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 of the Mother
Stephin Merritt Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
"that doesn't make him permanently dead.
I must petition Death for his return."
She made her way into the lands below.
There was a rosebush there, where things don't grow.
It said, "You want your child? Give me your blood."
And on a thorn, her flesh was torn.
That's how rosebushes grow down there.
It decreed: "You want to hold your child? Give me your arms."
In lands beneath, they grow strange teeth to tear your flesh more painfully.
But on she staggered and stumbled, for her baby's sake
And found herself beside a talking lake:
"You want to see your child? Give me your eyes."
Which turned to pearls and sank in swirls into liquid oblivion.
In the form of a spider, Death hung there beside her and kissed her
And made her his wife.
The Story of the Mother is a hauntingly beautiful song that tells the story of a mother who is so desperate to bring her deceased child back to life that she travels through the lands below, where she encounters a rosebush, a centipede, and a talking lake, all of which require her to give up something precious in order to continue on her quest. Finally, Death himself appears in the form of a spider and kisses her, making her his wife. The lyrics are poignant and captivating, and the melody only serves to heighten the emotion of the song.
At its heart, The Story of the Mother is a meditation on the lengths to which a parent will go to protect and care for their child. The mother in the song is willing to endure unimaginable pain and sacrifice everything she has in order to bring her baby back to life. The fact that Death himself appears as the mother's suitor only adds to the sense of unease and otherworldliness that permeates the song.
Overall, The Story of the Mother is a stunning example of Stephin Merritt's masterful songwriting. With its vivid imagery and haunting melody, it is a song that will stay with the listener long after it has ended.
Line by Line Meaning
Although my child has died," the mother said
The mother tells that her child has passed away to others.
"that doesn't make him permanently dead.
Her child's passing away hasn't necessarily made him permanently go away in her heart.
I must petition Death for his return."
The mother decides to ask for her child back through Death.
She made her way into the lands below.
She begins to enter into the underworld due to her desire to find her child.
There was a rosebush there, where things don't grow.
She encountered a barren rosebush in a place where nothing could grow.
It said, "You want your child? Give me your blood."
The rosebush demands her blood in exchange for allowing her to see her child again.
And on a thorn, her flesh was torn.
That's how rosebushes grow down there.
Her blood was taken through a thorn on the rosebush, which is how they grow in the underworld.
So then she met this great big centipede who wanted something from her.
She encounters a giant centipede that wants something from her.
It decreed: "You want to hold your child? Give me your arms."
The centipede demands her arms in exchange for allowing her to hold her child.
In lands beneath, they grow strange teeth to tear your flesh more painfully.
In the underworld, creatures have teeth that can tear flesh more painfully than those on earth.
But on she staggered and stumbled, for her baby's sake
She continued to move forward despite the pain, motivated by her desire to reach her child.
And found herself beside a talking lake:
She arrives next to a lake that can talk.
"You want to see your child? Give me your eyes."
The lake demands her eyes in exchange for allowing her to see her child once more.
Which turned to pearls and sank in swirls into liquid oblivion.
When she gave up her eyes, they turned to pearls and sank into the lake.
In the form of a spider, Death hung there beside her and kissed her
Death appeared to her as a spider and gave her a kiss.
And made her his wife.
Death took the mother as his wife, and she became part of the underworld permanently.
Contributed by Chase A. Suggest a correction in the comments below.