69 Love Songs

Genres and Themes

The variety of 69 Love Songs also derives from the many song genres that Stephin Merritt raids and filters through his own gay miserablist sensibility. 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", quoted in interview in The Independent. Some of the genres are obvious, as in the songs Punk Love, Love is Like Jazz, World Love and Wi' Nae Wee Bairn Ye'll Me Beget. Other songs indirectly reference some of Merritt's favourite artists, including Fleetwood Mac (No One Will Ever Love You), Cole Porter (Zebra), Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (Let's Pretend We're Bunny Rabbits), The Jesus and Mary Chain (When My Boy Walks Down the Street), and Irving Berlin (A Pretty Girl is Like...).

Related Topics:
Stephin Merritt - Fleetwood Mac - Cole Porter - Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark - The Jesus and Mary Chain - Irving Berlin

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Several of the songs bend genders as well as genres. For example: a male vocal sings "He's going to be my wife" (When My Boy Walks Down the Street); female vocals sing "bring me back my girl" (Acoustic Guitar) and "Should pretty boys in discos / distract you from your novel" (Come Back from San Francisco). Other common themes include place names (e.g. Dakota, Washington, DC, Lower East Side, North Carolina, Paris, Venice), animals (e.g. bear, goldfish, jellyfish, rabbit, bat, dog, boa constrictor, cockroach), and -- in common with all Merritt's work -- dancing.

Related Topics:
Dakota - Washington, DC - Lower East Side - North Carolina - Paris - Venice - Bear - Goldfish - Jellyfish - Rabbit - Bat - Dog - Boa constrictor - Cockroach - Dancing

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