You can sing me anything

The story goes like this: Stephin Merritt sat at an Upper East Side piano bar, drinking alone and writing songs. And lo, the idea came. He would write a musical revue, a comprehensive survey of "every kind of song there is to be written about love, from country to punk to krautrock to Irish folk ballad." This according to Our Noise: The Story of Merge Records, the label that released the three-album set in 1999.

Photo illustrations by Nathanael Roney

After drawing a massive chart listing the songs — by genre, instrument, variety of love addressed, etc. — Merritt came up with 100. Too long, perhaps; and wouldn't 69 be a terrific number for the album covers? The rest of the Merge story tells more of the tale.

So the hitherto relatively unknown Merritt found himself and the Magnetic Fields in Rolling Stone, Spin, the Village Voice, the New York Times, Magnet, etc., etc. And lovers found a pithy soundtrack for the pain, joy, lust, wretched heartbreak and ridiculousness of love — all in clever singalong form.

This weekend, some of Asheville's finest bands will perform all 69 songs in order, in a Valentine's Day event borne from the bright minds of co-producers Chall Gray and James Richards. The albums have their own field guide, a 157-page book with anecdotes, citations, history and illustration. In April, Merge will release a limited-edition box set of the songs remastered on six 10" records. What is it about Love Songs that resonates?

"69 Love Songs is an enviable pop masterpiece that shows off not only what seems to be stream of consciousness, back-handed songwriting, but also creative and economical production," writes Aaron Price, local songwriter/producer/singer who'll be debuting a new band, GladHammer, at the Saturday show. "Plus, it's a charming and unpredictable record, sort of like what a Valentine's Day breakfast in bed should be."

Merritt's songs seem to make it all more manageable. You might think your pain or joy or weird situation is the only one of its kind, the Most or the Worst or the Biggest. But no, Merritt's charted more than five-dozen distinct forms of Joy and Pain and Oddity. Most of the songs clock at under three minutes, so really, how important could any of it be? Many are witty, and the wrenching ones are only a few songs away from the chipper ones. So laugh and revel, because tomorrow you could be in the middle of a different disc.

Says Andy Herod from Electric Owls: "Merritt has a great, human view of life and love. He acknowledges the futility of it, yet goes back for more and more like we all do. That's when music really hits home, when you hear someone singing things you always felt, but are afraid to admit, but they are just belting it out into the light of day so we can all look at it together and be like, "F@#*k yeah! That's me, too!"

Xpress asked all the performers questions about their favorite (and least-favorite) of the songs, why they think the albums work and what surprises might be in store at the show. In order of appearance:

Andy Herod / Electric Owls

Are there any songs in particular that resonate with you from the albums? What is it about them?
I remember having an instant emotional reaction to "I Don't Believe in the Sun." It says it all about this record: Sad, Funny, Dreary, Brilliant.

When did you first hear the albums (at what time in your life did they come along)? Were there songs that seemed especially appropriate?
I remember clearly this album coming out as I was rebounding from a bad breakup and having the time of my life doing it. It was a perfect soundtrack because it's not just love songs, it's break up songs too. And it seemed to celebrate the mistakes made in love as well as all of the joy you can get from it.

Are there any songs that you skip, and if so, why?
Honestly, No. I became a real fan of this band during that time and I thirsted for all of it, even the super-gay show-tunesy stuff.

Fave lyrics? A section or two? And what makes them your favorite?
"…You scare me out of your wits when you do that Shiht / zu, Fido your leash is too long." He's just too smart for his own good. He can't help showing off, and you're like, "Damn, I'd show off too…"

How are you preparing for the show? What are you most looking forward to? What will be Electric Owls' special take on its songs?
The Electric Owls preparation for the show is TOP SECRET. You will have to be there early to find out.

What do you think makes the albums work so well? I am presuming here that you think the albums succeed. If you don't, please discuss!
This is a classic work of genius. It was ridiculously ambitious from the onset. And very few people would be able to tackle something like this, finish it and have it be really good. I think that this stuff still works because Stephen Merritt has a great, human view of life and love. He acknowledges the futility of it, yet goes back for more and more like we all do. That's when music really hits home, when you hear someone singing things you always felt but are afraid to admit, but they are just belting it out into the light of day so we can all look at it together and be like, "F@#*K yeah! That's me too!"

