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 Story So Far
Stephin Merritt Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Discontinuing the Zhao clan
But left one called Zhao Shuo (the pride of Jin, offspring of Zhao Dun)
And his royal wife.
But then came a command, a forgery
In the emperor's hand, which read"
"Hi. Pick the dagger, rope, or sword, because you must die."
So Zhao Shuo chose the dagger and, as ordered
But the princess had a new bundle of joy...
She choked herself to save the boy.
A person secreted the child away (we'll call him Someone).
The red man sent his general, Han Jue
To guard the Zhao clan.
This Han Jue turned out to be a guy you'd like:
He spilled his guts to save the tyke.
The Someone took the little kid to Tai Ping
To see Gongsun, and he thought of a way
Someone and foundling wouldn't be caught
And Gongsun would take the Someone son instead
And that red guy would have his head.
The red man killed the baby, Someone's son...
I am Someone.
The red man is Tu An-Gu.
The Orphan of the Zhao is you.
The Story So Far by Stephin Merritt tells a tragic story of the Zhao clan and their loyal subjects. The lyrics are, however, based on historical facts from China's Warring States period, around 480 BC. The story starts with the red man killing three hundred people from the Zhao clan but leaving one called Zhao Shuo and his wife alive. Later, Zhao Shuo receives a fake command to choose how he would like to die. He chooses the dagger, according to the order, and dies. However, his wife chokes herself so that their newborn son would be safe. A person then secretly takes the newborn, who we will call Someone, away to keep him safe.
The story then continues with the red man sending a general, Han Jue, to guard the Zhao clan. Han Jue, however, decides to save the newborn, Someone, and spills his guts to do so. The person who has Someone decides to take him to Tai Ping to see Gongsun. Gongsun then finds a way to switch the Someone with his son so that the red man wouldn't kill Someone. Unfortunately, the red man kills Gongsun's son and Someone is now in danger of being killed. The final twist is that the person telling the story is Someone. The lyrics are incredibly powerful, telling a story of loyalty, love, and sacrifice that spans generations.
Line by Line Meaning
The red man killed three hundred
Tu An-Gu killed three hundred people.
Discontinuing the Zhao clan
The Zhao clan was overthrown.
But left one called Zhao Shuo (the pride of Jin, offspring of Zhao Dun)
Zhao Shuo was the only one left alive because of his lineage.
And his royal wife.
His wife was also spared.
But then came a command, a forgery
A fake command was issued.
In the emperor's hand, which read
The command was attributed to the emperor.
"Hi. Pick the dagger, rope, or sword, because you must die."
The command gave Zhao Shuo three choices of how to die.
So Zhao Shuo chose the dagger and, as ordered
Zhao Shuo followed the command and killed himself with a dagger.
Laid himself low.
Zhao Shuo killed himself.
But the princess had a new bundle of joy...
The princess had a new baby.
She choked herself to save the boy.
The princess killed herself to save her baby.
A person secreted the child away (we'll call him Someone).
Someone hid the baby.
The red man sent his general, Han Jue
Tu An-Gu sent Han Jue.
To guard the Zhao clan.
Han Jue was sent to protect the Zhao clan.
This Han Jue turned out to be a guy you'd like:
Han Jue was a good person.
He spilled his guts to save the tyke.
Han Jue risked his life to save the baby.
The Someone took the little kid to Tai Ping
Someone took the baby to Tai Ping.
To see Gongsun, and he thought of a way
Someone met with Gongsun to come up with a plan.
Someone and foundling wouldn't be caught
Someone and the baby wouldn't be caught.
And Gongsun would take the Someone son instead
Gongsun would take Someone's son instead of the baby.
And that red guy would have his head.
Tu An-Gu would be punished for killing the wrong baby.
The red man killed the baby, Someone's son...
Tu An-Gu killed Someone's son.
I am Someone.
The singer is Someone.
The red man is Tu An-Gu.
The red man refers to Tu An-Gu.
The Orphan of the Zhao is you.
The listener is the Orphan of the Zhao.
Contributed by Aiden B. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
merrittfan
Man, dude is such a genius.
Digita
This is absolutely wonderful, and one of the best things ever posted on YouTube. Merritt is extraordinarily talented, and it's mesmerizing, watching him work. I'd love to see more of the footage from this project.
Søren Rimbaud
The story line of this song is exactly like an original episode of the Twilight Zone called 'The four of us are dying' in Which a criminal keeps changing his face.
Christopher Langley Guitar
.. Mind blown.
BethGoth15
I can't get over how amazing it is to watch him do this. It's really beautiful. I'm just blown away.
kent neumann
My god what an incredible opportunity to access all of that equipment. That would be a dream come true for me to just be in there. Watching and learning how to operate all of it. Learning the structure of how a song is built.
Then, when I have a basic grasp of the recording and overlaying of tracks...
Being in there at night, by myself, in my preferred state of altered creative mindset.
Writing and recording and having fun.
Ezhuks
This is some kind of music I've never heard before, but it mesmerizes!
MrContrapuntal
Good show, I always like watching musicians work.
ultimaetsolder
This is true talent. Bravo.
Jeffrey Kelly
I keep coming back to listen to this song again and again. Years after first watching this video.