Stephin Merritt
Stephin Merritt (born 1966 in New York City, United States) is a singer-son… Read Full Bio ↴Stephin Merritt (born 1966 in New York City, United States) is a singer-songwriter. He has created and played principal roles in the following bands: The Magnetic Fields, The 6ths, The Gothic Archies, and Future Bible Heroes.
He briefly used the name The Baudelaire Memorial Orchestra as an attribution for a song written for Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, entitled "Scream and Run Away". Further music was recorded for the audiobook versions of the series and is attributed to The Gothic Archies.
Under his own name, he recorded and released the soundtracks to the films Eban and Charley and Pieces of April. The soundtrack to the late Nickelodeon show The Adventures of Pete & Pete featured many of his songs.
He and director Chen Shi-Zheng have collaborated on three pieces of musical theatre; Orphan of Zhao (2003), Peach Blossom Fan (2004), and My Life as a Fairy Tale (2005). Select tracks from these works have been released on Nonesuch Records under the title Showtunes.
Merritt is openly gay. His lyrics are known for bending and blurring the gender line; examples include the song When My Boy Walks Down The Street, sung by a male vocalist, which contains the lyric "and he's going to be my wife". He is fascinated with the undead, often making veiled or explicit references to vampires. Other frequent motifs in his lyrics include trains and railroads, the moon, dancing, eyes, and, of course, love.
Merritt has a Chihuahua named Irving, after Irving Berlin. He was raised Buddhist by his counter-culture mother. He attended the progressive Massachusetts high school, The Cambridge School of Weston and briefly attended NYU before moving back to Boston. He is a smoker, and is known to light a cigarette while performing on stage. He has worked as a copy editor for Spin Magazine and Time Out New York.
One of Merritt's most notable quirks is that, when interrupting his speech for thought, he does not use linguistic placeholders such as "uh" or "er" to indicate that he is not done speaking, but instead simply stops speaking. This leads many interviewers unfamiliar with this behavior to cut him off before he has finished answering a question.
In a September 2005 interview conducted by The Onion's AV Club, alternative rock musician Bob Mould was reminded of an interviewer who once referred to Mould as "the most depressed man in rock." Mould's response was, "He's never met Stephin Merritt, obviously."
He briefly used the name The Baudelaire Memorial Orchestra as an attribution for a song written for Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, entitled "Scream and Run Away". Further music was recorded for the audiobook versions of the series and is attributed to The Gothic Archies.
Under his own name, he recorded and released the soundtracks to the films Eban and Charley and Pieces of April. The soundtrack to the late Nickelodeon show The Adventures of Pete & Pete featured many of his songs.
He and director Chen Shi-Zheng have collaborated on three pieces of musical theatre; Orphan of Zhao (2003), Peach Blossom Fan (2004), and My Life as a Fairy Tale (2005). Select tracks from these works have been released on Nonesuch Records under the title Showtunes.
Merritt is openly gay. His lyrics are known for bending and blurring the gender line; examples include the song When My Boy Walks Down The Street, sung by a male vocalist, which contains the lyric "and he's going to be my wife". He is fascinated with the undead, often making veiled or explicit references to vampires. Other frequent motifs in his lyrics include trains and railroads, the moon, dancing, eyes, and, of course, love.
Merritt has a Chihuahua named Irving, after Irving Berlin. He was raised Buddhist by his counter-culture mother. He attended the progressive Massachusetts high school, The Cambridge School of Weston and briefly attended NYU before moving back to Boston. He is a smoker, and is known to light a cigarette while performing on stage. He has worked as a copy editor for Spin Magazine and Time Out New York.
One of Merritt's most notable quirks is that, when interrupting his speech for thought, he does not use linguistic placeholders such as "uh" or "er" to indicate that he is not done speaking, but instead simply stops speaking. This leads many interviewers unfamiliar with this behavior to cut him off before he has finished answering a question.
In a September 2005 interview conducted by The Onion's AV Club, alternative rock musician Bob Mould was reminded of an interviewer who once referred to Mould as "the most depressed man in rock." Mould's response was, "He's never met Stephin Merritt, obviously."
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Stephin Merritt Lyrics
All of This I Give You... All of this I give you... You will be remembered. You will…
And He Would Say... I'm not afraid Because I know You'll come again Through w…
At Madam Plum Just outside this window Blood might get on your shoes Pleas…
At Madam Plum's Just outside this window Blood might get on your shoes Ple…
Behold The Lowly Centipede Behold the lowly centipede He undulates and wiggles To form …
Come Away with Me Now Hey--come away with me now. Little bird, it's not safe here…
Epitaph for My Heart "Caution: to prevent electric shock do not remove cover No u…
Fan Dance Cha-Cha When it's time to do the cha-cha-cha Ain't no crime to…
Forever and a Day Forever and a day, We'll dream our lives away, Our love is…
Hail! Son of Heaven Hail, son of heaven glorious! Long life! a thousand more! …
Has the World Gone Insane? Wind and rain... perfectly in season Everything in its plac…
I Think I Need A New Heart Time stands still All I can feel is the time standing…
In the Almsyard She never leaves the almshouse--she's too old. Out in the a…
In this Rain... In this rain, one can't even see the garden... My poor…
It's Hard To Be The Emperor It's hard to be emperor And when it's hard, it's hard I'm…
Little Clouds Go By Are the autumn leaves falling still On Yellow Mountain? Li…
Maria Maria Maria You'd better go, or you'll be late for your train Right…
Not One Of Us It's only water In a stranger's tear Looks are deceptive …
Odious Odense Odious Odense, city of my birth. Happy that day when ya…
One April Day One April day, we'll go miles away And I'll turn to…
One Little Flower More or Less One little flower more or less: who cares? One little hour…
Poppyland When black waves break on the world You make the pieces…
Shall We Sing a Duet? I can't wait to make you my wife I've been waiting…
Some Summer Day Some summer day, we'll dance again And, come what may, I…
Sounds Expensive I would like fo you to have this emerald ring It…
The Collar And The Garter He speaks as sweetly as he can But words do not…
The Little Hebrew Girl The little Hebrew girl Heard her mother's dying wish "Don'…
The Little Maiden Of The Sea The little maiden of the sea Was not at all like…
The Little Matchstick Girl So she lights another match, but soon the spark is…
The Man of a Million Faces In the darkness she embraces The man of a million faces So…
The Menu I criss-cross this wide world for a single flower... Pussy …
The Red Shoes A bad young girl With hair white as milk Got witches' shoe…
The Song of the Assassin My son, it's important to remember people When they're gone…
The Song Of The Humble Serf Oh The humble serf ling zhe Whose lord sent him away Was …
The Storks (come, chum, from gum humdrum! Drum mum from some numb slum…
The Story of the Mother "Although my child has died," the mother said "that doesn't…
The Story So Far The red man killed three hundred Discontinuing the Zhao cla…
The Top And The Ball I was made, so they say In the burgomaster's shop By whom…
The Ugly Little Duck It was glorious in the country There were plants They were…
The View from Above This scene is set on a mountain slope. Hooray! Where…
The World Is Not Made Of Flowers Though I will be your judge and jury Crushing your skull…
This Is Shiang-Jun This is Shiang-Jun, meaning Fragrant Princess Never touched…
This Little Ukulele I wish I had an orchestra behind me To show you…
Tiny Flying Player Pianos Tiny flying player pianos Carried aloft on the breeze As eve…
Ukulele Me! Ukulele mekulele How happy we could bekulele! Onekulele tw…
Water Torture Lorraine macLean's strange paintings Change the rain-stained…
What A Fucking Lovely Day What a fucking lovely day Everything has gone my way All m…