Joti Marra / Fox Teeth

Are there any songs in particular that resonate with you from the albums? What is it about them?
Magnetic Fields has been one of my all time favorite bands for ages. There are so many songs I adore its near silly. I have actually always wanted to do a cover record of the best of them of them… I probably need to do a real Fox Teeth record first though. ;) So this may be as close as I ever get but my best most loved MF songs are:

"Absolutely Cuckoo"
"I Think I Need a New Heart"
"When My Boy Walks Down the Street"
"Epitaph For My Heart"
"Underwear"
"Love is Like a Bottle of Gin"

I could add a few more but… let's keep it sweet and short.

When did you first hear the albums (at what time in your life did they come along)? Were there songs that seemed especially appropriate?
I think I was 19 or 20 when I first heard these songs… and I'll admit it… I didn't love them… or like them… in fact I would hurl
myself across the room to turn them OFF! I didn't have a sense of humor about the music I listened to at the time and I think that that's something I think you really need to have when you listen to these beauties. Not to demean them at all as valid amazing love songs but… you have to admit they are a little odd. I'm not sure exactly how but not long after my 1st listen I began to die for them. I think a friend made me a mix tape of their favorites… I took it to Europe with me and I did a lot of solo traveling and pretty much ended up listening to that tape the whole time. From then on it was a total love affair.

Are there any that you skip, and if so, why?
I love this about them. There are still a few songs I would hurl my body across the room to turn off! "Roses" into "Love is Like Jazz" for instance… or "Love in The Shadows." "Punk Love." Kinda the obvious ones.

Fave lyrics? A section or two? And what makes them your favorite?
"Cuz I always say I love you when I mean turn out the light and I say let's run away when I just mean stay the night." How good is that?
"Grand pianos crash together when my boy walks down the street." I wish so hard I had written that line. It's brilliant.

How are you preparing for the show? What are you most looking forward to? What will be Fox Teeth's take on its songs?
Well normally I play all the guitar and sing on Fox Teeth but these shows are a lot more like… Tyler, Angi, and Joti play around and have fun. Tyler is playing most of the guitar… because if you have Tyler killing it on the guitar you really don't ask him to get out of the way! Angi and share a lot of the singing… same deal… when you have a voice like that you really gotta get out of the way now and again. It's been really fun to watch the songs become ours. Changing them all about and mixing them up. Originally we were going to have tons of keyboards and crazy toys but they ended up turning into sorta country ballads with lots of pretty guitar and harmonies. We'll still have more than a few surprises though, never fear!

I can't wait to hear what everyone else did with their songs! It will be such a fun night! The perfect valentines treat!

Erika Jane / Remember the Bees

Are there any songs in particular that resonate with you from the albums? What is it about them?
From the moment I heard the song "Chicken with its Head Cut Off" I began to smile. It was playing on KEXP Seattle and I had to find out who sang it. Charmingly funny lyrics with a sweet old time country smooth voice. My uncle had raised chickens for a bit when I was a kid. I have particular memories that make it easy to visualize. I thought it was brilliant. 

When did you first hear the albums (at what time in your life did they come along)? Were there songs that seemed especially appropriate?
After I discovered it, I had to buy it. I mainly listened to the 1st disc and fell in love with them. It was one of my favorite discs to put on while I was painting because I could sing along and it would just keep going and going in a sad, funny, upbeat way.

Are there any songs that you skip, and if so, why?
Nope, just mainly listened to the first disc as I purchased it before mp3s were a giant sensation.

Fave lyrics? A section or two? What makes them your favorite?
I absolutely love the song "I Don't Want to Get Over You." When I connected to this album, I was going through a break up and it really resonated with me. There's something that happens when lovers part — where the sadness can feel like comfortable old blanket wrapped around you. I think this song really captures a specifically beautiful and dark emotion.

How are you preparing for the show? What are you most looking forward to? What will be your special take on the songs?
I brought out the old tap shoes and tried to work on a bit for "A Pretty Girl is Like" but I think they are WAY too dusty. We are really looking forward to seeing what each of the bands have chosen to do with this prolific body of work.  We really respect and admire the majority of these musicians. It will be a fascinating surprise. Our special take? Well it definitely will not be tap dancing.

