The Magnetic Fields//I Don't Want To Get Over You, Not That Crazy, Asleep and Dreaming, Yeah! Oh, Yeah!

Well, friends, we have a lot to catch up on today. I’ve been derelict with my promised songs, as I’ve been on vacation (the nerve). I was in Minneapolis, visiting my lady, seeing her awesome (and slightly disturbing) play and riding to and fro on a vintage bicycle while wearing sunglasses on the very green greenway!

But, good news for you and blah news for me, I’m back now. To celebrate, I’m giving you a quadruple dose of what I’ve been listening to all (extended) weekend, which also happens to be the perfect mix of happy and morose (to reflect my mood). (Most) of these songs are so good, I could probably give you almost all 69 and you’d be satisfied. But fear not—I would never post the hyper-annoying "Punk Rock Love" here.

I just finished the 33 1/3 of 69 Love Songs (my review here). It was really fun to read the highly annotated book along with the three albums worth of songs (on my iPod, of course).

What’s cool about this collection is that the compositions deal with all angles, stages and types of love. Merrit, brilliant songsmith that he is, effectively steps into all kind of roles and gives us plenty of different voices (five to be precise) to illustrate his point. Hearts are broken. Hearts are mended. Relationships live and die. People die. Metaphors are extended and distended. The same mistakes are made over and over again by men and women, queer and straight, human and non-human alike. Re-listening (and listening for the first time in some cases), really brought me back to certain times/relationships, and of course, got me a bit mushy about my current one. A good sign, I think.

A final, random note: I am in love with Claudia Gonson. I have been for a long, long time. I have considered composing a three-disc set of love songs just for her.

Now, without further ado, here are four of my favorites from three albums worth of gems:



I Don’t Want To Get Over You.mp3

This one makes me think of a certain particularly tragic, crazy and boozy time in college, where I did briefly smoke clove cigarettes and desperately did not want to get over someone in particular, although I’m very happy now that I did.

(Crazy For You But) Not That Crazy.mp3

I like this song because it vividly calls to mind the feeling when of the intense first stages of a relationship with someone ends and a more sustained and calm way of being with them begins.

Asleep and Dreaming.mp3

Ok, here comes the mushy. This goes on that list of rare songs that can actually bring a tear to my eye (see also: Sufjan Stevens).

Yeah! Oh, Yeah!.mp3

This track will always remind me of when I lived in London and I had a live recording of it that I put on every mix tape I made for a while. Totally hilarious in a uniquely Magnetic Fields way.


The sweetest thing
I ever saw
Was you asleep
And dreaming.