This may be too little too late, but in celebration of the release of The Magnetic Fields’ Realism (and, now, the resurfacing of some pre-Fields recordings by The Zinnias, a band I hadn’t known I needed to hear), here’s a list of my 10 favorite Magnetic Fields songs. I did a similar thing when R.E.M.’s Accelerate came out, and that proved fairly divisive, as any such small sampling of an awesome songbook will do, so I’m hoping this list will create some controversy of its own. Note, however:
a.) I’ve excluded other Merritt-penned classics by The 6ths, Future Bible Heroes, and Gothic Archies, which was no big thing, as only “San Diego Zoo” was threatening to make the cut, and which also helped narrow my list of contenders down from about 230 to a more manageable 165, give or take.
b.) I have forgone commenting on the songs, whose pleasures are of a piece. Instead, I’ve chosen brief snippets of lyrics (brief enough, I hope, that I have avoided breaking copyright law) that suggest the variety of emotions (i.e. varieties of sadness) these songs evoke, and which will also help you guess the names of the songs, spelled out hangman-style, from which they come. This guessing game is inspired in part by the very fun games in the booklet for the Future Bible Heroes’ Memories of Love, and also by a lyric game my sister and I used to play. Slashes indicate a new word, due to imperfections in Blogger's formatting.
c.) This is nominally a sequel to this, sort of like the way Corn Syrup 2: High Fructose is a sequel to Corn Syrup.
1. I have a mandolin. I play it all night long. It makes me want to kill myself.
_ _ _ , _ _ _ / _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
2. Some people don’t believe in dying and some of us don’t believe in life.
_ _ _ _ / _ _ / _ / _ _ _ _ _
3. I don’t know if you’re beautiful because I love you too much.
_ _ _ _ _ _ / _ _ _ / _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
4. We used to hold hands at the movie show but we’ll never hold hands again.
_ _ _ / _ _ _ _ _ _ _ / _ _ _ _ _ / _ _ _ _ / _ _ _ _
5. You seemed to be in love with me, which isn’t very realistic.
_ / _ _ _ ’ _ / _ _ _ _ _ _ _ / _ _ _
6. Can you feel my heart in the palm of your hand and do you understand why I can’t stay?
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ , / _ _ _ _ _ / _ _ / _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
7. I’ve got a sense of perfection and nothing makes much sense at all.
_ _ _ / _ _ _ / _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ / _ _ / _ _ _ _ _ _
8. If I was Paul Bunyan I’d carry you so far away.
_ _ _ _ _ / _ _ _ _ _ _
9. Take me to the airport, I need to be extremely far away.
_ _ _ _ _ / _ _ , / _ _ _ _ _ _
10. You know the rain is gone when the sky is full of dust.
_ _ _ _ / _ _ _ _ _ / _ _ _ _ _ _ / _ _ _ _
Submit your answers in the comments. I will post the solution there no later than March 7, 2010.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
Looking back, the comments on that R.E.M. post wound more than ever, as I've realized Fables is my favorite album of theirs, and probably has been for a long time without me quite realizing it. You can almost hear your youth flying away from you when you listen to that album; another one I can think of that is so sad in that way is The Magnetic Fields' Wayward Bus (hint: one of the ten comes from there). Thoughts? I hope the responses to this post don't bring me to tears, but that is what I'm inviting!
fables?!? we need to talk.
I guess that means you haven’t changed your mind? It’s on! I’ll just say though that Fables is the album that's most committed to the aspects of the early R.E.M. sound I like best, and the most pungent with Athenian odors.
Thanks to everyone who contributed their guesses. Here are the answers:
1. 100,000 Fireflies
2. Born On A Train
3. Asleep & Dreaming
4. The Saddest Story Ever Told
5. I Don’t Believe You [2004 no-synth version]
6. Abigail, Belle Of Kilronan
7. All The Umbrellas In London
8. Grand Canyon
9. Drive On, Driver
10. Torn Green Velvet Eyes
Post a Comment