Why do you think the albums work so well? (If you do think that! If you don't, share that too.)
The albums work so well because the songs are relatively short, well-written, cohesive and similar. He has had different voices to sing some of the songs which adds dimension to each song. 

Evan Hill / Wilson the Rocker

Are there any songs in particular that resonate with you from the albums? What is it about them?
More than a few songs resonate with me, but not on any deeply personal level. They resonate in the way that when I sing them, I feel what the character of the song feels. "Grand Canyon" starts off as this song about the lengths the singer would go for his love, but it quickly turns into a plea to be loved. There's this set of lines that just hit me in the gut every time: "But I'm just me, I'm only me / and you used to love me that way / So you know how to love me that way." They're very simple words, but they completely capture the desperation of the singer wanting their love to return to how it once was.

We're not doing it, but I think "Nothing Matters When We're Dancing" is just such a sweet love song. It's a song I wish would be played at every wedding reception.

When did you first hear the albums (at what time in your life did they come along)? Were there songs that seemed especially appropriate?
It was sophomore year of college for me, so that was 2001 probably. Somewhat of a latecomer, I guess. I remember seeing that the album was highly praised, but I had no idea who the Magnetic Fields were. Judging by the band name and the album cover, I assumed they were techno. Ha. A friend who was much hipper than I kept telling me I had to listen to it, so I finally bought the box set with some birthday money, having not heard a song.

Are there any that you skip, and if so, why?
Oh yeah. Coincidentally enough, the two songs I skip most often are in our set: "Roses" and "Love is Like Jazz." (Don't get me wrong, we're lucky to have gotten the set we did: it's got some killer songs.) It's just that they're right at the beginning of Disc 2. "Roses" is short and forgettable, and "Love is Like Jazz" is so ramshackle and chaotic that it's hard to listen to. The rest of Disc 2 is just so solid that I feel like those two songs just don't belong.

Fave lyrics? A section or two? What makes them your favorite?
Well, the "Grand Canyon" lines mentioned above. Also, from "A Pretty Girl Is Like…": "I'm so in love with you, girl, it's like I'm on the moon / I can't really breathe, but I feel lighter." He takes the grim reality of what it would really be like on the moon and turns it into a cute simile about love. That's a special kind of brilliance there.

Another devastating one in the vein of "Grand Canyon" is from "You're My Only Home": "When you cancel dinner plans/When you cross the street / and you don't take my hand/  When you make impossible demands / I wish I didn't understand." Merrit's lyrics have a lot in common with the lyrics of the American Popular Song era (songs by Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, Rodgers and Hart, etc.) in that he is able to make a large emotional impact with just a few simple images. I feel like everybody has been able to foresee the end of a relationship in a few small gestures just like the singer of this song. It's like the slow train coming for the tied-up captive: there's a aching inevitability to it.

How are you preparing for the show? What are you most looking forward to? What will be your take on the songs?
Lots of rehearsal! Other than singing these songs, which I really love to do, I'm looking forward to hearing what others have done with the songs. There are a lot of good musicians on this bill, so I have a feeling I'm gonna get blown away. As for our take, we're doing a few fairly close to the original. I've completely rewritten the music for "Love Is Like Jazz" so that it's more like an actual jazz tune. "Time Enough For Rocking When We're Old" will be strutting garage rock. And Addison, our drummer, is learning a new instrument for one song. It's all pretty exciting.

In your mind, what makes the albums work so well? If you think they do. What is it about Merritt's songwriting?
The albums work because of the playfulness and variety of Merritt's arrangements. As a songwriter Merritt is able to be wickedly clever and also sentimental, sometimes within the same song. He's able to make fun of our sentimentality and our attachment to sappy love songs as listeners in a way that doesn't come off as overly ironic or cold. His songs celebrate both the necessity and the frivolity of pop songs. On top of all that, Merritt's songs are catchy and fun to sing and mostly easy to play.

Shane Conerty / Now You See Them

Are there any songs in particular that resonate with you from the albums? What is it about them?
The song "Papa was a Rodeo" was the reason I wanted to do this thing. I love that song, and we got cut off the song before it. Hmph. So, that song, but some of the songs we got assigned have grown on me, like '"You're My Only Home."

