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 Song Of The Humble Serf
Stephin Merritt Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
The humble serf ling zhe
Whose lord sent him away
Was starving, so he lay
His mouth open, all day
Beneath a mulberry tree
Just
In case a berry fell
He was not looking well
And
The tree had crummy aim
The man in purple came
And asked ling zhe his name
And gave him grog and game
And little cakes, and some tea
The end
The Song of the Humble Serf is a reflective tale of a serf named Ling Zhe who was sent away by his lord and left to starve under a mulberry tree. Ling Zhe lies beneath the tree with his mouth open all day, hoping to catch a berry, but the tree's aim is not good, and Ling Zhe begins to waste away. One day, a man in purple arrives and asks Ling Zhe his name. He offers him grog, game, little cakes, and some tea, which Ling Zhe eagerly accepts. The song ends with Ling Zhe's rescue by the man in purple.
The song is a commentary on the ruthless treatment of serfs in medieval China. The lord who sent Ling Zhe away shows no compassion or concern for the survival of his subjects. Ling Zhe's desperate situation highlights the extreme poverty and hardship faced by serfs. On the other hand, the man in purple shows kindness and generosity to Ling Zhe, exemplifying the values of empathy and charity that are lacking in the feudal system.
Line by Line Meaning
Oh
Introducing the story
The humble serf ling zhe
Referring to a humble servant named Ling Zhe
Whose lord sent him away
Ling Zhe's master had dismissed him from service
Was starving, so he lay
Ling Zhe was lying on the ground due to hunger
His mouth open, all day
Ling Zhe had kept his mouth open all day, hoping to catch something to eat
Beneath a mulberry tree
Ling Zhe had chosen to rest beneath a tree that had mulberries on it
Just
Simply or Only
In case a berry fell
Ling Zhe was waiting for a mulberry to drop from the tree
For how long, who can tell
The duration of his wait is unknown
He was not looking well
Ling Zhe's health was deteriorating
And
Connecting the events of the story
The tree had crummy aim
The tree was not dropping any berries for Ling Zhe
The man in purple came
A wealthy man dressed in purple happened to pass by
And asked ling zhe his name
The man in purple inquired about Ling Zhe's name
And gave him grog and game
The man in purple gave Ling Zhe alcohol and food
And little cakes, and some tea
Ling Zhe was also given cake and tea to eat
The end
Conclusion of the story
Contributed by Elena O. Suggest a correction in the comments below.