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."
Odious Odense
Stephin Merritt Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Happy that day when ya vanish from the earth!
Me for Copenhagen, me for Greece and Rome!
Every day's an adventure when you're not home!
And, in a thousand years from today, Americans will come to play
In giant flying metal birds to view our beauteous antiques
And hear some fearsome German words
And tour all Europe in two weeks.
They'll lope up Copenhagen's tower
But they will never pay for Odious Odense...
And as a new spring dawns, hail to thee, the muse of our new century!
She wears a Garibaldi hat, yet cares for Aristophanes.
Part artist, part aristocrat, and lover of cacophonies
She telegraphs her laughter from her rococo locomotive.
Well might some write that she is dumb
But she would never live in Odious Odense...
In the song "Odious Odense," Stephin Merritt expresses his disdain for the city of his birth and his desire to leave it behind for more exciting adventures elsewhere. He considers Copenhagen, Greece, and Rome to be far more desirable destinations, and he predicts that in a thousand years, Americans will flock to Europe to see its antiquities but will never bother with Odense. He portrays the city as boring, unremarkable, and not worthy of anyone's attention.
Merritt's lyrics also introduce a new muse for the new century, one who is both a lover of art and culture and a proponent of personal freedom. This person is both an artist and an aristocrat, and she is unafraid to express herself in unconventional ways. By contrast, Merritt suggests that the inhabitants of Odense are content to live bland, conformist lives without ever exploring or expanding their horizons.
Overall, "Odious Odense" is a biting critique of provincialism and the limitations that it imposes on the human experience. Merritt suggests that we should all aspire to greater things and not be content with settling for less.
Line by Line Meaning
Odious Odense, city of my birth.
The city of Odense where I was born is a disgusting and unpleasant place to be.
Happy that day when ya vanish from the earth!
I'll be pleased when Odense no longer exists.
Me for Copenhagen, me for Greece and Rome!
I prefer to be in cities like Copenhagen, Greece or Rome instead of Odense.
Every day's an adventure when you're not home!
I feel excited and adventurous every day when I'm not in Odense.
And, in a thousand years from today, Americans will come to play
In a thousand years, Americans will come to Europe to enjoy its culture and language.
In giant flying metal birds to view our beauteous antiques
The Americans will travel in airplanes to see the beautiful antiques of Europe.
And hear some fearsome German words
They will listen to some German words which they may find difficult or intimidating.
And tour all Europe in two weeks.
They will visit different cities in Europe within two weeks of traveling.
A marble marvel ev'ry hour, a stunning country ev'ry day.
Europe is full of beautiful sculptures and buildings, and every day is a new adventure.
They'll lope up Copenhagen's tower
They will climb up the tower in Copenhagen.
But they will never pay for Odious Odense...
However, they will not pay to see Odense because it's not worth the visit.
And as a new spring dawns, hail to thee, the muse of our new century!
Let's welcome the new century and its artistic developments.
She wears a Garibaldi hat, yet cares for Aristophanes.
She may appear unconventional but she still appreciates the classics.
Part artist, part aristocrat, and lover of cacophonies
She is a mix of an artist, high class, and passionate about discordant sounds.
She telegraphs her laughter from her rococo locomotive.
She expresses her joy in a grand, extravagant train.
Well might some write that she is dumb
Some people may say that she is silly or foolish.
But she would never live in Odious Odense...
However, she would never choose to live in Odense because it's unpleasant and unexciting.
Contributed by Carter E. Suggest a correction in the comments below.