When did you first hear the albums (at what time in your life did they come along)? Were there songs that seemed especially appropriate?
My parents used to put a speaker up to my mom's pregnant belly and play 69 Love Songs to me. Haha. I was 11 when the album came out so I was probably listening to No Doubt at the time. I only discovered the Magnetic Fields a few years ago. Don't judge me.

Are there any songs that you skip, and if so, why?
I skip the songs that are horribly out of tune. its hard for me to listen to anything like that. We try to be in tune as much as we can in Now You See Them and it drives us crazy when we're playing and we're out of tune so it parallels when we listen to music as well.

How are you preparing for the show? What are you most looking forward to? What will be your take on the songs?
We tried to make all the songs we're doing sound as far away from the original as possible. At this point we're not sure if we are going to get tomatoes thrown at us at the show. People sure are die-hard about the Magnetic Fields.

Why do you think the albums work so well? (If you do think that! If you don't, share that too.) What is it about Merritt's songwriting?
I like the fact that the Magnetic Fields aren't immediately accessible to most listeners. His voice is..well you know how it is.
I would compare it to a singer like Conor Oberst. The first time I heard Bright Eyes I laughed out loud at his shivering singing,
but now Conor Oberst is one of the biggest inspirations on my songwriting. It's the same with artists like Tom Waits, Daniel Johnston. They make you listen past the things you don't like to find the things you love.

Jaye Bartell / Pilgrim

Are there any songs in particular that resonate with you from the albums? What is it about them?
Down-tempo songs with simple, decisive melodies are always the favorites. "Book of Love" has a terrific ring to it, and I like the echoic guitar, the shrugging lyrics. I guess I like love songs in extremes — wry and clever tunes of cool distance, or straight ribbon-candy numbers, like every song in Dirty Dancing. 

How are you preparing for the show? What are you most looking forward to? What will be your take on the songs?
My approach to the songs is so basic that it just might work. Otherwise, it will be a long night, and I wouldn't be surprised or bristled if people chose to take a break for the guy with the guitar segment. I'll be playing loud and slow. Eventually, I'll just be rubbing my guitar with a mitten and murmuring "baby" in a variety of languages.

In any case, I've been playing the Magnetic Fields songs regularly and preparing a topical comedy routine to lighten the mood between each one. In sum, it's been enjoyable, and I it turns out I have the sense of humor of a 13 year-old. I've adjusted the material in general to fit the spare instrumentation. In one case, I changed the original music to fit the tune of "Those were the Days," specifically the version played by Edith and Archie Bunker at the beginning of All in the Family. I have already begun drafting my letter of apology to Stephin Meritt.

Why do you think the albums work so well? (If you do think that! If you don't, share that too.) What is it about Merritt's songwriting?
I read through some interviews with Stephin Merrit, and his general approach to writing songs seems explicitly serial or thematic. I tend to write, and enjoy listening to, cohesive sets of songs. As he said, and I have found the same, a foundational theme can focus the writing process, or at least improve the specificity of the content. With the 69 Love Songs, the exhaustive approach distinguished the songwriting and demonstrated his great facility with the writing, lyrically and musically. What may have otherwise been dismissed as a few more love songs on the grill led to a really enjoyable set of records, as well as a kind of digest of themes and variations of the given song form. It may not be impressive to eat a single hot dog, even if it has pink relish, but if you eat 69 hot dogs, that is exceptional.

James Richards / Night's Bright Colors, coproducer

Why are you putting on this show?
For the sheer musical challenge of it. I wanted to see great Asheville bands reinterpret these brilliant songs, warts and all. Valentine's Day weekend made sense because it gave the bands enough time to work on the material and it gives us a backdrop for three albums that deconstruct love songs.

Which songs in particular resonate with you from the albums? Why?
Despite having listened to all three albums countless times at this point, my favorite song remains "Papa Was a Rodeo" off Disc 2. I think the song's trucker or hitchhiker or cowboy is Merritt's most complete character. The song is sweet, a little wary and there's not a wasted word in there. The melody is plaintive and beautiful with the mandolin line contrasting against Merritt's croaky baritone. Besides, it's potentially the first gay cowboy song in pop culture, preceding Brokeback Mountain by a decade.

