Lower East Side” of New York City who isn’t attractive, but has an awesome
|
|
|
The Magnetic Fields – The Book of Love
|
|
Arguably the most recognized song from the 69 Love Songs collection, “The Book of Love” is track 11 of volume one. Stephin Merritt sings a basic, timeless melody over a barely
|
|
|
The Magnetic Fields – Zebra
|
|
So we got married in Venice in June, so what? / We circled the earth in a hot air balloon, so what? / And the rest of our lives / Is one long honeymoon / Well, that doesn't mean we
|
|
|
The Magnetic Fields – Reno Dakota
|
|
Reno Dakota is track 5 of the first volume of The Magnetic Fields’s 69 Love Songs. Claudia Gonson sings these brilliant lyrics over a sole banjo.
|
|
|
The Magnetic Fields – Kiss Me Like You Mean It
|
|
[Verse 1] / He is my Lord, he is my savior / And he rewards my good behavior / My secret soul, I know he's seen it / [Chorus] / He says, "Come here baby and / Kiss me like you mean
|
|
|
The Magnetic Fields – The One You Really Love
|
|
[Verse 1] / I do believe our love's in danger / I might as well be loving air / You look at me like I'm a stranger / You look at me like I'm not there / [Chorus] / I gaze into your
|
|
The Magnetic Fields – My Only Friend
|
|
He’s lost his love, so he’s drowning his sorrows in sad Billie Holiday songs. Possibly not the wisest move.
|
|
|
The Magnetic Fields – How to Say Goodbye
|
|
[Verse 1] / The only thing that I could ever feel / I can't believe it wasn't real / The only thing that I could ever feel / I can't believe it wasn't real / You can't open your
|
|
|
The Magnetic Fields – Love in the Shadows
|
|
[Verse 1] / The woman with no nose / I know where she goes / The old guy with the gold eye / We go back, he and I / Don't smile / We don't do that here, baby / [Chorus] / Love in
|
|
|
The Magnetic Fields – A Chicken with Its Head Cut Off
|
|
Track 4 in the first volume of 69 Love Songs features Stephin Merritt and the band playing a subtle country ditty about a man with a wandering heart.
Illustration by Tom
|
|
|
The Magnetic Fields – Acoustic Guitar
|
|
Acoustic guitar, I'm gonna make you a star / Get your picture all over the world / Acoustic guitar, you can have your own car / Just bring me back my girl / She always loved the
|
|
|
The Magnetic Fields – Very Funny
|
|
Everybody knows but me / When you go where you shouldn't be / Everybody knows but me / Where you go when you're feeling free / Everybody knows but me / So you go there for a laugh
|
|
|
The Magnetic Fields – Time Enough for Rocking When We’re Old
|
|
On one of the lowest vocal performance of Stephin Merritt, he simply says that he will always be by his/her lover side (even in the afterlife), but tonight he’d rather go dancing
|
|
|
The Magnetic Fields – Boa Constrictor
|
|
Track 18 of volume one of The Magnetic Fields’s 69 Love Songs is another showcase for Shirley Simms, the on-again off-again vocalist for the band. She sings over an intricate
|
|
|
The Magnetic Fields – Meaningless
|
|
Meaningless? / You mean it's all been meaningless? / Every whisper and caress? / Yes, yes, yes, it was totally meaningless / Meaningless / Like when two fireflies fluoresce / Just
|
|
|
The Magnetic Fields – Busby Berkeley Dreams
|
|
[Verse 1] / I should have forgotten you long ago / But you're in every song I know / Whining and pining is wrong and so / On and so forth, of course, of course / But no, you can't
|
|
|
The Magnetic Fields – Epitaph for My Heart
|
|
"Caution, to prevent electric shock / Do not remove cover / No user-serviceable parts inside / Refer servicing to qualified / Service personnel" / Let this be the epitaph for my
|
|
|
The Magnetic Fields – Love is Like Jazz
|
|
“Love is Like Jazz” is a genre experiment, parodying a beatnik style with hand drums, stand-up bass and accordion provided by writer Daniel Handler (aka Lemony Snicket).
|
|
|
The Magnetic Fields – Papa Was a Rodeo
|
|
[Verse 1: Stephin Merritt] / I like your twisted point of view, Mike / I like your questioning eyebrows / You've made it pretty clear what you like / It's only fair to tell you now
|
|
|
The Magnetic Fields – Bitter Tears
|
|
[Chorus] / Bitter tears keep me goin' / Through the years, freely flowin' / What have you done? / Only a gun could stop these bitter tears / [Verse 1] / The endless streets I walk
|
|
|
The Magnetic Fields – A Pretty Girl Is Like...
|
|
One of the more violent songs on the album, track 19 of volume one of 69 Love Songs is a simple ukelele ditty sung by Stephin Merritt. In it he sings about how what a pretty girl
|
|
|
The Magnetic Fields – Nothing Matters When We're Dancing
|
|
The sweet “Nothing Matters When We’re Dancing” is track 21 on The Magnetic Fields’s 69 Love Songs, Volume 1. Stephin Merritt sings a soft ballad over ukelele and dimmed background
|
|
|
The Magnetic Fields – Parades Go By
|
|
[Verse 1] / I'll linger here / Your ring upon my finger, dear / And sing till dawn / A song of you and me and what and why / For time is all / I have to keep between these walls
|
