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."
The Little Matchstick Girl
Stephin Merritt Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
So she lights another match and lives on.
And she sees a stove of brass.
How warm its fire burns!
But the match goes out.
Alas, cold returns.
So she lights another flame
And sees a table strewn with dried fruit and meat and game, bright as noon.
And then it's cold, dark, and late.
And another tiny light...
She sees a Christmas tree all lit up with colors bright and pretty.
Then the Christmas lights rise higher.
"A falling star!" she sighs.
Then there is no other fire, and she dies.
In "The Little Matchstick Girl," Stephin Merritt paints a devastating picture of a young girl living in poverty, forced to sell matches in the cold winter nights. She becomes more and more desperate as the night goes on, and each match she lights gives her a vision of warmth, light, and comfort, but it fades away as soon as the match is done. The girl's life is marked by constant struggle, hunger and cold, as exemplified by the emptiness of the street outside and the various objects that she sees and quickly lose, including a brass stove, a table with dried fruit, meat, and game, and finally, a Christmas tree. The girl's fate is sealed when the final light of the last match she lights becomes a star and signals her death.
The song is based on Hans Christian Andersen's story of the same name, which Merritt adapts perfectly into his melancholic style. The lyrics are simple but draw a vivid picture of a young girl's tragic life, and the melody is hauntingly beautiful. The song also speaks strongly to the injustice of poverty and inequality, as the girl is unable to escape her circumstances and is ultimately punished for them. It is a poignant reminder of the fragility of human life and the importance of empathy and compassion.
Line by Line Meaning
So she lights another match, but soon the spark is gone
Despite her efforts, the match she lit went out quickly.
So she lights another match and lives on.
She continues to light matches to escape her current situation.
And she sees a stove of brass.
She catches a glimpse of a beautiful brass stove.
How warm its fire burns!
She wishes she could feel the warmth of the fire.
But the match goes out.
Unfortunately, her light source is gone once again.
Alas, cold returns.
She is still cold and can't escape the harsh reality around her.
So she lights another flame
She tries again and lights another match.
And sees a table strewn with dried fruit and meat and game, bright as noon.
She daydreams of a feast with an abundant variety of food.
Then, more splendid to behold, the goose hops from the plate and walks forth--
She imagines the food coming to life and inviting her to join it.
And then it's cold, dark, and late.
She is once again reminded of her current situation and reality.
And another tiny light...
She lights another match and the cycle repeats.
She sees a Christmas tree all lit up with colors bright and pretty.
She has another beautiful daydream, this time of a festive Christmas tree.
Then the Christmas lights rise higher.
The beauty of the Christmas lights mesmerizes her even more.
"A falling star!" she sighs.
The sight of the shooting star in her imagination fills her with awe and wonder.
Then there is no other fire, and she dies.
She ultimately cannot escape her cold and dark reality, and tragically dies.
Contributed by Connor S. Suggest a correction in the comments below.