At what time in your life did the albums come along (when did you start listening to them)? Were there songs that seemed especially appropriate? Songs that seemed more appropriate later?
As a musician I've been asked to sing "The Book of Love" at a few weddings and campfires. My 4-year-old nephew was a big Magnetic Fields fan, particularly "A Chicken with its Head Cut Off", for obvious kid reasons. He asked me to learn the song and make a mix CD of other Magnetic Fields songs like that. He also enjoys the goofy keyboards on "Luckiest Guy on the Lower East Side." I think they remind him of Sesame Street. I wonder if Merritt's ever done that show? He'd be pretty fantastic — right up there with They Might Be Giants. If the movie Coraline was any indication, Merritt could graduate from soundtracks to children's songs in a heartbeat.

Despite Merrit's influence on songwriters and musicians, I think pop culture hasn't given him his due. He is a lyrical descendent of Tin Pan Alley, Rogers and Hammerstein up through '60s pop hits with people like Leiber and Stoller, Phil Spector, and Carole King to Abba and Morrissey. As a perfomer, he strips away the camp from caberet and gives it this pathos and dignity from his band set-up of acoustic instruments. Yet, his albums can also be full of lo-fi synth cheese. I think he remains a uniquely talented songwriter and performer who moreover, is willing to share the singing and performance spotlight with other distinct voices in the Magnetic Fields. Ashevillians appreciate good music and I think Merritt should be part of that canon.

Are there any songs that you skip, and if so, why?
Merrit supposedly wrote 100 songs for this album and cut it to 69 for dramatic effect. Still, among the brilliance there are some throwaways. Consequently, I usually skip "Experimental Love" on Disc 3 as it's mostly a sonic experiment. Having said that, one of the interesting things about this Grey Eagle show will be to see how the bands reinterpret songs like that which offer one lyric repeated ad nauseum and put through a sonic blender. 

Fave lyrics? A section or two? What makes them your favorite?
Lyrically, Merritt can be biting, caustic, but darkly humorous up through sweet and self-consciously maudlin. I'm still finding bits of lyrics that are striking. Despite his sardonic reputation, I think Merritt is particularly good at writing novel songs that celebrate the joy and thrill of love or infatuation that still have some bite to them. Lyrics like, "Grand pianos crash together / when my boy walks down the street"  or "I like your twisted point of view, Mike / I like your questioning eyebrows."

Then, because I mentioned it earlier "Papa was a rodeo / Mama was a rock n' roll band / I could play guitar and rope a steer / before I learned to stand / Home was anywhere with diesel gas / Love was a trucker's hand / Never stuck around enough for a one-night stand." I mean, it really does tell you everything you need to know about that character. The Grey Eagle will be full of great lines like that, hopefully with everyone singing along. I wish I had a teleprompter for the audience to follow.

Please talk a bit about how you chose the venue, bands, assigned songs.
Chall and I had some initial ideas about who we wanted to perform but got excited at the prospect of holding auditions. With so many bands in this town, we wanted to see who else in Asheville would know the Magnetic Fields' music enough to risk bringing their sound to such a highly regarded album among fans and critics.

Jay Martin

Are there any songs in particular that resonate with you from the albums? What is it about them? 
I think that "The Book of Love" sums up the whole song cycle, in a way. The verses are about the banal and cliched nature of love songs (and sentiments of love) in general, but the choruses are a celebration of the tenderness existing in the specifics of the singer's love for another person. Where the verses refer to the time-honored images and symbols of romantic love, the choruses refer to interactions so universal and tiny that they almost transcend cliches. This, to me, captures the whole spirit of 69 Love Songs. 

When did you first hear the albums (at what time in your life did they come along)? Were there songs that seemed especially appropriate?
First heard about the albums a few weeks before they were released, sometime in the summer of 1999. I was already a huge Stephin Merritt fan. On one level, I was just starting to consider myself a "serious" songwriter, and I was looking at Merritt as something of a DIY indie pop role model. I was astounded at how ambitious and prolific he was demonstrating himself to be by releasing an album of 69 songs, all the more 69 songs on a single theme. On another level, I was somewhat incredulous — I mean really, 69 songs?

Are there any songs that you skip, and if so, why?
I tend to skip "Love is Like Jazz." There are a few of what I consider "non-songs" on the album — "Experimental Music Love" comes to mind- which lack the form and word play that I love about Merritt, but these tend to be very short, whereas "Love is Like Jazz" is almost 3 minutes long.

Fave lyrics? A section or two? What makes them your favorite? 
My favorite thing about Stephin Merritt's songwriting is his fantastic use of simile and metaphor.  One of my favorite lines is from "A Pretty Girl is Like…":
"I'm so in love with you, girl, it's like I'm on the moon / I can't really breathe, but I feel lighter…" 

The whole of "Love is Like a Bottle of Gin" is one extended simile, and I find the lengths to which he extends that single comparison nothing short of astounding.  In both of these examples, he manages to fit in the positive and negative aspects of love, which really makes the wordplay feel like it completes a metaphoric circle. 

How are you preparing for the show? What are you most looking forward to? What will be your take on the songs? 
Since I recently moved to the Triangle area away from my usual pool of Asheville musicians, I had to form an entirely new band for the show — this is the prototype for my new band the New Euphemisms. It has been a blast playing with new people — I've recruited "local" guitarist Tim Shearer (who recently moved here from England) from the Raleigh outlaw-country band "Hearts and Daggers," as well as another recent Triangle-area transplant Mindy Olson on bass, and my baby sister Amanda Fellingham on synthesizer. Since "There are Two Kinds of People" has such a minimal arrangement, Amanda, Mindy and I have worked out a 3-part harmony for the vocals. The fact that I've got my sister in the line up is particularly exciting for me — We've sung together at special occasions, holidays, and the like, but never in a live-band scenario. I've been programming a lot of drum beats as well.

Why do you think the albums work so well? (If you do think that! If you don't, share that too.) What is it about Merritt's songwriting?
The albums work because the brilliant moments are plentiful, and well distributed throughout. Merritt's songwriting has a particular strength of wordplay, and a sense of completeness about the metaphors he uses. His melodic sense is, more often than not, spot on as well. The low-fi production only serves to underscore the quality of the written material (at least to my ears).

Chall Gray

Why are you putting on this show? 
It seemed like a fun idea. I was talking to a friend in New York who mentioned that he'd seen The Magnetic Fields perform the entire 69 Love Songs live, right after it came out. I thought, "Wow, I should get some bands together to play all 69 of these songs — that'd be fun." At first it was just going to be a small get-together, maybe at a gallery or in someone's house, and then everyone I mentioned the idea to was so incredibly enthusiastic that it grew from there. I wanted someone talented — and with more experience than me with the local music scene — to produce it with me, so I asked James Richards to come on board, and everything fell into place from there.

Which songs in particular resonate with you from the albums? Why?
That changes every few months for me, depending on what's going on in my life. At different times it's been "I Don't Want To Get Over You," "It's A Crime," "The Book of Love" (which is fairly current, since my fiance and I will have our first dance to it at our wedding in March) and any number of others. 

At what time in your life did the albums come along (when did you start listening to them)? Were there songs that seemed especially appropriate? Songs that seemed more appropriate later?
For me, 69 Love Songs came along at a perfect (though not very good) time in my life. My father had just died suddenly, and I was, in several ways, adrift. A friend had introduced me to the band a few months earlier, and I ended up acquiring the CDs that comprise 69 Love Songs less than a month after I lost my father. I've listened to them pretty regularly ever since then, and as I've evolved from being completely overcome by grief ("All My Little Words," "I Don't Want To Get Over You," "If You Don't Cry") to moving on with life, and the more normal vicissitudes we all face ("The Death of Ferdinand de Saussure," "(Crazy For You But) Not That Crazy"), to being in a serious relationship ("Asleep And Dreaming," "Yeah, Oh Yeah").

Are there any songs that you skip, and if so, why?
Very few. I've never really liked "Love Is Like Jazz," but Wilson the Rocker say they are going to totally reenvision the song, so I'm excited to hear that.

Fave lyrics? A section or two? What makes them your favorite?
"I could make a career of being blue/I could dress in black and read Camus / smoke clove cigarettes and drink vermouth / like I was 17 / that would be a scream / but I don't want to get over you." I'm a sucker for literary allusions.

Why do you think the albums work so well? What is it about Merritt's songwriting and craft?
They are expansive, and supremely detail-oriented. Obsessed with the details, concerned with the big picture. Riddled with cliches that all boil down to deep wisdom. A smile on the face, a tear in the eye. Esoteric and relentlessly easy to relate to. In the end, I can't think of a better definition of the term "love" than sitting down and listening to these three albums.